ethanol

Shrimp shots a.k.a. Drunken Prawn

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…a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.

shrimp shots story

The legendary shrimp shots was created during an inebriated session in Luconia. Fresh, live shrimp somehow found its way into the bar and someone came up with the idea of putting it into shots of tequila. It started out as an experiment to see how long the shrimp would survive in the hostile, high alcohol content environment. We also wanted to see if shrimp would swim sideways when it got drunk.

The shrimp started swimming frantically, waggling its tiny little shrimp feet. Unfortunately, there was no sideways drunken prawn action. 🙁

The dare for someone to down the shrimp shot came…and yours truly bravely stepped up to slam the shot (with the live shrimp still inside).

shrimp shots

Download: Shrimp shots video [sixthseal.com]

The next experiment came along (okay, we were just messing around) and I downed it again, to the aghast of most people. 🙂

drunken prawn

Download: Drunken prawn video [sixthseal.com]

The drunken prawn lives!!!

(inside my stomach)

Credits:
Hope Foo
Cherie Foo
Poh Huai Bin
Jimmy
David

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Drunk and Disorderly

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drunk and disorderly

He should have been on the cover of Drunk and Disorderly. =D

Behind the Scenes: The making of Drunk and Disorderly

drunk and disorderly making of

The bottles are neatly arranged around the subject to resemble behavior consistent with binge alcohol consumption…

drunk and disorderly prawn

…and a prawn is added for a touch of authenticity. The prawn is an inside joke…more about that in the next post. 😉

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Herradura Tequila – Silver, Reposado, Anejo, Suprema

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herradura tequila

Herradura is one of the premium tequila brands from Mexico and is considered by many to be the best Mexican tequila in the market. It is near impossible to get it over here in Malaysia, but the Cooknengr [cooknengr.com] himself passed me the range of Herradura all natural 100% blue agave tequila samplers bottles the last time he came back from the United States.

Herradura Silver
This tasted spicy, with strong hints of pepper (?) which lasted into the after taste. Herradura is a great, high quality tequila – it’s not something you down with a chaser. Herradura Silver is the lowest range of tequila (aged for just 40 days) from the legendary Herradura estate and it still beats other tequila brands by a long shot (no pun intended).

Herradura Reposado
The reposado or “rested” aged (for less than a year) tequila from Herradura has a more complex flavor compared to the plata/blanca “silver” range. There is a noticeable gold color compared to the Herradura Silver range and the taste is more mellow compared to the peppery taste of the former. It leaves a noticeable long but pleasant finish on the palate.

Herradura Anejo
Herradura Anejo is aged for 2 years (one year longer than the Mexican government regulations before a tequila can be called “Anejo”) and this aging process translates well to the tequila. I never expected tequila to be aged like other premium liquors, and I was pleasantly surprised. The dark rich golden tequila imparts an oak aged flavor (and a bit of a bite) to the palate. It’s great!

Herradura Suprema
The Herradura Suprema range is the top shelf range of tequila from Herradura and it comes in a slightly different bottle design. Unfortunately, it was lost in transit (read: someone else drank it) so I’m unable to compare this to the other three tequilas from Herradura. I was not exactly sober that night and I think someone nicked it while they were looking at the bottles. Damn it, they just had to take the best one. :p

herradura tequila agave

The Herradura (which means horseshoe) range of tequilas is a great sampler of tequilas – it’s quality tequila made from 100% blue agave that’ll forever change the way you view tequila. Tequila isn’t just a liquor to drink in shots followed by chasers (that stereotype probably originates from cheap tequila) but can be a great flavorful liquor that can be enjoyed by sipping it neat.

