The Bee’s cocktails and BBQs

The Bee in Publika has been around awhile now. I find it a cool place to hang out on weekend afternoons, especially when one of their BBQs are goin on. A few cold beers, some good food, company of friends…  sall u need.

It also has a bunch of cool cocktail additions to its drinks menu, made with fresh ingredients. Established barman CK is now at The Bee, so that’s good news for drinkers. The outlet has also seen renovations – there’s a cool lil lounge by the bar now.

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CK in action

Checked out some of their drinks recently, and got to screw around with some DIY too, with Tanqueray Ten gin.

I started with a Mai Tai. It was very well-made. Refreshing feel, fresh ingredients, good balance (which is always an issue), with different flavours trying to gain the upper hand.

The Rum Shack is sumtin else altogether. It’s a shared frozen cocktail – mega pitcher, light on the alcohol, with some pleasant lollipop flavours – brings out the alcokid in me. Nice.

Biggie

Biggie

There’re others of course. Being a fan of Kelapa Rock, I had to have the rum-based cocktail drink served in a coco with some lime juice added, Coconut Rum (RM23+). I also made my own simple gin cocktail – with Tanqueray, some fruits n herbs, and tonic water. They call this cocktail Gintonica.

Other popular drinks are Two-Man Tent Espresso Martini and Boozy Cendol.

Make your own

Make your own

 

My result

My result

 

Anytime

Anytime!

 

Pina Colada. I got a thing for cocktails in fruits. Must be the tropical in me

Pina Colada. I got a thing for cocktails in fruits. Must be the tropical in me

The monthly BBQ on Sundays features a special menu with some interesting food n snacks while u booze up, reasonably-priced too. You get a couple of burritos for ten bucks, etc. You could fill yourself up for under 20 bucks, that’s for sure. There aren’t any drink deals tho. I was hoping for some beer buckets.

Cook-up

Cook-up

Also on BBQ Sundays are usually other forms of entertainment. There was a ukelele class happening while i drank.

The Bee is a pioneering events and entertainment (and F&B) space; there’s always sumtin goin on. I like that. It’s also pet-friendly.

Other regular events are open mics, band nights, Raising The Bar (poetry + hip-hop), comedy, the Upfront Series, and wine appreciation.

In session

In session

 

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Eats

 

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Coming soon

 

BBQ Sundays are only once a month – the last Sunday of every month. Which means the next one is… this weekend!

Get your shades on.

 

Brain damage: 8/10

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Them ‘fake’ freeflows

Freeflow events are usually fun occasions. It’s normally done as a celebration – a new bar, an outlet’s anniversary, a gig, a product launch, an appreciation.

Sometimes they suck. And you basically wasted your time and effort attending the damn event. “Should have stayed home!” or “Should have gone elsewhere!” Am sure we’ve all experienced that feeling.

The problem occurs when an outlet or company invites the whole damn world, and then either they cant handle d crowd, or they never intended to cater to the crowd anyway. Both are very disrespectful and irresponsible.

Many bars are not equipped for big events

If you wanna invite say 300 people, ensure that there’re enough drinks for 300 people to have a few.

A friend was invited to Quattro’s anniversary some time back. Got dressed, smelling good, drove all the way to KL from PJ, paid high fees for parking, and got in there.It was a stampede. After all that, he managed to get…. one beer. That was it.

Obviously he wont go back to such outlets anytime. All that effort, for what. It was like 1,000 people there. Obviously not enough bars in there.

Such events should be broken into different days to lessen the load.

There’s also the issue of not having anywhere near enough bartenders to make the drinks. But then again, that could be the plan – staff not being able to cope means less drinks go out, which benefits the outlet/organizer in terms of cost.

Zouk’s bartenders once didnt allow me to order two drinks (one for my friend at d table) at their anniversary party. The bar was already so jammed with guests ordering drinks, u cd hardly move. Nevermind that, they wanted a bigger mess – each and every guest has to squeeze in there, and order their own drinks personally!

