…to my shock and horror, the new bottles of Guinness Stout is now 6.8% alcohol instead of the previous 8% alcohol.
Ethanol and tobacco
The Frontera Margarita Man
Frontera Bar & Grill serves a wide range of premium and super premium 100% blue agave tequila. This here is the official Frontera Margarita Man, who has served thousands of margaritas during his tenure at the bar.
The Speedy Gonzalez is a cocktail with Red Bull, watermelon liquor and Sauza 100% pure blue agave tequila. It’s under the Hornitos label and packs a real punch. The Red Bull (caffeine and Taurine) gives a slightly stimulating aspect to offset the CNS depressant qualities of the Sauza Hornitos tequila.
Watch the Speedy Gonzolez being made live! You can’t taste the alcohol inside, and the stimulants make you feel like you’re not feeling the alcohol too, but you are – a drink to watch out for. 🙂
The Patron Spirits Company also makes coffee liqueur, which I didn’t know until I went to Frontera. Dubbed the Patron XO Cafe, it’s like Kahlua, except this coffee liqueur weighs in at a whopping 40% alcohol! It can be sipped neat and taste a hell of a lot better than Kahlua.
Frontera Bar & Grill also makes a mean B-52 with Patron XO Cafe instead of Kahlua. This doubles the alcohol content so I think it should be dubbed the B2 Spirit “Stealth Bomber” instead. It’s a shooter with B-52 “Stratofortress” ingredients with the Kahlua substituted with the premium Patron XO Cafe.
The tequila based drinks at Frontera is sweetened with agave syrup instead of sugar syrup so the taste of agave is preserved. It’s really a good concept, and a great place for tequila based cocktails. The unopened Gran Patron Platinum at the front costs RM 1,400 per bottle. Larry didn’t let me taste it though. 😉 It’s understandable – he hasn’t had the chance to sample it himself.
Tequila is underrated in Malaysia due to the non-premium brands flooding the market but tasting the premium and super premium brands has given me much respect for this drink from Mexico.
Check it out at Frontera Bar & Grill @ Jaya One.
Give me Libertas, or give me Death!
Libertas is a South African Cabernet Sauvignon bottled at the West
Cape. I have been taking advantage of the new 5-day work week
implemented by our company to chill out on a Saturday afternoon after
sleeping in late.
Melody brought some KFC over to my house and we ate the
X-Meals (is is just me, or has KFC burgers shrunk over the past
decade?) while I opened up the bottle of wine. I have now acquired the
discipline of keeping liquor around the house without the temptation of
consuming it immediately, which my addiction counselor would term as Progress (TM). 😉
Libertas is Latin for liberty, and the title of the post is made popular by Patrick Henry. Anyway, a 5-day work week may be the norm in KL and other parts of the country, but over here in Sarawak, it’s cause for celebration! =D
RM 8.80 – Cigarette prices increase (again)
It seems that our government has saw it fit to remodel the pricing structure of cigarettes to a more auspicious number, no doubt inspired by the 08/08/08 overload during the Beijing Olympics. The price of premium cigarettes will be imposed a Sin Tax (TM) of RM 0.03 per cigarette. This makes the existing RM 8.20 for a 20 pack increase to RM 8.80.
Very auspicious! I’m sure I’ll be very lucky and not die a horrible death in the accursed clutches of lung cancer just coz the price for cigarettes has been raised by 60 cents to RM 8.80. Thank you!
Oh well, the tobacco tax has increased again. So, what else is new?
At least I have a stockpile of duty free cigarettes thanks to Cheryl.
HDS:
2002: There is a random post about university life and a really interesting post that will not be linked from here. Sorry, you do not have Level Six clearance to view that post. 😉
2003: I think I would classify this as site news now but I seemed to be wittier back then, no doubt due to certain cognitive function boosters. 😉 It’s a thing I used to do back then – basically a teaser post for the next day with the bulk being updates about my life.
2004: Radio (blog?) silence.
2005: Blog silence.
2006: My Pièce de résistance of 2006. I tried to kill myself and lived to blog about it while hospitalized by using the WiFi from the hotel next to the hospital and a notebook. I am pretty fucking impressed by my dedication to the blog back then. 😉
Camel Turkish Royal
Camel Turkish Royal is a premium brand of cigarettes available in the US which was been kindly furnished to me for a review.
The back of the flip-top box contains the familiar Camel C-Note for 1 dollar cash which is redeemable for Camel products in the US.
Camel Turkish Royal opens up to reveal fine lattice work on the filter
and the words “Turkish Royal” imprinted down the length of the
cigarette.
Camel Turkish Royal is a nice and smooth smoke, with a satisfying aftertaste.
The most interesting aspect of this cigarette is the attention to detail on the Camel Turkish Royal cigarettes.
