Heineken has been a long-term sponsor for premier sporting events – the UEFA Champions League, Heineken Cup, the leading international rugby competition, and the US Open, one of the most important tennis majors.
Adding to that list of impressive events is this year’s CIMB Classic 2013 that is going on at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club (KLGCC) from 24-27 October this year, pitting the no.1 international premier beer with the most prestigious golfing event in Asia.
If you aren’t one who is already a fan of golf, check out the following video that might teach you a thing or two on how to play a round of golf:
The Heineken Championship is designed as a platform for local amateurs to showcase their talent and finesse on the course, forming an avenue to cultivate their talent to compete at a global standard among the icons in the world of golf at the CIMB classic.
There will be a Heineken public hospitality marquee at the CIMB Classic located above the food village where enthusiasts can have a taste of Heineken’s The Green Experience. Fans will enjoy a grandstand view of the event while enjoying a glass of cold refreshing Heineken.
Furthermore, guests can also get behind the bar and learn to pour their perfect pint of ice cold Heineken or try their hands at various games while witnessing the action on screen.
Find out more about Heineken’s exciting calendar of events at our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/Heineken) or Twitter (www.twitter.com/Heineken_MY).
Searching for “Ibiza” on Google image and the photo below pops up as the first result. What a fantastic looking place isn’t it? Now imagine if you get to be there to watch the UEFA Champions League Final..
Let that sink in a little bit.
Located some 80 km off Valencia in Spain, Ibiza is the party capital of the world. It’s got awesome nightlife, fantastic electronic music, awesome beach, and on the 25th of May 2013, a private party none other than “IBIZA FINAL” hosted by Heineken, the official sponsor for UEFA Champions League seventh year running.
The good news is, you (or me!) have a chance to be there, and I do mean REALLY have a chance, cos I was once a winner, but more about that at the end of this post.
Participation of this contest is pretty simple and straight forward.
First and foremost, go to Heineken’s Kick Off to Ibiza Facebook App. You will need to like the page before you can access the app. (You have to be of legal drinking age and non-Muslim to join)
The location of the hidden Ibiza Final tickets needs to be unveiled. After figuring that out, clues will be sent out in an exclusive invitation. Those with the invitation can then proceed to the on-ground final and challenge for the all-inclusive VIP experience at Ibiza Final!
In simple English, you will be flown to Ibiza, Spain!
The first step to win then is simply by tweeting or checking in to Ibiza on the facebook application.
From now until the 20th of April, the more check-ins and tweets from the application you create, the sooner the location of the hidden tickets be revealed. So you know what to do!
By the way, remember to update your profile at the application as well to ensure that the invitation will be sent to you and only you.
In 2009 Suan, Horng, and I actually participated in the on-ground challenge (then at TTDI) and came up as the winners to the Exotic Island Tickets! We had our all inclusive invitation to Krabi and watched the EUFA Champions League final there, a match between Manchester United and Chelsea, where MU prevailed. You can read about our experience at Heieneken Star Final 2009 here & here.
I can only imagine that the party at Ibiza will be even more awesome. *keeping fingers crossed*
For the Beer fans out there, you might have noticed that it is now already Oktober, the month that is forever associated with a festival that many of us undoubtedly are familiar of – OKTOBERFEST!
For the uninitiated, Oktoberfest is a month long celebration of good beer, good food, and plenty of performances and of course, that calls for huge celebrations.
This year is no different than previous years, GAB will again celebrate Oktoberfest in various restaurants and pubs across the country on the whole month of Oktober.
Oktoberfest at Bulldog, expect more of these!
There will be quite a lot of places celebrating Oktoberfest. On these celebrations, Paulaner, Strongbow, Guinness, Tiger Beer, and Kilkenny will be on happy hour all night long on draught.
Furthermore, available exclusively during Oktoberfest festival are Paulaner Oktoberfest Bier, Hopf Ice Beer, and 111 Zwickl. You won’t want to miss out!
If you haven’t been to one, you should! I went to Oktoberfest at Bulldog last year and had a whale of time. There were tonnes of beer to go around and they are usually coupled with awesome food, and all with very good deals too, just in the name of the celebration.
Check out the video above to get an idea of what’s awaiting.
