Brooklyn Beers in town

Carlsberg Malaysia has launched two new foreign beers, in its bid to get some action from the somewhat niche craft beer scene. A lil late to the game i gotta say, with two options – the amber lager and IPA, from Brooklyn Brewery, NY. Both are unique in their own way.

The launch took place at TREC

The launch took place at TREC

20171214_193036The first (5.2%) is definitely flavoursome for a lager. It’s basically a Viennese-style beer that uses the British dry-hopping method (steeping the beer with fresh hops as it undergoes a long, cold maturation). Suggested eats are pizzas, burgers n Mexican food.

The new pair

The new pair

The East IPA is not a bitch-slap that many others give you. It doesnt have the usual aroma of marijuana buds (hops are from the marijuana family). Nevertheless it contains six strains of hops. It’s milder in taste and easy on the bitterness (the IBU is 40).

It weighs in at a respected 6.9%. I could drink it all night without getting bored or jelak with the flavour. Best with spicy food.

Great bites with the beers

Great bites with the beers

It comes in 355ml bottles. With the probable high price point of up to RM40 or so at outlets, it’s gonna be a challenge to go against the tons of craft beers that we have here, which are mostly lower-priced and well-known.

20171214_193139Booklyn Brewery is currently ranking #11 in volume among United States craft breweries. It produces award-winning beers that are available in more than 30 countries.

 

Brain damage: 8/10

Share

Conservative morons

I think everybody knows what happened last week. The Oktoberfest event that was due to take place at 1Utama’s outdoor car park was forced by MBPJ to move indoors because a few guys who aren’t allowed to drink made noise about our right to drink.

Fuckdatshit.

Where MBPJ forced the event to

Where MBPJ forced the event to

Anyway, I’ve started a petition about it here – https://www.change.org/p/the-selangor-government-respect-malaysians-fundamental-liberties

Pls read, and sign if u agree. But also SHARE, and get your buddies to help out too. If we don’t hit the targeted signatures, the petition won’t be goin out. And expect to get increasingly screwed for any future party / event.

Share

Stoli joins da party

Russian vodka Stolichnaya has officially and finally hit Malaysia, thanks to Carlsberg Malaysia, which now has several liquors in its growing stable.

The guys from CMB and Luen Heng threw a great party at Changkat’s Mango Tropical Cafe. There were good varieties of cocktails, using several variants of Stoli.

The early bird gets the eye

The early bird gets the eye

Impressive selection. Cocktails were prepared by BarPro

Impressive selection. Cocktails were prepared by BarPro

I’ve been having Stolichnaya for a long time, but it’s presence was never big here. It’s actually the pioneer in flavoured vodkas, kicking off the trend way back in 60s.

It’s a vodka made of wheat from the black soils of Tambov in Russia, where the company still owns its own farms. It’s triple-distilled, utilizing only the middle segment of the spirit distillation, rejecting the volatile heads and oily tails of the process.

It’s then filtered four times, before spring water is added.

Lined-up

Lined-up

The flavoured vodkas are really interesting, and more than just them regular fruit stuff. There’re varieties like Chocolat Kokonut, Chocolat Karamel, and Chocolat Razberi.

They sound like liquid desserts. It opens the possibility for some new and interesting flavours never experienced before. I really couldn’t describe some of the tastes my taste buds were subjected to from certain cocktails coz they were entirely alien and confusing. Awesome.

They have a jalapeno one too. Haha. However, they arent big in the RTD scene.

Situation pickin up

Situation pickin up

Sean and Henrik taking their meds

Sean and Henrik taking their meds

Here we go

Here we go

Acquiring Luen Heng was obviously a good call by CMB, whose portfolio is getting impressive. It’s definitely not just a lager player anymore.

You can stalk Stoli on FB here.

 

Brain damage: 8.5/10

Share

Adios, Soren!

Carlsberg Malaysia (CMB) ‘s unorthodox managing director Soren Ravn is outta here on July 1, after leading the brewery for three party-packed years.

Soren will be remembered as a sport, who mingled and drank with the crowd at the beer brand’s many launches and gigs (and rapped). No doubt he’ll be missed.

There was a real grand send-off party at the funky rooftop bar, Luna. Everybody was there.

image001

Fortunately, Soren’s got a big-ass promotion / raise, and at age 39, the Dane will be CEO of Carlsberg Greater China (China+HK+Macau+Taiwan). From being in charge of one brewery here, Soren will handle 41! That’s three billion litres of beer annually.

Or 8.2 million a day. Or 5,707 litres every second. Buuurp!

On his watch, CMB’s growth has been good, helped by a diversification in its beer portfolio, bringing in some brands i frequently enjoy (via its subsidiary Luen Heng), such as Hoegaarden, Franziskaner, Savannah, Jagermeister, Asahi, Kronenbourg, Erdinger, Leffe and Konig, although they lack a decent stout. They got liquors too. (And Amarula!)

Yummeh!

Yummeh!

I remember just a few years back when Carlsberg’s online presence was… crap. Their comms/PR wasn’t dat great either, and same with their website and FB. Things are much better now, with more engagement. I assume it was Soren’s influence. In fact, where GAB used to lead, CMB might have caught up or even surpassed them, as it’s been very active.

CMB has managed to get a lot of support from online media now.

It's goodbye to Shah Alam for Soren

It’s goodbye to Shah Alam

Henrik Juel Andersen, a Dane aged 46, will succeed Soren. He’s currently the Regional CEO of Carlsberg Indochina, a position he has held for the past five years.

All the best to Soren. Go yamseng your butt off in China.

 

The MD of rival Guinness Anchor Bhd (GAB) has also left. However, there was no information where he’s goin, except that Hans Essaadi has taken over. Hans was the MD of Heineken Africa & Middle East.

Well, never really got to know Charles (who’s English). He’s been in charge of GAB for the last six years.

Anyway, significant top-level change among our breweries. We’ll wait and see how things will pan out for the year then.

Related Posts with Thumbnails
Share