I had an early Christmas Celebration this year, thanks to GUINNESS®. In fact, they launched their 2010 MERRY GUINNESS® celebration countdown with a nationwide campaign, held throughout the month of December, and we’re were some of the lucky few who were part of it!

Saw many of the usual blogger friends there, and kinda exclusive too, with bloggers like FourFeetNine, Tim Tiah and Ringo making an appearance! Well, I guess mostly the Nuffnangers la, while I was blessed enough to be invited on a personal basis, which reminded me of that time I got the chance to meet Black Eyed Peas the same way too, during Arthur’s Day last year together with Kenny Sia! Santa has been very happy with me I guess… Santa Guinness that is!

So basically the reason we were there is to enjoy our pint (s) of Guinness with a Christmas feast to remember! The day’s tagline is “Merry Guinness. Share the Magic this Christmas!” – hence we were entertained with lots of activities and performances!

“The most magical things about Christmas are warm feelings of communion and friendship which go together with pints of GUINNESS®. Pair those pints with a hearty meal and enjoy an unforgettable experience with the people who matter most,” said Mark Jenner, Marketing Director of Guinness Anchor Berhad in his welcome note.

“In line with our MERRY GUINNESS® campaign, we have prepared a magical journey for our consumers to enjoy and share with their family and friends. Some of the highlights of our nationwide campaign consist of special MERRY GUINNESS® events and the GUINNESS® Heritage collectible premiums” he added.

Some of my blogger friends and I enjoyed a few pints together! Let me introduce them below (Simon’s missing but view his entry here!)

This is Yatz. He’s wearing a dorky hat Visit his blog here

This is Jessica theJessicat! I help manage her blog, do check it out!

This is… me. Oh, I know you wanna see foam all over my lips Oh yes, and you’re checking out my blog edi

ANYWAY! here’s the FEAST OF THE MONTH!! Awesome stuff, well planned by Big Boys Oven!

Here’s my portion. Eh wait, my FIRST portion! I obviously had to go a few rounds right… at least before I started my workout at Celebrity Fitness with my Personal Trainer Syakirin. He would KILL me if I ate this much during my 6 months stint with CF!

The selection was a-plenty and honestly, it gave a really awesome Christmassy atmosphere to the whole ambience :))

Coupled with a few sweet decors here and there, it was truly mindblowing

Then of course there are the nuts. What’s Christmas without nuts? Remember Chip & Dale? Yes, now you remember

There was this mountain of Macaroons that very stubbornly got stuck onto the mound. Funny to watch her trying to pull it out

In addition to sharing the spirit of Christmas with family and friends, GUINNESS® has prepared a game with a magical twist. The Merry Mat game is guaranteed to be a crowd-pleaser which will make the celebration more thrilling and memorable as it fills the air with barrels of laughs amongst friends. Look out for the Merry Mats at your favourite GUINNESS® outlets nationwide. Among other performance that took place is the magic show (which I thought is lame, but hey, at least Andrew here gave us a laughing moment XD

Besides the Christmas hearty meals, other jolly highlights include the GUINNESS® Merry Makers caroling with an edgy twist in true GUINNESS® bold fashion, where time-tested Christmas songs known to many will be given a touch of rock n’ roll for that added magical moment this Christmas. Be mesmerized by our magician and GUINNESS® Merry-rinas who will serve you pints of your favourite black brew throughout the night. The highlight, though, was the band who sang many Christmas numbers… really, really awesome

The GUINNESS® Heritage Collection will be accessible in more than 2,000 pubs and bars across Malaysia. For every six pints of GUINNESS® draught or one bucket of GUINNESS® Foreign Extra Stout purchased at participating outlets, consumers will receive a free limited edition GUINNESS® Heritage Collection glass inspired by the famed GUINNESS® Gilroy collection.

To continue with the merriment of MERRY GUINNESS®, there will be a total of 54 Merry GUINNESS® events all over the country with a mix of small and large events that will allow consumers to celebrate Christmas the GUINNESS® way while enjoying special GUINNESS® promotions.

“With our exciting line-up of offering this MERRY GUINNESS® season, people will dream of Christmas in a colour better than a white Christmas, a Christmas with the black swirling magic of GUINNESS®. So gather your friends and loved ones and share the magical moment of Christmas with the world’s favourite premium black beer over food and lots of festivities. MERRY GUINNESS®!” stated Jenner.

For more information on the MERRY GUINNESS® festive promotion and the participating outlets for the MERRY GUINNESS® premium parties nationwide, log on to www.facebook.com/guinnessmalaysia.

MERRY GUINNESS® to one and all, so who’s up for a round NOW?!

About GUINNESS®

First brewed in 1759, GUINNESS® has a rich and enduring heritage. Having been in South East Asia for more than 100 years, the drink is today brewed in 51 countries and sold in 151 countries. GUINNESS® has over 85% share of the stout market in Malaysia.

