I’ve been to many wedding banquet, sadly many just throw in alcohol for the sake of the price and make the guest happy with booze. In general, so many thing are well plan in for the Chinese Wedding Banquet but so little detail are given to the drinks.

Normally, simple lager like Tiger or Carlsberg are served with cocktail or white wine during the reception and continue follow on with dinner with added red wine and champagne later at the night. Hard liquor like whisky will be serve as well during the toasting section. But in most cases the wine and beer serve is just not up to par.

In Malaysia, wine and beer are expensive. Will need to spend plenty of money just to get the nicer stuff. Most wine that are below RM50 is normally not an easy going wine. But beer on the other side is more easy and standard, nothing much can go wrong with profile.

Here are the few tips to get the right beer for the special day.

Budget/Planning
Firstly is to know how many guest will be attending and how many are eligible drinker. Then plus and minus each that will drink will have at least 3 glasses.

Example: 100ppl x 3 glasses (330ml) = 99 liter.
So you need to prepare around 4 barrels of 30 liter keg to make sure there is surplus or you can order 3 barrels of 30 liter keg to make it just nice for everyone. Depending on your budget.

Normally people will serve wine for food, but for me I’ll introduce better quality beer for dinning. As beer can paired nicely with chinese food and the taste is more consistence and less alcohol.

Of course expensive beer don’t always mean it taste good, some beer have unique taste that many are not familiar. So have to know your beer taste before putting in the order.

Glassware
Glassware does effect the way drinkers drink. The bigger the glassware the faster you drink. If possible to get a nice round wine glass but serve beer inside, that would be ideal. Firstly it look nice and secondly people will drink with more posh attitude while holding a wine glass.

The glassware can determine the volume of the beer as well. A 300ml glassware will be ideal to serve the beer in. The beer will be chill, won’t turn warm and is easy to finish and not so much wastage for those that take the beer but didn’t drink it.

Requesting a good glassware from the hotel will be essential as many wedding planner always miss out on that. They just focus on the banquet of food, music and setup but sometimes just forgot about the guest drinks.

Beer Type
For starter/receiption, Carlsberg, Tiger or the usual suspect can do the trick. This beer can serve throughout the night. Is easy to pour and can serve quite fast. If you have some extra cash then you can consider Hoegaarden, Paulaner or Erdinger. Maybe can consider Cider as well to give a refreshing taste to the guest.

Wit bier like Hoegaarden can be a starter drink while Paulaner or Erdinger HefeWeiss is advice to go later with food. As the beer can get too heavy if you drank too much before that. Unless your guest are all German.

For meal, few nice beer you can serve including Estrella Damm InEdit which paired very nicely with chinese food. Served in a champagne or white wine glass, around 150ml each is sufficient to open up your palate.

Other Drinks
Can plan out some nice other drink beside the usual soft drink. Can even have chrysanthemum tea, green tea, nice juices, something more appetising then just soft drink and not sure what tea they served. Homebrew “liong cha” will be very interesting as well. If you have the extra cash, throw in coffee after the meal before the dessert will be awesome.

Conclusion
This are just simple detail that you can look at on your drinks during your wedding day. Always choose something you familiar in taste that the guest will like. To get something because it’s cheap but no one really enjoy it. Of course there are some guest that will mix wine with Sprite/7-up. Consider a full course beer, serve in difference glass to differentiate different beer and your guest will have a different meal drinking experience. If you getting married soon, hope this article will help. Congratulation and Cheers!

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Hardys is my first wine tasting event. Before this event I actually bought a wine book to learn some wine terms and get some of the pronunciation correct for the wine’s name. Have to do some homework to go to this tasting.

Hardys history started in 1853 when Thomas Hardy bought their first property which is later name “Bankside” where the Hards started. Hardys is one of the oldest wine producer in Australia. The brand is widely known through out the world. About 2 million people drank Hardys Wine each day. That is a big number for daily consumption.

Of course time have change and wine producing in the old days also have evolve. Many new blend and new style of making are discovered. Hardys will maintain their classic way of making wine at the same time going towards the contemporary style for exploring the new taste.

Hardys tradition have pass on to many generation, Bill Hardys is the fifth generation continuing the legacy of the Hardys. Even his daughter is now involve in this business.

After the presentation about the Hardys, we proceed to lunch. Each dish are presented with 2 wines to compliment the taste.

We started of with a wild mushroom soup with cheese and olive oil, which pair with 2 white wines.

2009 Hardys Nottage Hill Riesling (white)
Aroma
Fruity aroma swirling around with hint of sour end

Taste
Quite mellow, with fruity taste, quite refreshing to the palate

2006 Eileen Hardys Chardonnay (white)
Aroma
Oaky smell, very pungent with fruity fresh.

Taste
Mallow and smooth, with hint of chocolate flavour. Full bodied with many complex taste with mostly fruit taste with slight bitter.

Second dish is prawn risotto with basil, tomato salsa in a slightly spicy sauce.

2008 Hardys Crest Cabernet Shiraz Merlot (red)
Aroma
Heat of spice flavour with slight alcohol

Taste
Spicy to the tough that create some light heat. Tannin linger for a while, with woody pungent. Light finish

2004 Eileen Hardys Shiraz (red)
Aroma
Woody with alcohol hint. Heat with spice kind of scent.

Taste
A complex taste which give tannin. Spice and heat on the mouth, with nice aroma with nice finish.

The 3 dish is spicy linguine with braised lamb, coconut cream, mushroom, mint & red curry.

2006 Hardys Oomoo Grenache Shiraz Mouvedre (red)
Aroma
Can detect the alcohol, with some slight woody smell

Taste
Drinking time the alcohol is not that deep in taste but bring up a lot of the spicy note from the food. Papper spice around the mouth with some simple finish.

