10 Reasons Why All Beer Lovers Should Go For The Better Beer Festival!

1) BECAUSE EVERYONE DESERVES BETTER BEER! 
And Taps Beer Bar is probably the only place in town that is making the effort to buck the boring commercial beer trend and bring in AWESOME, BETTER beers. They deserve all the support they can get!

2) MORE THAN SEVENTY BEERS TO TRY! 
There will be over 70, yes SEVENTY, different craft brews from Singapore, Australia, England, Scotland, Denmark, Norway, Japan, USA, Belgium and Germany.

4) CHEAP AWESOME BEERS ON TAP! 
ALL the beers on tap at Taps will be going at RM15 a glass, which means you'll be getting AWESOME BEERS from BrewDog, Mikkeller, Nogne, Thornbridge, Harviestoun and Orkney for almost HALF THE NORMAL PRICE.

5) LEARN MORE ABOUT BEERS!
Sick of commercial beers? Too many events serving the same old beers OVER AND OVER AGAIN? Then this is the best time to come and try out some NEW, TASTY craft beers that you won't get ANYWHERE ELSE in KL.

6) CHEAP WEIHENSTEPHANER!
There's also going to be Weihenstephaner wheat beer going for RM10 a glass. Why pay more for a boring glass of Hoegaarden or Paulaner elsewhere when you have Weihenstephaner?

7) HITACHINO NEST JAPANESE CRAFT BEER!
This little owl beer is one of the most easy drinking yet unique beer brands I've tried, and they'll be at the fest!

8) LIVE MUSIC AND FUN!
There will be live music from 4pm onwards, as well as talks, beer tasting, beer auctions and lucky draws. And trust me, some of the acts who will be performing are REALLY GOOD.

9) NEW BEERS!
Besides Hitachino, the other new beers available at the festival are: Jungle Beer (Singapore), Red Dot Beer (Singapore), St Bernadus (Belgium) and Het Anker (Belgium).

10) NO CRAZY EXPENSIVE ENTRY FEES!
Entry is a RM5 donation to Taps' partner charity, the Kiwanis Down Syndrome Foundation. The donation witll entitle you to one free beer taster.

10) COME FOR THE BEER, STAY FOR THE COMPANY!
A bunch of us are already planning to camped out there for the most part of the day. I'll probably be there at about 2pm onwards, so just come over and say hi!

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The Better Beer Festival 2012:

Date: 29 September 2012 (Saturday)
Time: Doors open at 12pm
Venue: Taps Beer Bar, One Residency, 1 Jalan Nagasari, Off Changkat Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2110-1560
Email: info@tapsbeerbar.my
Facebook: facebook.com/TapsBeerBar

Beers will be available for purchase from RM15 upwards. Food and other beverages will also be available. Tokens can be purchased in RM50 lots. A minimum purchase of RM100 is required for credit card transactions. Taps Beer Bar will also be launching their membership program on that day.

they'll also be selling this cool beer glasses at the festival for RM20 each! Limited quantities only though...

To Arthur At Sid's!

Yup, if you only go for ONE Arthur's Day party this year, then go for the one at Sid's Pub TTDI this Sunday, the bar with the best Guinness in town!



The party starts at 12 noon, all the way until 8pm (or until they run out of Guinness, which will probably NEVER happen), with the black stuff going at RM10 NETT a glass.

Seeya there!

20 Reasons to go for Brewfest 2012

1) Over 50 different beers to try! I was there yesterday from 2pm to 1130pm, and even I only managed to get up to 31 different beers, and this was with my "Don't drink the same beer twice all day" rule (Of course I didn't finish ENTIRE BOTTLES, just tasting samples, but still...)

2) BREWFEST is MAlaysia's FIRST EVER Malaysia’s 1st International Beer Festival. MUST SUPPORT!

3) It's cozy and easy to get to. The Brewfest is happening at Publika @ Solaris Dutams/Mont Kiara, which is reasonably easy to get to, and parking is not too tough either.

