Glenfiddich – Taste The Future

six

I’ve always been a big fan of single (and available) malt whiskeys. I guess it appeals to the more refined side of me (yes, you have to squint, but it’s there :p). I’ve had Glenfiddich Solera Reserve before and I loved it. Thus, I jumped at the chance when Kim invited me to a Glenfiddich whiskey tasting session.

kim

It’s tantalizingly called Glenfiddich – Taste The Future and I was told that we’ll be sampling several Glenfiddich products, including some that are not available in the market (!). How could I refuse and still sleep at night? The ethanol connoisseur in me (no, you don’t have to squint to see this part) arrived promptly at 3 pm to meet up with Mr. Ong (Kim’s dad).

tables

The tasting session was held at elle six art gallery and it was conducted by Mr Ludoviq Ducrocq. I love names I can’t pronounce – Mr Ludoviq Ducrocq is the Global Ambassador for Glenfiddich and he travels around the world to conduct tastings. I want his job. πŸ™

food

There was a righteous spread of food before the whiskey tasting started. I’m not one to eat before drinking since I like drinking on an empty stomach. Just to torture my body, ya know. πŸ˜‰ However, I grabbed a plate and nibbled on some food just to be polite. Heh!

glenfiddich

The highlight of the evening started with a presentation by Mr Ludoviq Ducrocq. There were 7 glasses in front of each seat. The glasses were on a paper liner detailing the age of the Glenfiddich single malt. Present in the parade was:

Glenfiddich 12 year old
Glenfiddich 15 year old
Glenfiddich 18 year old
Glenfiddich 21 year old
Glenfiddich 30 year old

…and two mystery glasses labeled “New Make Spirit” and “Future Glenfiddich“. Intriguing. I like!

presso

I’m lovin’ it already. πŸ™‚

tasting

Mr Ludoviq Ducrocq taught us the proper way to taste single malt. You swirl the liquid around and smell it before sipping it. The whisky is rolled around your tongue while you breathe in to capture the notes of the whisky before swallowing.

intro

We started off with the Glenfiddich 12 year old and progressed throughout the years. Each time before we taste the Glenfiddich, we were shown a video of what happened during the year the aged single malt was made.

salute

I can recognize scenes from 1997 (12 year old), 1994 (15 year old), and 1991 (18 year old). My memory started getting hazy during the 1988 (21 year old) video since I was only 7 then and I can’t relate to the 1979 (30 year old) video at all. I was still a good year away from swimming into my mother in 1979, accounting for the incubation period of 9 months so I don’t remember anything at all.

smells

The Glenfiddich – Taste The Future session also had covered items on the table in front of us. The glasses contain items ranging from honey to figs. You’re supposed to compare the single malt with the items so there was a lot of sniffing and touching going on. Okay, that sounded wrong, but you catch my drift.

Glenfiddich 12 year old has pear and subtle oak notes.
Glenfiddich 15 year old has warm spice, honey and rich fruit notes.
Glenfiddich 18 year old has oak, apple and cinnamon notes.
Glenfiddich 21 year old has vanilla, rich toffee and new leather notes (!).
Glenfiddich 30 year old has sherry, fig and dark chocolate notes.

me kim

It’s a bit disturbing to actually be able to taste the notes in the whisky…especially the new leather. :S

ducrocq

Mr Ludoviq Ducrocq told us to close our eyes and think back to what happened when a particular whisky was bottled. It should be noted that a Glenfiddich 15 year old (for example) could be much older than that – it just means that it’s aged for at least 15 years prior to bottling.

us

I particularly liked the New Make Spirit. Weighing in at a staggering 70% alcohol, it’s Glenfiddich before it goes into the casks for aging. It has a really strong bite – reminds me of this 95% alcohol I had back in Melbourne.

sa team

The Future Glenfiddich is intriguing as well. It’s 7 years old and a good 5 years away from bottling. However, you can taste hints of this Glenfiddich-to-be. It’s only going to be sold in 2014 at least so in 2014, when you drink a Glenfiddich 12 year old, I’ll be there to say “Hah! I drank that 5 years ago!” in a smug manner. :p

…if I’m still alive in 2014, of course. πŸ˜‰

glen

I liked the Glenfiddich
30 year old the best. It has
character and I can appreciate the aging process it went through. It’s as old as my sister and retails for RM 1,430.

group

There is also a bottle of Glenfiddich Rare Collection 40 year old on display, which we unfortunately did not get a chance to taste. This bottle retails for an astounding RM 8,455.