]]>Nite Devil and Spooky Halloween Limited Editions
I was at Ta Kiong (the local import specialist shop) today buying avocado (tell you about it tomorrow) when I stumbled upon nite [sixthseal.com]. I remember Cherie getting it in KL and now it seems like there are two new limited edition Halloween bottles. The two Limited Edition Halloween bottles complement each other – hot and cool.
Nite Spooky Cool
Experience the deadly chills of citrus flavored blend with a shadow of lemon juice.
Nite Devil Hot
Unleash the beast with a fiery mix of playful exotic fruit flavors.
Nite Devil and Spooky tastes a lot like the Pepsi Fire and Ice [sixthseal.com] concoction. Nite Devil “feels” warm to the mouth but has an intense fruity flavor. Nite Spooky on the other hand is very cold and refreshing. It is interesting to note that Nite Devil has “Warm agent” and Nite Spooky has “Cooling agent” listed as its ingredients.
It tastes great and I like seasonal promotions so I got a couple of them to keep.
]]>Johnnie Walker Swing
Johnnie Walker Swing is a Johnnie Walker product line that has one cool factor – the bottle design. Johnnie Walker Swing is described as an “exceptionally smooth whisky created in the early part of the 20th century in the golden age of transatlantic travel” which explains the bottle design which swings back and forth, probably for stability in ships.
Johnny Walker Swing costs RM 300 and the best thing about it is that it actually swings. The bottle actually swings. Check out the swinging action:
Download: Johnny Walker Swing [sixthseal.com]
]]>Project MISER DAY 2: Saturday night
I didn’t spend a single cent on Saturday night, thanks to Joanne.
She bought me the 5 Guinness Stout for RM 50 special, which would have put a huge dent into the project rationing if I were the one who got it.
I still have two bottles left in bottle keep at Luconia from last month so 7 Guinness Stouts and a couple of Dormicums was about right to get me there.
Thanks Joanne, for getting the drinks!
Remainder: RM 162.20
]]>SKL strawberry cigarettes
I was at Point One and noticed a new range of cigarettes from Switzerland. It’s called SKL and comes with various flavors with two premium flagship brands.
I got the SKL Strawberry which is described on the pack as “strawberry cigarettes tastefully blended with pipe tobacco”.
The cool factor in the cigarette lies in the presentation – the entire cigarette is black. It’s really neat, for a lack of a better adjective at this hour of the night.
SKL Strawberry smokes really well too, at least in my not-so-humble-opinion. Cherie and Joanne said it tastes like incense. I like it, but your milage may vary. I’m going to try the others in the SKL range.
]]>Dunhill Top Leaf review
Dunhill Top Leaf is an ultra premium cigarette manufactured by Dunhill to contain only 100% top leaf tobacco in the cigarette. It retails for RM 13 for a pack of 20’s (albeit a really nice pack ;)) in selected retail outlets. I got mine from the KLIA airport – brought a couple of packs back.
Dunhill Top Leaf comes in a large form factor box similar to 25’s but much slimmer in design. There is a leaf imprint on the top of the pastel red embossed box with the accompanying text “Dunhill ‘D’ Top Leaf” and “100% Top Leaf Tobacco” inscribed at the bottom. The entire box looks nothing short of classy and embodies premium tobacco.
The design of the box also includes an embossed BAT (British American Tobacco) figurehead on the top. The overall design is minimalist with the words “100% Top Leaf Tobacco” on the bottom saying it all. I did get a lot of looks bringing it out, probably due to the unusual design.
Dunhill Top Leaf is described as “The top leaves of each tobacco plant receive the most sun and develop the most distinctive flavors. Our blenders use only leaves from the top half of the tobacco plant to create these remarkably flavorful cigarettes” in a small side bar at the back of the textured box, as well as the stamp “Made in England”.
Dunhill Top Leaf opens up to reveal two foil wrapped compartments with each side containing 10 cigarettes. I like the foil design – it keeps half the cigarettes fresh while the other half is opened. The dual compartment flat design is standard in most ultra premium cigarettes.
The foil wrapped compartment opens up to reveal 10 cigarettes with the Dunhill logo and the red embossed “D” below it. I like the feel of the textured and embossed matte cigarette box as well, although that has nothing to do with how well it smokes, it still contributes to the ultra premium experience that you’re paying for. 😉
Dunhill Top Leaf comes out as a really smooth smoke with a nice distinctive taste that separates it from regular cigarettes. The only complaint I have regarding the cigarettes (and this was also iterated by a friend who tried it) is that it’s too mild…the cigarettes may provide a smooth smoke but the nicotine hit falls a bit short of the mark.
Dunhill Top Leaf is a nice, smooth ultra premium cigarette though.
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