Heineken and Guinness rock on

Heineken has launched a new label for some of its bottled beers, featuring six cities of the world. It’s a global campaign aimed at inspiring people to get out of their routines and start exploring their cities. A good idea.

Fortunately KL is one of them, so there was a cool party called Cities of the World to introduce the Cities bottle and campaign. It went down in an industrial zone in PJ, and the set-up (from scratch) was really good.

New Heineken Bottles.

Getting to the bar / music area required some navigation, and it felt like a maze, and i opened quite a few dud doors. There were exhibits and all along the way, and some salsa thing goin on.

Trippy.

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Goin somewhere?

The main room featured an island bar and DJs on ground-level decks. Among the performers were Goldfish and Blink, as well as Hulkas. The boys from Hulkas rocked it. Awesome house set.

Hulkas in action

Bust a move

Heineken says that the campaign aims to “inspire people to move away from their usual habits and discover more within their own backyard.” It would be interesting to see how they plan to do this.

Salud. (pix by @juzliv)

Salud (pix by @juzliv)

There’s a website that’s been built to give people a look into interesting locations around them. Not very impressed with it though. Lack of content.

I’ve seen a lot of my city, but coincidentally i plan to see more of the inner city soon, by booking a couple of days in a hotel downtown. And explore.

New Heineken Bottles

Drinkers will find a unique code under the cap of each limited-edition bottle, which gives people a chance to win prizes, including an opportunity to unlock worldly adventures in New York. You can checkout the site here.

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GUINNESS meanwhile has launched the Amplify campaign, one that’s based on music.

With this, the Arthur’s Day seems discontinued. Amplify seems more focused on local talent, and more personal as opposed to Arthur’s Day’s mega gigs.

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Launch in session at a bar in PJ

It’s a platform for extraordinary local musicians to showcase their talent alongside international stars, and will feature fourteen of Malaysia’s best acts including Kyoto Protocol, Paperplane Pursuit, OJ Law, Froya, and An Honest Mistake. International act Howie Day will be joining the party on Sept 6 at The Bee, which is the kick-off.

4. Guinness Amplify Live Tour Listings

Admission to the 6 shows in the Guinness Amplify Live Tour will be free of charge and on a first-come, first-served basis, and will feature special promos on Guinness throughout the night. More details here.

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Marini’s & Jose release an album

Legendary producer of chilled beats series Cafe Del Mar, Jose Padilla is back in the music scene after a break of coupla years, teaming up with Marini’s on 57 to produce a special album based on the outlet, called Sunset Hours (Marini’s On 57 Vol 1).

Jose himself was at Marini’s for the album launch, a half-day affair starting with the PC in the afternoon, followed by drinks at Marini’s, and finally Jose juggling the decks later that night for a house set. But i had to miss the last one due to another engagement.

Cool bar

Cool bar

Jose Padilla is world-renowned for being a sunset-tunes DJ at Cafe del Mar, a bar on Ibiza, and popularized electronic chillout, specifically the Balearic variety. The first Cafe del Mar compilation was released in 1994, and there have been 18 since. Jose’s Mixcloud link here.

1,000 pieces of the new album have been initially pressed. This one has 14 tracks from all over the world; it would have been great if we had a KL artist in there as well.

Close neighbour

Close neighbour

The theme is chilled of course, being Sunset Hours n all (aka cocktail time!).

There’s one exclusive track, which Jose co-created, while the rest are other artists. The compilation is more electronic than his usual stuff. And quite serious.

A couple of tracks stand out for me. Dragonflies (Cantoma Remix), a chill house tune by Jose Padilla has a solid, jazz-funk-inspired bassline, topped by the seductive, minimalist and ethereal vocals of Scottish chick Kirsty Keatch.

I Hate Hate (an oxymoron of a title) is a laid-back, housy track of about 90bpm, by Razzy Bailey. It’s got that ol skool vibe, with vocals by a male, a rarity.

Jose and Modesto

Jose and Modesto

The album is available at Google Play, Amazon, iTunes, music stores in Europe and several other online sources. The CD itself should be available for sale here once approvals are got.

Represent! In NYC's Times Square

Represent! In NYC’s Times Square

The outlet’s founder and owner Modesto Marini launched the album to coincide with the beautiful outlet’s two-year anniversary, which is also the highest F&B spot in the country.

This is an interesting marketing strategy to put Marini’s on the world map. In fact, it joins iconic brands such as Café Del Mar, Pacha and Hotel Costes which have their own internationally-recognized music albums.