I got to hold it though. =D

drink

I hear it’s the next best thing. :p

Condom trust

condom-trust

I was working on some copy for one of our projects and did the usual screen shot with text box (and arrows) to show which sentence goes where. However, I neglected to clear my search history before taking a screen shot and emailed it to about 7 people. I didn’t even think anything was amiss until my dear PM emailed me:

sh-reply

I honestly couldn’t stop laughing. It just so happens I was researching for tag lines for a project and I typed in “condom trust” coz I wanted to see Durex or Trojan’s take on their branding strategies with regards to trust and reliability.
 
My PM’s exact words were: What have you been researching la…

Her reply totally cracked me up. OMG! I’m still laughing now.

It’s just little things like this that brightens up your day in the office. πŸ™‚

Mysterious mysteries: The Narcotics police bought me a burger instead of me paying them off

police burger

Hot damn! I went to the friendly local neighborhood Ramly Burger stall and ordered a Double Chicken Special Cheese (RM 5.20) for my supper. I was prepared to fork out that amount coz I’m a little sick of eating bread with marmalade every meal.

Anyway, while the dude was flipping my burgers, this van pulled up with a PDRM insignia in all its glory emblazoned on the side of the vehicle. The car plate was WXX 28XX and it offloaded four (4) people – one in police uniform. The others were drunk, judging from their gravy stained shirts and the offhanded way they were consuming their lok-lok.

Well, one of them struck up a conversation with me – small talk, mainly about burgers and stuff. I found out that they are from the Narcotics Division of Bukit Aman (I shit you not) and they acted like they owned the place. I was a bit miffed when the burger guy served them first, and was about to voice out my displeasure at the preferential treatment when the alpha male slapped a RM 50 note down and said everything is on him.

There were about 7 people there – the four police (high ranking ones judging from their attire and attitude), myself, and two kids. The top dog paid for all of us, making a circular gesture with his forefinger to indicate that everything is on him. I wanted to pay my share but the burger guy refused payment – “Boss belanja“, so I reckon they must be regulars as well.

Thus, I nodded at the man who paid for my burger and said thank you. He smiled (in a rather inebriated manner) and waved it off with a shrug.

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, you don’t pay the police in the Narcotics Division. The police in the Narcotics Division pays YOU!

(or at least buy you a burger)

I love KL!!! =D

I won an LCD TV from Sony Style!

sony bravia

I won a Sony LCD TV from Sony Style. It’s from this contest the good people at Sony entered for me when I purchased my dSLR. The lucky draw gift I snagged is the KLV-20S400A BRAVIA LCD TV. It retails for RM 1,799 and it’s a flat, compact LCD TV which you can also use as a monitor. Check out the specs here. It’s brand new (just picked it up last Sunday) and unopened and comes with the full Sony warranty.

sony letter

I need cold, hard cash more than a TV to get through the month (please refer to previous post) so I’m planning to sell it. I’ll let it go for RM 1,300 (RM 500 cheaper than retail) but before I list it on Mudah.my I’ll give anyone who reads my blog the opportunity to purchase it for RM 1,200.

sony win

Email me if you’re interested. I’ll even cut a deal with you for more discounts if you’re a blogger (Terms & Conditions apply of course ;)).

Poverty: It’s the shiznit, yo!

frugality

I am going on a frugality drive this month due to a shortage of funds. I am only left with RM 200 for the remainder of the month (!). Ginny tells me she can survive on RM 2 per day on food (WTF?) and my coworker Karen taught me some sound financial tips to conserve money so that’s what I’m going to do this month.