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Glenfiddich Solera Reserve Single Malt (15 Year Old)

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glenfiddich solera reserve 15

Glenfiddich Solera Reserve 15 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky is one of the product lines of the popular Glenfiddich brand, which is the best-selling single malt Scotch whisky in the world. Glenfiddich is usually associated with the “Special Reserve” 12 Year Old variant and the “Solera Reserve” 15 Year Old single malt is a less common and more premium Scotch whisky from their product line.

glenfiddich solera reserve drink

The Glenfiddich Solera Reserve 15 Year Old single malt comes in the distinctive Glenfiddich tube box that opens on one end and the unique triangle shaped bottle. The Solera Reserve bottle is amber instead of the green tinted bottle seen in the 12 year old Special Reserve. The differences are not merely cosmetic though, the more mature 15 year old Solera Reserve has more complex notes compared to Glenfiddich 12 year old Special Reserve.

glenfiddich solera reserve 15yo

Glenfiddich 15 Year Old Solera Reserve is a Speyside single malt produced from three types of casks – traditional American bourbon, Spanish sherry and new oak. It is mixed in a large Solera vat, made of Oregon pine and the beautifully balanced single malt is left to settle in a small Solera tun before bottling. Interesting…I just grabbed that from the Glenfiddich liner notes. 😉

glenfiddich solera reserve bottle

The Glenfiddich Solera Reserve has a more complex taste compared to the 12 Year Old Special Reserve, with a smoother and deeper flavor that reveals fruit, spice and a touch of oak. It has a long and lingering aftertaste, and is great to drink neat or with some ice. It’s a bit of a sacrilege to use mixers in single malt Scotch whiskies. Expect the Glenfiddich Solera Reserve to set you back about RM 400.

Glenfiddich has a wide range of single malt Scotch whisky from Special Reserve 12 Year Old, Solera Reserve 15 Year Old, Ancient Reserve 18 Year Old, Gran Reserva 21 Year Old, to the prestigious Glenfiddich 30 year old. I highly recommend the Solera Reserve 15 Year Old for the best price/performance ratio. 🙂

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The Macallan – Single Malt Highland Scotch Whisky

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the macallan scotch whisky

The Macallan is a single malt Highland Scotch whisky. It’s usually available in the 12 year old single malt version matured in Sherry Oak casks. The Macallan is distilled in their own distillery (which is what differentiates premium single malt from blended whiskeys) in Speyside, Scotland.

the macallan single malt

The Macallan is one of the best single malt Scotch whisky that I’ve ever tasted. I opened a bottle at Luconia and drank half the bottle in the first session (with some other people). The Macallan has a cork instead of a metal cap, which is a plus point for me. It’s considered a Highland single malt Scotch which puzzles me since The Macallan is obviously a Speyside single malt from their distillery location.

macallan sixthseal

The Macallan tastes great, subjectively better than Glenfiddich, the other premium single malt Scotch that Luconia carries. The Macallan 12 year single malt Scotch comes in a rich gold color and goes down really smoothly with hints of sherry and spice, with a sweet smoky finish. The Macallan is usually priced around the RM 300 region (pub prices, not retail) in drinking establishments, though YMMV depending on your location.

There is also a bottle of Johnny Walker Swing in the background – it’s a neat bottle of blended whisky that actually swings back and forth when you put it down on the table. It’s a great presentation bottle but The Macallan tastes better. It comes highly recommended from me!

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Nite at night

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nite alcopop

Nite is an alcopop drink (flavored alcoholic beverage) available at your friendly neighborhood hypermarket. It contains 4 different flavors in a nicely done package which features a strap for easy carrying. It’s made with “fruit wine” which probably means some fermentation occured at some point of the manufacturing process. The bottles weigh in at the standard 5% alcohol and I really like the presentation of the nite Special Pack4.

Strawberry Delight
This tastes like artificially flavored strawberries. I have been trying to open this for a long time (don’t ask) so the carbonation is minimal. It’s still good though…the strawberry taste is recognizably synthetic, but it’s not cloying. The lack of carbonation makes it easy to down it in a single swig. That’s a Good Thing (TM). 😉

Eden Apple
One word – excessively acidic. Okay, that’s two words, but nite seriously needs to work on the flavor composition of this one. The acidity level is close to white wine (at least to my untrained palate) and white wine is the only type of alcohol I turn down coz it gives me gastric problems. This one made my ulcers act up…

Lemon Fizz
It tastes like a reasonable approximation of lemonade so that gets the thumbs up from me. The wonders of the modern synthetic flavor industry! 😉 It’s the plainest one from the series, both packaging and taste wise, but it works anyway. It’s good! Nothing fancy, just a lemonade flavored alcopop…and it’s not acidic, despite being a lemon based drink. It tastes remarkably similar to Two Dogs.