Check out the massive beer mugs in FA’s hands
At every GAB Oktoberfest celebration, you’ll also get a 1 Litre Oktoberfest Mug with every purchase of 1 Litre Tiger Draught, look at the photo collage above, the bottom right mug is about the size of the Oktoberfest Mug you’ll be getting (held by FA, the lady in red).
All GAB brands are involved in the celebration, including one of my favorites – Guinness. In fact, I suspect that this might be even genetics as it too was my late dad’s favorite choice of drink. The black creamy beer with the distinct aroma and slight bitter taste that simply has no competition for the past 250+ years.
Everyone can enjoy this awesome goodness, bottled or draught
I’m also a huge fan of Kilkenny as well, and this brand too will be on happy hour all night long during Oktoberfest with GAB. Yes!
At whichever location, it will certainly be an entertaining night, with games and a special appearance by Die Dorf Fest Kapelle, a “Bavarian Style’ Oompah band who will be performing for the night.
KY & Haze having a Kilkenny over supper
For the definitive green beer fans, Heineken too is one of the beers featured in this celebration. Ale, Lager, or black beer, we’ve got everything covered.
So, fellow beer lovers, here is the list of Oktoberfest celebrations in Malaysia with GAB:
7/10/2011 – 798 Wine Bar, TCM
8/10/2011 – The Beer Factory, Sunway Giza
9/10/2011 – SOULed Out Sri Hartamas
11/10/2011 – Jupiter Club
12/10/2011 – Royal Selangor Club
12/10/2011 – Metro Club
13/10/2011 – The Beer Factory, Old Klang Road
13/10/2011 – Season’s Club
14/10/2011 – Cold Storage Special at Solaris, Mont Kiara
14/10/2011 – Caesar’s Club
14/10/2011 – The Patio, Genting
16/10/2011 – Sid’s Taman Tunku
17/10/2011 – Camberwell Club
18/10/2011 – Jarrods & Rawlins, Bukit Damansara
18/10/2011 – D’Fortune Club, Dataran Menteri
19/10/2011 – Laundry, The Curve
20/10/2011 – QE II, Weld Quay, Penang
21/10/2011 – Golden Sand Resort, Penang
22/10/2011 – Cold Storage Special, Gurney Plaza
24/10/2011 – Mewah Club, Klang
25/10/2011 – Switch, Kota Damansara, PJU 5
25/10/2011 – Neptune Club, Petaling Jaya
25/10/2011 – Odeon Club, Kepong Baru
29/10/2011 – KK Waterfront, Kota Kinabalu
Visit www.facebook.com/OktoberfestMY now & find out where u can join the fun, games & band tonight!
I haven’t been to 798 Wine Bar at TCM yet so that’s the one that I am aiming to be for Oktoberfest, can’t wait, it’s gonna be a blast for sure.
The question is, how many Oktoberfest are you going to attend?
The very first Oktoberfest is said to be taken place in Munich on October 12, 1810 to commemorate the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. They decided to do it again the very next year since it was a lot more successful than everyone anticipated.
However, it is pretty safe to say that even the original couple couldn’t have envisioned the appeal of Oktoberfest to be this huge. It took 200 years, but Oktoberfest is now a in full swing right here in KL! (someone should edit the Oktoberfest Celebrations article in Wikipedia if it’s not done already).
Oktoberfest in Malaysia.
Five big celebrations of Oktoberfest happened right here in Malaysia, SOULed Out, Sid’s TTDI, and Laundry Bar in KL, Upper Penang Road in, well, Penang, and Waterfront in Kota Kinabalu.
In conjunction with Oktoberfest, Tiger Beer has some pretty awesome promotions too:
RM50 mug of 1 litre Tiger beer (you can keep the Oktoberfest mug)
A bucket of 5 Tiger Beer pints Free when you spend more than RM200 on your food bill
Free Oktoberfest Hat when you grab the 12-beer cans pack at participating hypermarket
I went to Sid’s to break my Oktoberfest virginity.
To be honest, the celebration turned out to be quite a lot bigger than I had anticipated. There was a big tent set up outside Sid’s, with hundreds of people partying right on the streets (this despite the fact that it was a weekday too), check out the video above.