I dropped by Giant to purchase some groceries to tide me through the month. I will be eating bread for breakfast and dinner this month. Let’s see a breakdown of the items I got:

Sandwich bread 500 grams (store brand):
RM 2.29
Nescafe 3-in-1 instant coffee x 2: RM 17.78 (purchase first pack at RM 10.29, second pack goes for RM 7.49)
F&N Rose Cordial 2L: RM 5.49 (it was the same price as the store brand)
Marmalade (store brand): RM 2.99
JW Chocolate & Banana spread: RM 9.89 (it’s the cheapest I could find, Nutella is almost double the price)

I’ve been going for the cheapest products and purchase store brands if I can. However, I was (un)pleasantly surprised when I went to the cashier – I had to fork out RM 38.44. Money doesn’t go that far nowadays…

I’ve calculated the cost per day though, and it’s still cheaper than what I usually spend so it’s worth it.

My breakfast: RM 2.20 (from the bakery across the road where I work)
My lunch: RM 5 – RM 15 (will be cutting down on this starting tomorrow)
My dinner: RM 5.20 – RM 14.50 (depending on whether it’s burgers or nasi kandar)

With my new frugality drive (somewhat related to Project MISER) I have assessed my current spending as such:
Breakfast: RM 0.27 (based on two slices of bread with marmalade with 17 slices in the loaf – inclusive of crust)
Lunch: RM 5 max (will drink air suam)
Dinner: RM 0.54 (four slices of bread with banana Chocolate & Banana spread)

I’m hoping to get through this month with just RM 200 to my name.

My belated 28th birthday

penyet

I went for lunch with Eiling at The Curve this afternoon – it was supposed to be last week but we were both kinda busy so we postponed it to this week. Eiling told me about this place called Waroeng Penyet which serves authentic Indonesian food so we headed there for our midday sustenance.

penyet interior

You can tell it’s authentic by the teh botol (except this is teh peket) that they serve. My Indonesian friends in Melbourne had this thing about teh botol – literally “bottled tea” – it’s practically an institution in Indonesia.

penyet food

The ayam penyet (their flagship dish – translated as flattened chicken) was awesome as well.

penyet 32

The new answer to life, the universe and everything is not 42…but 32. Economic recession la…10 people retrenched. :p

penyet cig

Yiling passed me some cigarettes by proxy from her recent trip to Perth – these are premium Dunhill tobacco products which I swear I’m not gonna smoke and collect instead. Then again, I’ve said that about a lot of things as well and I always end up smoking/drinking/consuming them anyway. πŸ™

penyet wallet

Eiling gave me the best present ever – a wallet! I have been (not so subtly) hinting about being relieved of my wallet in Bangsar when I was mugged and I’ve never gotten a wallet since then. Eiling kinda picked up the overt hints and got me…

penyet present

…a HIDESIGN natural leather wallet. Awesome! Thanks Eiling! You the best. πŸ™‚

penyet us

I’m glad I’m fortunate enough to have friends like these. Cheers EZY (Ziling included or she’s gonna say you guys make her look bad again :p).

Thanks for making time for lunch with a commoner instead of the usual Tan Sri, Datuk and Datin company you keep Eiling.

Honored la, I. πŸ˜‰

The David Archuleta Showcase fiasco

da ginny

I came into possession of two tickets for the David Archuleta Showcase at 3 pm today and picked Ginny up to go to Sunway with me. I planned to arrive at her house at 12:30 pm but missed a turning and ended up being stuck in KL traffic on a Saturday. I only managed to get to her place at 1:30 pm.

da showcase

Anyway, we arrived at Sunway Lagoon Amphitheater at slightly before 2 pm. We were turned away at the parking area for reasons unknown. They had barriers to the David Archuleta Showcase Car Park and despite plenty of empty lots, everyone was asked to park elsewhere so we had no recourse but to park at Sunway Medical Center and walk over.