Passionate Orange
The name sounds appealing enough but I’ve never really liked orange flavored drinks. It somehow never tastes like REAL orange juice and we all know what real OJ tastes like so that’s a high bar if there was one. nite Passionate Orange superseded my (admittedly low) expectations and came up with the closest approximation to orange I’ve ever had.

Nite: Make The Best of Yours!

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Copial Tuak rice wine review

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copial tuak shelves

Copial Tuak is an attempt at marketing tuak
(traditional Iban rice wine) towards the premium market. It retails at
a staggering RM 11.90 per bottle and is adorned with minimalist but
aesthetically pleasing design placements.

copial tuak rice wine

I saw Copial Tuak for sale in Demak Laut, Kuching (tuak is
a Sarawakian product) in a standard 330 ml long necked beer bottle
(similar to the alcopop bottle sizes) and it comes with the tagline
“The authentic rice wine”.

copial tuak demak laut

Copial Tuak is a sanitized and quality controlled product aimed at
disassociating it from the traditional Iban longhouse homebrew
production methods. Tuak is a rice wine served during the Dayak
festival of Gawai and it can be deceptively potent.

copial tuak rice wine drink

The Copial Tuak I got standardizes the alcohol content at 15% which
makes it higher than most wines and it comes in a 330 ml bottle. I have
no complains about the taste – it’s slightly sweet and it tastes like
genuine Iban tuak.

P/S – My apologies in advance pertaining to bouts of disturbing phallic imagery that any of the photos induce. 😉

Choya Umeshu (Plum liqueur) cup container review

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choya umeshu isetan

Isetan in KL has a wide range of sake and shochu
in unique containers ranging from personal cup style containers to
cardboard packages that would look more in place in the milk and dairy
products aisle. It’s one of my favorite destinations when I was working
in KL due to the wide range of sake and shochu (distilled Japanese
style “vodka”). It’s a great place to browse when you’re feeling
particularly adventurous and have a hankering for a different alcoholic
product or if your wallet is somehow weighing you down real bad. 😉

choya umeshu cup

I was particularly interested in Choya Umeshu when I was in KL a couple of weeks ago. Umeshu is Plum liqueur
and this particular product is made by Choya, one of the biggest brands
for Umeshu and it actually has a plum inside. This is one of the more
interesting shochu (which should not be confused with sake) containers
– the personal cup container. It costs RM 26 for a small 200 ml cup
style container.

choya umeshu text

The text on Choya Umeshu states that “The added natural fruit is
called UME in Japanese. The organic acid of UME balances the beautiful
taste of CHOYA. CHOYA will satisfy your taste buds till the last drop”.
Choya Umeshu is made from Fresh Japanese Plum, Alcohol and Sugar and
the full name seems to be Choya Umeshu 160. The product is made in
Osaka, Japan and not only has one, but two plums inside the drink.

choya umeshu open

The personal Choya Umeshu cup container has a plastic lid,
presumably for the benefit of those who does not opt to enjoy the
umeshu in one sitting, thus allowing resealing on the container. There
is a soft metal lid beneath the plastic cap and it peels back easily
via a ring mechanism to open up the umeshu (plum liquor) without any
other opening implements. The seal states that Choya Umeshu contains
160 ml of 15% alcohol plum liquor with the plums taking up 20 ml (which
is equivalent to 20 mg) of the drink.

choya umeshu plum

Here’s a closer look at the Choya Umeshu cup – there are two plums
inside, infusing the shochu with a strong plum taste. The liqueur is
clear colored and comes in a green tinted glass container. The plums
are slightly wrinkled but retain the springy texture of preserved
plums. It looks like the plums used to make plum drink at coffee shops
over here – the old school establishments have a huge jar of similar
plums soaked in brine.

choya umeshu plum closeup

Umeshu tastes great! It’s best served as an aperitif (apologies in
advance for using this pretentious wine snob term ;)) due to the nice
acidity that the plum infuses the shochu with. It tastes like plum
infused alcohol – it’s hard to describe the tang of sweet acidity that
hits the tongue, followed by smooth distilled alcohol ending with a
plum aftertaste…

…oh wait, I just described it.