4) It starts at 5.30pm, and goes on until late at night, TODAY and TOMORROW. Which means lots of time to TRY ALL THE BEERS!

5) All the beers are sold at cost price. For instance, at Taps, a Mikkeller or an Orkney would set you back about RM30++ at least. At Brewfest, they're selling them at RM15-20 EACH. Now THAT'S a steal.

6) OK, there's a RM68 entry fee that includes two beers. But  the number of awesome and different beers available AND the price they're being sold at makes the entry fee WORTH EVERY PENNY.

7) Taps Beer Bar is one of the most awesome beer places in KL right now, with almost 60 different beers on tap and in bottle. They've brought about 40 of those beers along with them to Brewfest, and are selling those at cost price, so this is an AWESOME chance to check out all those beers!

8) THIS AWESOME HOT DOG. One of the best I've ever tasted!

9) Hitachino Nest! I love Jibiru in Singapore, and the guys from that place have brought up some of their awesome Hitachino Nest Japanese Craft beers for Brewfest. The Yona Yona and Espresso Stout is especially awesome!

10) Douglas Lim stand-up comedy. His shows can be patchy, but after a few beers, hey, he might get funnier. The show we attended last night was pretty funny. :D

11) Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast - thick, rich, chocolaty, coffee-y and awesome.

12) For the lovers of lighter beers, there's Warsteiner, Tsingtao, Suntory, Konig Ludwig and even some Singha available as well!

13) Besides the hot dogs, the food is decent as well - there's a stall selling deep fried chicken skin, salmon skin and chicken soft bones. and another that has some great pork ribs too!

14) A festival like this is WAY overdue. We need beer events like this to help educate drinkers that beer is not just about the commercial lagers and the big boys. There is SO MUCH MORE To beer than just Tiger, Carlsberg or Guinness.

15) No Overtime crap shit piss Starker beer.

16) There's a good variety of beers there, not just lagers, but some great stouts, ales, fruit beers, and even a bit of cider here and there. There's evern a DIM SUM BEER. There are Trappist ales, abbey ales, crazy ales and all sorts of ales. TRY THEM ALL!

17) DO try to be more experimental with your beers. Don't be afraid to try something new, because that's what beer festivals are all about - expanding your horizons and finding out more about beer.

18) Be careful though, some of these beers are REALLY STRONG. There are quite a number of 8% and 9% beers, including the Hitachino Nest XH (an awesome stout, BTW)

19) If you are trying new stuff, try to talk to the guys behind the counter to see what to try. Guys like Alvin from Taps and Charlie from Hitachino are more than willing to explain their beers and give you some recommendations.

20) FIFTY DIFFERENT BEERS TO TRY! COME ON, THAT SHOULD BE THE ONLY REASON TO GO FOR BREWFEST!



(Some of the photos here were taken from Suanie's post about Brewfest, which you can read HERE!)

Beer Of The Week: Ay Caramba, It's Corona!

In case you haven't noticed, I've added a new label to the blog titled: Tipsy-Turvy, which of course, is the name of my regular alcoholic column in the newspaper. In addition to that, I'm starting a new 'Beer Of the Week' label where I'll choose a beer, any beer, and tokkok about it, just for the heck of it. Heh heh.

To kick things off, here's a beer that's always been close to my heart - Corona Extra.



You see, way way way way back when I didn't know better, and before there was Hoegaarden, Stella, or even Kilkenny; there was Corona. It's the only imported beer I seem to remember being available back then (correct me if I'm wrong), and I used to snub Tiger and Carlsberg just so I could be seen as 'cool' drinking Corona. That, plus the lemon in the beer always made it a great conversation starter with the girls hur hur hur.

Of course, later I found out that Corona isn't exactly a premium brand even in Mexico, and my American brother-in-law even laughed at me mockingly once when I ordered a Corona in front of him. Deep even calls it Mexican Donkey Piss. HMPH.

Anyway, a few days ago, I was invited to check out a Cinco De Mayo (Fifth of May) celebration at Las Carretas restaurant in Ampang, where the sponsored beer was of course, Corona.