About GUINNESS® Anchor Berhad (GAB)

GAB with its portfolio of iconic, international brands, is the beer and stout market leader in Malaysia. GAB produces markets and distributes:

• Asia’s fastest growing beer TIGER.
• The world’s No 1 stout GUINNESS®.
• The world’s No 1 international premium beer HEINEKEN.
• The all-time favourite quality local brew ANCHOR SMOOTH and its strong beer variant ANCHOR STRONG.
• The premium, undisputed “Cream of Beers” KILKENNY.
• The real shandy ANGLIA.
• The wholesome, premium quality non-alcoholic MALTA.
• The world’s best selling cider STRONGBOW.
• The no. 1 German wheat beer PAULANER.
  • And the original Mexican beer SOL.

Listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia, GAB evolved from the merger between Guinness Malaysia Bhd and Malayan Breweries (Malaya) Sdn Bhd. The company’s principal shareholder is GAPL Pte Ltd based in Singapore.  GAPL Pte Ltd is a joint venture between Diageo PLC and Asia Pacific Breweries Ltd.

GUINNESS® Anchor Marketing Sdn Bhd is a 100% owned subsidiary of GAB.

The post Merry, merry Guinness (Christmas) to you :) appeared first on Spinzer - Blogger, Entrepreneur, Celebrity Manager.

It’s Christmas Season
in Starbucks!

A bunch of us were invited to a food (and drink!) review at Starbucks Damansara Utama and I was more than thrilled to accept the invitation! Later when I knew it was going to be a Christmasy affair, I became a nostalgic wreck thinking of the good old days in London, where it would be very cold at this time of the year and Starbucks became one of the best places to warm up to sip a mug of hot chocolate <3

It was pretty obvious the place was done up, and I suspect not just at this branch. In fact, Christmas seems to be everywhere extra early this year!

After so long I bumped into Shaz Mukhtar, a great friend and company, who I haven’t been seeing for ages due to my busy schedule. He’s been very patient with me and I really hope I can return his efforts this coming Christmas for being the dearest friend I’ve ever had throughout my problematic life :))

Maybe I’ll get him one of these gorgeous mugs instead… Don’t they make lovely gifts?

Decors were a-plenty, definitely setting the mood just right

Okay maybe not true, but here’s a Merry Christmas to you!

When we got upstairs we saw our spot immediately, marked by these very nice looking stands… it says “Reserved” for us

Okay moving on to the drinks! The two new drinks on board the Christmas menu are Christmas Toffee Nut Latte & Peppermint Mocha and I chose the latter purely because I wanted something minty, and it was! Yummy, smooth and delicious, I finished my Grande in a blink of an eye.

As I remembered it, it was one of the yummiest dessert here! Just too bad there’s no alcohol in it, yea?

A clear winner, this one, especially among the girls. Well, and Shaz too. He’s not a girl MUST TRY!

If you’re in for a cheesy delight, the Marble Cheesecake is for you.

But for a  better taste (well, for me la, I’m a BIG fan of blueberries! – but not blackberry k) try the Blueberry Cheesecake, it’s the yummers!

Not a big fan of the Eclaire, but apparently it got smothered pretty quickly

YUMMY YUMMY THERE’S LOVE IN MY TUMMY! Sorry la, peanut better ANYTHING is damn good

Jazzy Lemon Cheesecake ain’t too sweet nor sour, and just nice for a Christmassy feeling

Now this is sinful. And beautiful. And tasty. And yummy. And sweet. Wait, did I say sinful?

Love the icing, best eaten with butter and jam!

There were lots of food too, and luckily there was many of us, otherwise there’d be an overload of yummy pastries to warm your tummies!

I found some yummy, and some mediocre. While the lasagne looking dish here looks yummy, I wish they had more spices in it like the Chicken Kapitan Pie, else it would be awesome!

The sandwich leaves nothing much to sight, but you’d be surprised how tasty those morsels of eggs and sausage can be

The Shepherd’s Pie, however, leaves me nothing to say as I chomped down into the creamy insides and the pastry.

A look at the Shepherd’s Pie gives you an amazing yummilicious, saliva-inducing moment that would whet your appetite up. That’s Rebecca’s camera right there taking a good shot right into the insides, take a look at the picture in her post! – http://www.rebeccasaw.com/starbucks-malaysia-more-food-choices-on-its-new-menu/

Suffice to say there were MORE than enough to go around. Another must try before I end is the Chicken Kapitan Pie. It’s really special, as if the pastry used is infused with special herbs to give it a unique taste complimenting the curry chicken inside

And that pretty much concludes the fun experience I had with Starbucks! Great meeting place, great hang out place to meet friends, amazing love spread all over the place and all these make up the ingredients needed for a perfect Christmas moment with your loved ones

Merry Coming Christmas to you, would-be Starbucks customers!

The post I'm Dreaming of a White Starbucks appeared first on Spinzer - Blogger, Entrepreneur, Celebrity Manager.