da crowd

There was a huge crowd waiting at the amphitheatre and we queued up at the entrance. I should have expected a massive turnout since I watched the YouTube video of David Archuleta being mobbed by fangirls at KLIA when he arrived.

da arrive

I thought we managed to get in just in time, since we passed the first security check, but everyone was turned away from the second security check due to the place being filled to capacity. The reason given was that the stadium was already packed with 3,000 people and they could not accommodate any more.

da disgruntled

There were at least a hundred people waiting to get in and most of them have waited there for ages, like us. Just look at the disgruntled faces in the crowd.

da banner

It’s neither DiGi nor Sony Music’s fault – the tickets had Fine Print (TM) at the back that clearly states ticket holders are not guaranteed entry. I still feel it could have been better planned though. The tickets were oversold – there were 3,000 people in there by 2 pm and they stopped letting people in after that.

I got the tickets thanks to Nuffnang, and we wanted to get in to take photos and videos of the showcase. I felt sorry for the fans who came later than us, who either bought the CD or won the tickets from a radio station, and was turned away. We left at 3:15 pm when it was clear that they were not letting anyone in come hell or high water.

We bumped into some latecomers after that who asked us why we were leaving and we told them they couldn’t get in coz the stadium was filled to capacity. They had bought the CD and was pretty bummed about being turned away.

I felt really bad coz I was working and I couldn’t pick up the tickets so I got Ginny to pick up the tickets for me…and we ended up not being able to see David Archuleta. We just lost the window of opportunity by probably 10 minutes – if I had not missed the turning to Ginny’s house or managed to park at the amphitheatre entrance, we would have gotten in.

da us

Thus left behind, we headed to Ajisen Ramen at Sunway Pyramid and had a late lunch before heading back.

I knew we should have arrived earlier considering the popularity of David Archuleta with his…er, enthusiastic target demographic. Oh well, at least I’ll remember the turning to Ginny’s place now. :p

dSLR, where art thou?

girl bubbles

I’ve always believed in carrying a digicam with me at all times, coz you never know when a Kodak Moment (TM) will present itself. I have never gone wanting since I usually purchase compact digicams which I can slip into my pants. I’ve had a bulky “prosumer” digital camera in the past, but lugged it around with me everywhere I go anyway (with a tenacity that would probably put most jihadists to shame)

girl blur.

I still maintain this practice (old habits die hard) but for some reason I left my dSLR in my car today.

girl bathtub

Murphy’s Law kicked into effect just now and I found myself in the presence of a young, nubile girl (OMG, did I write that out loud?) blowing bubbles from a bathtub.

I had to take the photos and video using my crappy cell phone.

/kicks self.

Must. Carry. dSLR. At. All. Times.

Nuffnang Music Bash 2009

…a long time ago (actually it was last Saturday) in a galaxy far, far away (Maison is quite far from PJ).

maison

Warning: This post contains over 25,000 words.

kim

I didn’t recognize Kim – she came as Bob the Builder. OMG! I thought she was a dude. πŸ˜‰

julian

Julian came as Bob Marley complete with a huge joint. A white guy passing off as black and an Asian trying to pass off as white. Heh!

cindy

Cindy did it again. Geddit? Britney Spears? Oops, I did it again?

carol

Carol is strapped and she’s not afraid to use it.

aud

Audrey makes me feel tall. I love taking photos with her. Heh!

jamie

I played Guitar Hero on the PS3 with Jamie. I sang Everlong and Drain You.

jess

I met Jess for the first time.

food

Food was served.

yvonne

Yvonne pan cool. She also liddat first time I met her in Sunway Pyramid. :p

desmond

Desmond representing. Sarawakian Pride!

tim

Tim, the man.

andrea

Andrea Tee!

ginny

Ginny was security (see it rhymes).

girls

More camwhoring.

jolyn

Jolyn damn hardcore – she took a bus down from Penang and back just for the event.

sue

Sue – Red Bull vodka without vodka.

song

The male Nuffies doing a number on stage. It was awesome.

jai ho

The female Nuffies doing the Jai Ho dance. Jai Ho!

stage

I was called up on stage…

eminem

…attempted to rap.

win

I won Worst Celebrity Impersonator as predicted. πŸ˜‰ I got a broom (very useful for cleaning the condo) and two Gold Glass tickets to GSC. Not too shabby. =D

broom

Who wants to touch my broomstick?

tzia

Tzia texted me but I didn’t see her until after the event.

pam

I stole the FREE HUGS sign from Dusty to pose with Pam before heading home.