This was a good chance for me to go back to a beer I once loved after trying so many other beers, and finding out once and for all why exactly I liked it so much.

And no, it's not because of the hot promoter girls:



Anyway, armed with my new *ahem* discerning beer palette, I realized that on its own, Corona is actually pretty bland and tastes just like any other lager. In fact, I'd even venture to say it's even weaker than Budweiser, and that's saying a lot. I don't even know why I liked it last time (hey, I was young and naive back then).

So what makes it so special then? Well, if you asked me, I'd say it's the lemon/lime slice that they always put inside the bottle:



Like Kenhynn of Beer Beer says, Corona is pretty pointless without the lemon or lime. Without it, it tastes bland and forgettable. But WITH it, the combination of the lemon and the beer makes for a refreshing, tangy and pretty cool drink. Of course, you could argue that you can add the lemon to ANY lager and it'll taste the same, but I suppose it just ain't the same if it ain't drunk from the Corona's clear bottle.

Oh, if you have some tequila lying around, you can use it in a submarine:



I've blogged about How to Make A Submarine a LONG LONG time ago, so go see how exactly it's made and how to drink it. And no, it's more than just dunking a shot of tequila into it and downing the whole thing. Now THIS it for me, the BEST way to drink a Corona, heh heh.

I suppose if forced to choose between Corona and the usual Tigers or Carlsbergs, I would still go for a Corona, though probably more for sentimental reasons than anything else. It IS a pretty refreshing beer, though like I said, make sure you get the lemon, or it's pretty much pointless.


Mexican LL Approves!

The Big One And The Big Beers

Lots of beer. Paired with lots of food. How to say no lar?

I got to try out the new menu at Brussels Beer Cafe at their new outlet in Solaris Mont Kiara in two separate sessions recently (one for the column, one as a blogger. AWESOME LOL), AND got to pair the food with their range of imported beers as well. AWESOME.

Ok, there was a lot of food there, but this ain't a food blog, so if you wanna know more about it then you should go read KY's blog instead.

There WAS one awesomely HUGE sausage that is worth mentioning though. Behold.. THE BIG ONE:



How big is the Big One? Well, in length, it's about the size of Kimberlycun's forearm (minus the middle finger):



In terms of diameter, well, see for yourself in this comparison with a 20 sen coin:



Frankly speaking, it's a bit too er... meaty for me though, and I DEFINITELY won't be able to finish it on my own. And the beer that came with it definitely helped to wash it down, because my jaw got a little tired from chewing it after a while. Heh.

But never mind the food. I was there mostly for the beers. We tried a couple of beers that Brussels had on tap that day, including Konig Ludwing, Hoegaarden, Franziskaner, Warsteiner, Leffe, Stella Artois...



My favorite of the lot is definitely Konig Ludwig. In fact, these days I would not take another wheat beer if there is Konig Ludwig available. It's THAT good. It's refreshing Bavarian wheat beer that is full of flavor, full-bodied and even slightly sweet and easier to drink than say, Paulaner.

Brussels tried pairing the beers with the food, and while some didn't really work, some were quite good, including the Warsteiner lager paired with the pork knuckle:



And also the Hoegaarden with the er.. Mussels cooked in Hoegaarden.

Speaking of Hoegaarden, during the blogger session, we got to drink beer from the GIGANTIC five liter Hoegaarden glass...



Yup, using STRAWS. Which was quite sad. Using straws to drink beer just isn't the same as gulping it down properly, because you can't smell the aroma of the beer properly, and all the amount you suck up from the straw just isn't enough to let you properly taste the damn beer.

But watudu. After all, the glass WAS bigger than the head of a Fireangel:



That tiny glass in front of FA is the cute little Hoegaarden miniature glass they gave each of us as a doorgift.

Just to illustrate further how awesomely BIG the glass is (and how cute the tiny one is), here's another picture featuring Shaolintiger and LL:



During my first session, we got to try a new beer they had in stock from Erdinger - the Erdinger Schneeweisse Winterbier - which is a seasonal wheat beer that is apparently only brewed between November and February.