2004 Thomas Hardy Cabernet Sauvignon (red)
Aroma
Light earthly smell, with some alcohol & woody hint

Taste
Sour with light fruit sweetness, spicy note from the food we ate. Light and dry finishing. With something like earth wood hint.

This is not my usual comfort zone. As beer is my frontier, wine is something still very basis to me. The complex taste of wine is far different from beer. I learn many things from this wine tasting. I wish the food would be less spicy, as the last pairing doesn’t really work well for me, as the food spicy kept linger in my mouth.

The advice from regular wine drinker is have sweeter wine to compliment with the spicy taste. The one that make the most impression for me is the Eileen Hardy Chardonnay. A white that really stand out from it class.

Now I understand why they spit out the wine after tasting it. As later I found out that the alcohol have influence my taste bud as well, I can’t get so much taste as the beginning of the tasting.

This is a good experience, next one have to find someone to sponsor me to the vineyard. Then I think I can understand more. Cheers!

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Wine, a drink that I don’t understand much as an avid beer drinker. As a writer on alcoholic beverages, you need to be jack of all trades to know the drink you must first understand the taste, then only you can find the uniqueness and enjoyment in each drink you tasting or drinking.

I was though to do the 4S check on wine which is See, Swirl, Smell and Savour.The first wine I tasted is Babich Pinot Noir (Marlborough-NZ) – red wine.

See
The colour of Pinot Noir is more crystal ruby red. If you put it under a white piece of paper you can see the translucent ring.

Swirl & Smell
Can see the wine slowly flowing back to the glass. Smell the aroma of grapes with hint of the woods and some pungent aroma.

Savour
Sour in taste, woody hint with slight tannin in the mouth, light alcohol & pungent aroma

My Opinion
Is an easy wine, not too punchy in taste, good pairing with something roasted with some light sauce.

Then come the Mount Vernon Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough-NZ) – White Wine. Malborough is famous for Sauvignon Blanc. Most wine need to wait for 3-4 years before is good to serve but Sauvignon Blanc is kinda different as is better to serve in young age, some even serve after few month of fermentation to get the crispy and crystal feeling of the wine. That’s the reason why this type of wine is easily acceptable for local palate.

See
Is basically crystal clear with just a touch of faded light yellow.

Swirl & Smell
Light body when swirl. Very aromatic in smell, very fruity and refreshing.

Savour
The taste is crispy and light and refreshing, with fruity aroma that tingle everywhere in your mouth and end with a light alcohol. The sweet fruity taste really make it very easy to drink.

My Opinion
I quite like white wine because is easy to drink. Can be easily pair with pasta and some simple sea food. This Sauvignon Blanc is simply pleasure to the taste making pairing easy.

A newbie in wine
Lucky for me I can learn from a lot of sifu (master) out there, which are willing to teach me how to enjoy the red wine. Although I still think too much sophistication are put into drinking the wine, but if you know the taste the pleasure are certainly enjoyable.

Different alcohol bring different kind of mood and pleasure. Wine is indeed something I still got a lot to learn before I can really describe in more write up. Any wine person other that are interested to follow me for wine tasting?

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The Sun UK Online

PEOPLE who down two pints of beer or glasses of wine a day are healthier and happier than teetotallers, a study found.
They were not as stressed, had lower blood pressure, better heart and lung health and were less likely to suffer from depression.

Researchers found wine lovers in particular usually had better diets. And all drinkers tended to exercise more.

The French team said alcohol thins the blood, improving circulation, and acts as a relaxant, boosting wellbeing.

They speculated that moderate drinkers may be wealthier, have better general health and a lower risk of heart disease.

Although they admitted they could not prove the benefits were just down to booze, they added: “Our results cannot eliminate the cardio-protective effect of alcohol.”

Dr Boris Hansel and his team from the Public Assistance Hospitals of Paris analysed the lifestyles and drinking habits of thousands of men and women over 18.

But June Davison, of the British Heart Foundation, warned: “Drinking more than sensible amounts can cause high blood pressure, strokes, some cancers and heart damage. If you don’t drink already there is no reason to start now.”

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Of course this is a beer site, the best thing on earth is beer. Not really, this is just a post of our Malaysian culture, I bet this happen in Singapore too. I’m not a avid wine drinker but I do like wine, but…

There many but on the “I like wine” because I find wine is a drink with many hidden agenda. To drink wine there too many terms and condition. To drink wine there too many steps, too much talking and need too much knowledge.

Here the Top  Ten Reason I like Wine, But…

#1. Take too long to open.

#2. Have to drink with the right glass

#3. Too much description even before the wine touch the tongue.

#4. The step by step to enjoy the drink.

#5. I find it too formal.

#6. You can’t enjoy with a group of friend.

#7. You have to wait for the right occasion.

#8. I just can’t stand the pretender.

#9. It doesn’t work with our hot weather.

#10. It just too much talking and not much drinking.

Of course many said that to drink wine is an art. I like the texture of the drink, the smooth yet nicely body drink that spurs out aroma like no others, yet alcohol are not too strong – the drink is really sexy.

To enjoy with a group of friends is just doesn’t blend well. EPL night drinking wine is like something go wrong some where. The drink is too sexy to be fun and crazy. The drink got too much terms and condition.

Can’t we just make wine drinking as simple as beer drinking? I guess we can but that wouldn’t have make wine drinking the drink it is today. The sexy drink that bring glamour, the drink that make you pronounce in french like pro by just saying all the grapes name. The drink that make you look manly just to open the wine bottle in style. The drink that give out taste that swirl and linger in your tongue to trigger the food taste to the next level. All said about the drink, but…

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