Stupid or wat. I’m not so desperate for the goddam ‘free’ drinks. I rather pay, and be treated not even like a customer, but at least like a human being.

Outta my way

I’ve seen people getting stressed, angry. Guests as well as staff. That’s dumb. You shouldn’t invite guests just to make them angry. They supposed to be happy.

The times where it’s near impossible to get the ‘free’ drink, i prefer ordering and paying for my own drinks. Am cool with that. The problem is, usually they dont sell drinks during the ‘freeflow’.

Doubly-fucked. Haha! Cant get the complimentary drink, cant buy your own.

So, go elsewhere.

I think some outlets probably do freeflow events as a scam to get the crowd in. Once they’re there, the outlet has a large crowd of people buying booze after d freeflow ends. The sooner d freeflow ends, d sooner ‘guests’ magically turn to…  ‘customers’! And any money spent on the free drinks (usually zero, coz they got alcohol companies to sponsor) is recovered multiple times the same night.

Some joints serve Klang-mari moonshine when it’s freeflow time. Like Luna Bar. (Some bars do that daily!)

Some places/events actually run out of glasses! What kind of planning is that? Thus, i’m choosy about the events i attend. Many low-quality ones out there, be warned.

When i did my blog anniversary last year (and launch year before), i ensured not only everyone would have quick and unrestricted access to drinks, i also made sure everyone could have loads to drink. Some booze was sponsored, and i also brought additional booze as back-up. I invited guests according to the amount i had for them to consume.

And everybody had a blast. Zero stress.

I wdnt have wasted their time, my time, and all the other parties’ time if i was gonna let guests fight for three drinks each, and then tell them to fuck-off.

Guests should be entitled to at least minimal comfort

Companies and outlets needs to rethink how they do events. Jamming too many people in, and treating them like cattle, is stupid.

It’s obviously counter-productive to your outlet / brand. It only shows how little you respect your customers & guests.

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Sabah fly-by

Did five days in KK, one of my favourite cities. Coincided it with Kaamatan, which is the Kadazan annual festival of Harvest. Kotobian Tadau Tagazo Do Kaamatan Sabahans!

Was with Eddy, my housemate. Agenda was basically partying, checking out the highlands, islands, and ‘wildlife’.

I’ve basically covered Sabah, inland and off-shore, but dont mind more trips. Not many pictures tho. Camera fucked, n Eddy dont have one. So in d end most pix are of him, from my cheap-ass phone.

First drink of the trip at Irish Bar Shamrock. Not good happy hours tho

Had trouble getting around as Max who was supposed to show us around was in KL. So mostly chilled during d day.

Happy hours at The Loft, Waterfront. Good selection of ales

Got our butts down to the pier, which is downtown. In fact, the sea is downtown. Niice.

Checked out Manukan Island, part of the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park islands. They all lie by KK, just a speedboat ride away.

Had a beer with a giant leatherback turtle

Chilled

Beach, beer, tunes

Some old bombs found on the island. Why did they bomb Manukan with a dick?

At the beach, chilled out with Absolut’s Global Brand Ambassador, Matt Pomeroy. Haha! He was in KK for an Absolut masterclass session, where i met him last year and took him clubbing.

Downtown graffiti

Squeezed in a kid's party

We crashed at KK Times Square, a new spot, which also has a few bars n clubs. like Firefly & White Room. But after-party n sleazier Razzmataz is quite a distance.

Pre-party

Party spot

Harvest Fest Eve @ Bed. The band wore traditional outfits n did d Sumazau. Haha

The cultural village, a venue for Kaamatan Fest

Did a road trip into the highlands. Pretty chilly up there, and u sometimes get a view of the summit of Mt Kinabalu.

Kundasang, foreground, summit background

Paulie, aka JB Paul, made a guest appearance

At Jarrod n Rawlins, our usual brunch spot as it was right behind our hotel

No shit

Ed's first toke of liheng, a local brew. Nice stuff

Outta there!

 

Brain damage: 8.5/10

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