How does it taste like? Frankly speaking, it's a bit too light for me. It IS slightly better than those shite lite beers from America, but for a German wheat beer, it's just not full-bodied or flavorful enough for my liking.

After that, the big boss of Brussels decided to have some fun and treat us to some less er... conventional drinks. Like this shooter that consists of Midori, Amarula cream liqueur, and something else I don't remember (it might be Jager or codka, I'm not sure):



Then, in response to a shocking revelation from someone who said she had not tried Jagermeister before, he merrily ordered a line of 'Submarine' drinks:



... which was basically just a glass of Carlsberg with a shotglass of Jagermeister chucked into it and downed in one gulp. Urgh. I won't be drinking THAT anytime soon...

All in all, the food at Brussels is pretty good (though a bit pricey for my liking). But the BEER is a different matter. They've got so many different types of beers it'll take a few more visits to try them all (or one VERY LONG visit, heh heh). Who wanna join? :D

Free Music and Cheap Books In Xcess!

Today is Music Freedom Day! And in conjunction with the celebration, Bookxcess is having a Music Appreciation Night tomorrow (Firday) and Saturday, night in conjunction with ongoing their Music Freedom Day promotion:



This event is organized to appreciate some free performances by Malaysian musicians including Azmyl Yunor,

Here are the details:

Date: 4th-5th March 2011 Time: 8pm-9pm
Venue: Bookxcess, 3rd Floor, Amcorp Mall
Admission is free!

RSVP At the Facebook event page, and non-members will get a FREE BookXcess membership and one FREE book thong when they attend the event.

Even if you don't show up for the shows, at least go check out the promotion, which has the AWESOME Rolling Stone Cover-To-Cover box set going for 30% discount from its alrady discounted and cheap price:



Usual price is RM99.90, but for the promo, it's gonna be about RM63 only! Dammit, I should have waited....

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Oh, and at the same time, they're also having a promo for International Women's Day, with discounts for selected women-themed books:




And no, guys, I don't think back-issues of FHM or Maxim count...

Let's Have a Beer Picnic This Sunday! WHEE!!

Do you like beer?
Are you sick of all the usual beers they serve at the pubs?
Then head on over to Sid's Pubs Bukit Tunku this weekend for SID'S BEERFEST, where there will be THIRTY beers from all over the world available for you to try!



Sid's has been having a weekly beer promotion on these bottled beers for almost two weeks now, this is what's available (sorry its a bit blurry, click on it for a clearer version):



That's on top of the regular beers, which I'm sure you're all familiar with:



I'm planning to bring a nice big mat and a picnic lunch there so I can lepak in the BIG garden in front of Sid's and have my beers there! Woot!

Oh, and if you see THIS guy there:



Go say "HI SID!" and tell him to buy ME a drink! MUAHAHA!

PS: For more details, check out the FB Event page HERE.

The Pork Sausage Pimp Kings

Yup, more food.
Nope, still not a food blog.
PFFFBT!

Anyway, Suanie is great.
Suanie is awesome.
Suanie gets us food to eat in awesome places like Jarrod & Rawlins, who invited us - namely Suan, Horng & Yuki, Ringo, Kim, Carol, me and LL - to try out all their porky dishes last week.

Have I mentioned Suanie is awesome? :-D


Yeah, I was still in Oktoberfest mood, so I was still drinking Paulaner. So sue me.

Why suddenly ask us to have pork? Well, apparently, starting October 20th, J&R Ampang and J&R Hartamas will be serving ALL pork dishes at 20% off the nett price every Wednesday! (J&R Damansara Heights, where we went for the food tasting, doesn't have this offer, unfortunately.)

Anyway, on to the food! First up, was the Pork Cumberland Sausage with Mustard, Coleslaw & Mashed Potatoes:



Mmmm, that is one weird yet strangely awesome looking sausage. Damn yummy too. Apparently J&R's sausage factory provides all the sausages to many of the prominent places that sell pork sausages like Sids, and so on. That makes J&R like, the king of pork sausage pimps y'all.

