This whole week is KL Cocktail week. Is happening from 25 -29 July 2011. If possible I would love to attend all, but is not easy to digest everything so I choose something that I like… haha. So the first one I attended is The Whisky Forum.
The event is held at The View @ G Tower. The view here is really awesome, having event at this height is really quite nice.
It started off with whisky cocktail demonstration and talk about bartender history. Whisky is not something I associate with cocktail but if can blend it well while enhancing the taste, that will be something great.
One of the mix ingredient is bitter. Bitter will give a sweet balance aroma that actually blend in quite well with the whisky. Of course the right amount and the right mix will create a good whisky cocktail.
3 Bartenders or mixologist are there to demonstrate and talk about the history of the bartenders. Each use different whisky to make different cocktails, as each brand of whisky have different palate, aroma and body. So mixing with the right amount of other ingredient are important to create a perfect blend.
My favourite of the pick will be Old Fashion Cocktail (Brit Style). Although the american style added fruit inside the drinks, but the brit style is more like an enhance whisky. A total of 4 whisky cocktails are created, with each have their own unique character and flavour. Some of the ingredient use can be quite surprising, including egg white to give the texture and nice head. It is an eye opener for me, as I always like to stick with original without mixing it, but a good mix like this sure will make a difference.
After that we have a whisky forum with 4 panel speakers from different brands. I think the forum is a good start, still got many things can improve on. Many spoke about educating the public and create awareness, but I don’t really see it happening much. Is more to price war out there at the outlet. Is still very young and I think each whisky brand can do better then this if what they spoke have more value into it. One thing for sure, this is a good start to bring forth a better drinking culture.
After that we adjourned to whisky tasting. Everything is right except the weather. Drinking under the blistering sun is really quite tough. As the heat vaporise the alcohol faster and can hit up your palate and increase the spiciness of the whisky. Nosing the whisky is also quite tough, too hard and it will hit like wasabi. But still I enjoy a lot from it. Having able to taste some good single malt is definitely a pleasure.
A total of 4 Single Malt whisky brand is there – Glenmorangie, GlenGrant, Glenfiddich and Old Pulteney. Every single one give a different aroma and flavour. Really have to slowly taste – nose, sip in, nose, sip in, add water to break it, nose, sip in… not rushing and slowly enjoy each of it.
Each brand make different kind of impression. Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban stand up the most in their variants. GlenGrant 10 yo give a good impression for young age whisky, of course Glenfiddich 15 is something I always go for and lastly Old Pulteney 17 is good, but the 21 is even better.
Whisky is something take time to grow, having 1 or 2 glass may not tell the story. It take time to mature in your palate. Is not fair to review it just like that, unless you finish some 4-5 glasses, slow slip, then you can tell the total taste and aroma. For this type of tasting, is just more on impression and expression of the whisky. For sampling, is not that easy to bring forth the actual whisky feel.
Is a good event, I learn a lot from it. Is nice to see Malaysia slowly moving in and wanted a change on drinking knowledge and scene. Kudos to KL Cocktail Week. Hope can do it again soon, because is really an eye opener. Cheers!
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