Adios Motherfucker – Something wicked this way comes…

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The Adios Motherfucker (AMF) cocktail is a time honored (well, maybe
not, but saying “time honored” is as fun as saying “Adios,
Motherfucker”) one which usually is made up of:

Vodka (15 ml)
Rum (15 ml)
Tequila (15 ml)
Gin (15 ml)
Triple Sec (15 ml)

topped up with Sour mix and 7-Up (60 ml each).

I decided to go for something stronger and the bartender and Luconia
managed to cook up something even better. It’s a variation of the AMF
so I’m going to call it “Something wicked this way comes…” which
sounds pretty cool, but Cherie pointed out one major flaw in it:

Cherie: That’s a really long name, man. I can’t really say to a customer “Oh, do you want to try Something wicked this way comes”.

…which is a really good point. “Something Wicked” it is then. It
rolls off the tongue nicely too, “Do you want to try Something Wicked?”.

Anyway, this particular drink is made up of:

Gordon’s Gin (30 ml)
Bacardi Rum (30 ml)
Vodka (30 ml)
Tequila (30 ml)
Whisky (30 ml)
Triple Sec (30 ml)

topped up with lager (beer) and Guinness Stout. It’s a bit stronger
than AMF due to the topping up with alcoholic drinks (beer and stout)
instead of non-alcoholic mixers (sour mix and 7-Up).

adios motherfucker

Download: Something Wicked [sixthseal.com]

The drink ratio isn’t as important as the point of making a drink that will get you real drunk real fast. I had several Dormicum
tablets and STILL couldn’t sleep so I went and downed two of these
motherfuckers in one shot (it’s served in a Long Island tea glass) and
I basically got really fucked up. 😉

This thing is fucking toxic. It’s something wicked, alright…

Yeah, sixthseal.com is back and its as un-Malaysian as ever (albeit legally). 😉

Shine On Georgia Moon

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shine on georgia moon corn whiskey

Shine On Georgia Moon Corn Whiskey is a popular
distilled liquor made of corn with roots in moonshine production. Shine
On Georgia Moon does not pretend to be anything except whiskey
distilled from corn and one of its selling points is that it comes in a
unique mason jar with a HUGE opening.

shine on georgia moon bottle

Shine On Georgia Moon is produced by Johnson Distillery Co. in Bardstown, Kentucky and it claims to be “Less than 30 days old”.
This is not a holier-than-thou premium aged whiskey and it’s proud of
that. I like the unpretentious mason jar bottle with the simple, yet
artistic cardboard slap on label. Shine On Georgia Moon is an obvious
reference to the moonshine history of the US.

shine on mason jar

The impression I got from Shine On Georgia Moon brand corn whiskey
is that it’s meant to be chugged, based on the size of the mason jar
opening. It comes courtesy of cooknengr
[cooknengr.com] who kindly sent it all the way from the United States.
Thanks Eddie! It’s always a pleasure to sample the delights that you
generously send my way.

shine on open

Shine On Georgia Moon Corn Whiskey opens up to reveal a completely
translucent liquid – there is no colorization of the corn based liquor
at all. I expected it to taste like moonshine and tentatively took a
drink from the huge jar. The results knocked me off my feet – Shine On
Georgia Moon not only tastes great, it beats most “premium” bourbons
and whiskeys from Kentucky like Jim Beam and Jack Daniels!

shine on open jar

The taste of Shine On Georgia Moon has a strong hint of corn and it
goes down surprisingly well, with not much of a bite to speak of.
There’s a sweet corn like aftertaste to the liquor and for a 40%
alcohol liquor, it’s surprisingly easy to drink neat. I’ll recommend
that to anyone who has their hands on this particular corn whiskey –
drink it neat and savor the taste of this unique corn liquor. It tastes
so good I wish I kept the bottle here so I can have a nip right now.
That’s how good it is…

shine on georgia moon

Shine On, Georgia Moon!

I do not have a problem with alcohol consumption. Just in case you’re wondering.

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