FA w/ 1 liter beer mugs, Terence, Zess, Haze, Joyce, Cindy, Ringo, and even a baby!
It was an awesome party, with dancing, singing, lotsa great beer – Tiger, Guinness, Heineken, Paulaner, Kilkenny, Strongbow.
One of the things we did over the evening was getting people to sign up under our team. Everyone was friendly, and everyone was super happy, it was a blast.
This being at Sid’s, there’s always food that goes well with Oktoberfest, and of course I didn’t waste the opportunity to have some awesome pork sausage for dinner!
This is gonna be bigger next year, I’m already anticipating Oktoberfest 2011, bring it on!
After getting back from Aonang beach the night before and having decided that there isn’t exactly anywhere to have authentic Thai food at the area, Mell and I decided to seek local food elsewhere.
Thai beef noodle, with beef balls and meat
Instead of having lunch provided by Heineken at Sheraton, we walked out of the hotel and chanced up upon this little beef noodle place just a block away to the south. With some finger pointing and my super limited Thai language, we managed to order a bowl of beef ball noodle for Mell, and another bowl of mixed beef and beef ball noodle for me.
The portion was quite small, reminding me of hawker food in Penang, but they do however, tastes rather good. The beef was tender and the beef ball had a good texture going on too. I particularly like the abundance of bean sprouts and vegetables served here. It was pretty good for brunch, and it was only 30 baht each.
happiness is when you have good breakfast to start the day
While horng and suanie were still on the island hopping trip arranged by Heineken (their accounts here, and here), Mell and I thought about heading to Krabi town. That idea was scrapped as soon as we saw that the hotel shuttle charges 400 baht per person for a round trip ride, which just doesn’t make economic sense.
And I had thought that hotel shuttles are free. Thanks Sheraton, for building your resort so far away from civilization and charge significant dollars for your shuttle services, hmph!
another nameless Tomyam place near Sheraton at Krabi, Thailand
After brunch, we spent some time walking around the hotel and chilling. We also discovered that there were computers with internet access at the business center for hotel guests, free of charge! That was when I took the opportunity to check my mails and go on twitter for a bit.
Since brunch was relatively light, we got hungry again by early evening. For the early dinner, we again went exploring at the small strips of shops outside the hotel and came to this little nameless restaurant with an old lady as the head chef.
two bowls of tomyam (prawn and chicken), and omelet
Again with my limited Thai language, I tried to order a tomyam prawn (tomyam kung) and a basil chicken dish to go with rice. After spending at least 5 minutes pointing and talking, I thought I had nailed it down.
When food came, it was two bowls of tomyam instead – tomyam prawn and tomyam chicken. Mission 50% passed. I then went to the kitchen and ordered an omelet dish so that we have some variety.
The tomyam soups were not as strong tasting as those we had at Pradiphat street in Bangkok, but they were pretty good in their own rights. We finished everything and only had to pay some 200 baht for a couple well fed and satisfied stomachs.
BBQ dinner with Heineken
At night, we gathered at the hotel for a Thai BBQ dinner that was actually pretty delicious. Highlights of Champions League games were played and we met quite a few hardcore fans in the ballroom. It was hilarious how some of the fans from Cameroon reacted when Eto’o failed to score as if it was a live game. VJ Utt from MTV Asia hosted the event with another pretty lady, but I didn’t pay much attention.
Mell and I decided to take some rest before the game and we ended up sleeping in the hotel room while Horng & Suanie danced away at the canopy with giant screen. It turned out to be a decent choice, Suan was too tired to watch the game by the time we got there, and Horng was so spent after the game he ended up not able to go to work the day after. Hahaha
Champions League Final – MU vs Barcalona
Heineken did put up a great show before and during half time of the game with their over energetic cheer leading squad flipping and jumping to the music. However, the game itself was a bit anticlimactic, MU basically went to sleep after 15 minutes. Two goals later, Mell, being an MU fan, couldn’t take it anymore and so we headed back to the room to watch it on TV instead.
We had an early breakfast at the hotel and headed to the hotel by 10 something in the morning to fly back to KL. It was a pretty enjoyable holiday in spite of the rain that fell quite heavily 60% of the time we were there.
That was 3 weeks ago, I wouldn’t mind another holiday now!