Next up, we had the Gammon Steak with Potatoes & Parsley Sauce:



Yeah, it's a bit thin for my liking, but boy was it tasty. We finished our plate in record time, and even took the plate from Horng's side of the table (where they couldn't finish their food, the wusses hahaha) to finish it. :D

Next, there was the prerequisite Pork Burger:



It's a bit light on the 'accessories' side of things (no extra bacon, cheese, egg in the between the buns), though I'm not sure if that's on purpose so we can REALLY taste the pork patty.

The pork patty? It was quite great actually. It wasn't as dry as some other pork burger patties in other places, and pretty damn juicy actually. I wonder if they can add all the other 'accessories', I'd love to have that burger with double patties and bacon, eggs and cheese... yum yum...

So far, so good. But those were just starters. Because next up came the J&R's Crispy Pork Knuckle:



And then a WHOLE SLAB of their awesome Hickory Baby Back Ribs:



At this point, it was a bit pointless to pretending to be all civilized, eating with cutlery and all. It's all hands on deck, babeh!



Anyway, let's not compare the pork ribs to BBQ Addicts' BBQ Pork ribs, ok? Because we're awesome that way. MUAHAHAHA! But if you must know, J&R's were pretty damn good too. I found mine a bit dry though, but still tasty. And the pork knuckle? Heck, I'm a real sucker for pork knuckles, and this one was just the way I liked it - awesome crispy, fatty skin, and nice tender meat inside.

I have to admit, this is the first time I actually ate at J&R, and so far, I'm liking it. They've also got a pretty decent bar that apparently makes pretty good cocktails too. I wish they had a cocktail menu so we could try some though... Maybe next time I'll come for the drinks, this time, the pork was pretty damn awesome. Thanks Suan for bringing me, and Elaine for setting it up! WOOT!



PS: For more info on J&R, click the image above!

PSS: Jarrod & Rawlins is also working with the National Cancer Society Malaysia (NCSM) to raise funds for their cause, through an ongoing seasonal charity dish -- for every order of the selected charity dish, they will donate RM5 directly to the NCSM

PSSS: Also, if you like wine, J&R will be hosting a Wine Down party on Tuesday, 26th October at J&R AmpWalk. Between 6 - 8pm, you get free-flow house pouring wines and Tiger Draught, plus a dinner buffet, all for just RM69++ per person.

Skewers Skewers Meat on Skewers. Skewer THAT.

A few weeks back, we got an email from The Blogger Formerly Known As Pinkpau asking us to go check out this restaurant called Skewers at Subang Avenue (next to Subang Carrefour), which serves BBQ and grilled meat.

At first I was like, "What, check out a BBQ Addicts competitor? NEVAH!"
But then, I saw the word 'beer' in the invite....



Anyway, when I got there (late), Suan, KY, Haze and Horng were already digging into some finger food, and drinking some sort of sangria drink (which I tried, and didn't really like. Wine just ain't my kinda thing). So naturally, I went for the beer after one glass of that:



Since this is not a food blog (which also means I don't really know what the actual names of the dishes were...); naturally, I'm gonna start off with the drinks first.

Skewers serves Hoegaarden on tap, and the board outside the restaurant says two pints of Hoegaarden at RM45 net (not sure if it's still the same). Not too bad, unfortunately, I don't really like Hoegaarden that much.

But it's still beer, so I ain't complaining. :-D



Anyway, there's a reason why Skewers is called Skewers. All their food are skewered. Ok, not ALL their food, but their specialty IS skewered stuff, grilled and barbecued.

They have skewered lamb, skewered beef, skewered chicken...



And even skewered prawns! Mmmm...



We were also given several humongous burgers...



The fish burger was not bad either...



And finally, dessert!There as apple crumble, chocolate sundae, and best of all, the tiramisu! Woot!



It's not a bad place to eat,
If you like meat, meat and lots of meat.
Hey, that rhymes, neat!

Wanna know more about the place? Click the picture below to check out their Facebook page!