Congrats Marini’s!

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Cocktails & great views @ Marini’s on 57

Marini’s on the rooftop of Tower 3 KLCC is one of THE spots in the Valley for late afternoon drinks and happy hours, with award-winning cocktails. It’s really high, dwarfing the skyscrapers below, and it’s got 360 views too.

We checked it out one Saturday after being invited, and the day was perfect. Doors here open at 5pm.

Marini’s gets its beer from Carlsberg Malaysia, featuring drinks like the ones below.

Rack

Rack

Marini’s serves this beer platter off the menu as well.

Happy hours here are called Sunset Hours, and it happens from 5pm to 9pm daily. Prices are reasonable – you ‘d get a draft glass of Carlsberg for $13.90 (nett), an Asahi for RM18.60.

We graduated to a whole load of cocktails soon after, starting with this:

Peppermint Martini

Peppermint Martini

 

It’s a light-tasting Sour, creamy, with a tinge of peppermint flavour. Goes easy.

 

Chamomile

Chamomile

The Chamomile is a vodka-based cocktail, with orange and tea. Turns out, tea and orange is a funky combo!

A lil sweetness, not too heavy. I dig this one.

(Most cocktails featured also have egg white for its creaminess.)

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Cilantro

The Cilantro Sour is also vodka-based, and turns out tangy, with a bit of lingering bitter.

 

Funky

Funky

Sumtin different is the 57 Spice, a mix of fresh grapefruit, maraschino cherry liqueur, and homemade spice syrup. Kinda refreshing, bitter-sweet, and tangy at the same time.

But a chocolate ice-cream fan like me loved this:

Smooth Criminal

Smooth Criminal

Cherry vodka, Creme de Cacao, chocolate ice cream.

When u got stuff like this, what else does the planet need??

Lapped it up like  a dog. Nutty, sweetish, with reminders of milo ais / Brown Brown.

Next was the 57 Fizz.

Flowers are on the house

Flowers are on the house

This is vodka + Campari + fresh grapefruit juice + Sparkling water. For those who like bitter-ish drinks. Me, am still learning to appreciate Campari. Has a pleasant light fizz, as its name suggests.

We also had sumtin localized:

Hibiscus

Hibiscus

A combo of vodka, hibiscus (roselle) syrup, mint, lemon and egg white. Interesting, but i would have preferred more of the roselle coming thru over the lemon.

Although famous for its dining, Marini’s does have a strong beverage angle, especially due to it’s great views. The outlet’s bar is large and well-located.

High

High

 

Higher than high

Higher than high

And mixologist Junior Joe is the Head of Mixology of Marini’s, ensuring good QC and a cocktail list that should have new stuff regularly enough.

Junior cookin

Junior cookin

Ingredients like herbs and spices are high quality and fresh, and the cocktail list pretty interesting.

Have a look here for the beverage list.

Lots of options when it comes to seating

Lots of options when it comes to seating

 

And more

More

 

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And more

 

Pizza is great, as Paul will testify

Pizza is great, as Paul will testify

 

The park

The park

 

And the sun sets

And the sun sets

 

Waaay up there

Waaay up there

 

Hit it

Hit it

 

 Brain damage: 8/10

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Chillin in Serendah

Made a raid to Sekeping Serendah, a forest resort an hour North of the city, organized by my bro.

There’re now various awesome options for weekend getaways, most only an hour from KL. Been to most of ’em now. Luv ’em all!

I should rate them comparatively someday.

Space

Space

Anyway, SS is a great spot too, with several options for accommodation. Since there were quite a few of us, opted for the big-ass Warehouse.

No doors, no walls. No windows too obviously.

The party room

The party room

The chillout spot is downstairs, while there’s a mezzanine floor with two ‘rooms’.

Kids doin their shit

Kids doin their shit

The openness is unsafe for unsupervised children tho, coz many possibilities of falling accidents.

Lounge

Lounge

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Kampung-style

Kampung-style, like my Grandma’s

In steel cups tho. Haha

In steel cups tho. Haha

Bluey hit da road too

Bluey hit da road too

Party spot

Party spot

Trooping in

Trooping in

D place to be

D spot to be

Get clean

Get clean

Main man CA$H!

Ten-hut soldier! Main man CA$H, ready to battle with a watergun

 

A cool spot for a either a quiet or wild weekend. Will probably be back.

 

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