It was fun – a congregation of the Nuffnang community. A picture speaks a thousand words and there are 25 in this post. It’s quite possibly the longest post ever and it’s going to rape your bandwidth. =D

F1 2009 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix

sepang

F1 is synonymous with fast cars, grid girls and pit babes. I hear most girls won’t kick the drivers out of bed for eating cookies under the sheets too but I can’t comment on that since I’m heterosexual. πŸ˜‰ The final race was on the 5th of April at 5 pm in Sepang International Circuit.

race

I went to watch Formula 1 last Sunday with Debra and Desmond (one of the Top 10 bloggers in Malaysia, it was an honor to meet him). It was the final race day (and my birthday) and we met up at 1 Utama before catching the SkyBus down to Sepang.

bus

We decided to take public transport instead of driving there. I’m glad we didn’t drive there – the traffic was appalling. The bus cost RM 15 from 1 Utama to Sepang International Circuit.

tickets

Our tickets were in the C2 area – covered hillside tickets, right around a tight corner which allows for great photo ops. It’s RM 200 each. Formula 1 tickets isn’t exactly cheap, cheers to Nuffnang for furnishing the tickets. Anyway, we caught the 3 pm bus, thinking we had ample time for the 5 pm race…

us bus

…except we did not account for the massive turnout. The inbound lanes were gridlocked so badly that some people resorted to parking their cars by the roadside and walking to the circuit. One of the outbound lanes had to be opened for inbound traffic to accommodate for the astounding amount of vehicles on the road.

traffic

Our bus was in that lane. What was supposed to be a 1 hour journey took more than two hours (!). The race had already started by the time we got there. There were street vendors everywhere – enterprising souls selling everything from umbrellas (it was drizzling) to beer (at a whopping RM 15 per can).

ferrari

I managed to find this corner where the F1 cars slow down to make the curve. It’s the perfect spot for taking photos of the cars since they brake before approaching the sharp bend. Ferrari, baby!

crowd

The crowd turnout was amazing – we have some hardcore fans braving the rain (it had started to pour by then) in the uncovered areas.

lead

There were even some people trying to get a Mexican Wave going. I have no idea why, it’s not a soccer match, but to each his own. πŸ™‚

No one can be told what F1 is. You just gotta hear the scream of the F1 engines to experience it for yourself. πŸ˜‰

track

It was fun though…the crowd was great, and so was the company.

overtake

The sky turned a forbidding shade of ebony and the loud rumblings of thunder could be seen (and heard, respectively) about an hour into the race.

rain

The inevitable downpour was nothing short of prodigious – the drains behind the covered hillstand overflowed and caused the already muddy grounds to be even muddier.

drain

I think all of us had a tough time walking without slipping due to the poor grip afforded by the wet mud.

umbrella

It got to the point where I had to stand under Deb’s umbrella ella ella eh eh eh since we decided to go up to the uncovered concrete instead of slipping around in the mud.

pacer

The pacer car came on the race track after that and we all thought the race would be postponed until the rain stops. It was seriously POURING on Sunday.

The race never resumed. It was canceled.

group

People started leaving and we headed for the bus back to 1 Utama as well. We managed to catch the 7:30 pm bus back. Desmond had to meet up with his friends so I had dinner with Deb at Sushi Zanmai before sending her back home.

sushi

It was fun to watch the race – the powerful roar of the high octane engines, the energy of the crowd, the company of good friends. I’m glad I went even though the race got canceled due to the heavy downpour.

It’s a great way to spend a Sunday. πŸ™‚

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