Juniper
- The cozy and intimate surroundings of Fukuya’s Restaurant in Jalan Delima, KL was the venue for the Malaysian media launch of Suntory The Premium Malt Beer on 21 December 2010. Situated in the city centre close to the Golden Triangle, Fukuya’s was in every way the perfect choice, a premium Japanese restaurant for a premium Japanese beer.
Suntory was founded in 1899, initially offering quality alchoholic and non-alchoholic beverages. Their motto “Yatte Minahare” (Go for it!) is an expression of the company’s willingness to constantly challenge themselves to increase the value and range of their liquor and food products and continue to grow their company. Suntory has truly succeeded in their quest and their current business portfolio has expanded to include health foods, food service and flowers. But it’s a product from their initial business portfolio which had our attention this time, the Suntory Premium Malt Beer. The emcee for the evening was the versatile and talented Owen Yap. The product presentation was performed by Mr Satoru Abe, the Executive General Manager of Suntory’s Beer Division, after the arrival of the guest-of-honour, Japan’s Ambassador to Malaysia.
Suntory The Premium Malt Beer has been awarded the Monde Selection Grand Gold Medal for three consecutive years. No surprise since this premium beer contains three finest ingredients, 100% European Aroma Hops, 100% carefully selected Two-row Barley Malts and 100% Japanese Natural Water. It is brewed to perfection by “Takumi”, i.e. the craftsman with dignity, phenomenal skills and uncompromising passion, using the Double Decoction Method, where the wort is boiled twice to create deep and rich flavour, and the Aroma Rich Hopping Method to extract elegant and floral aroma.
For maximum enjoyment of this fine beer, Mr Abe expertly demonstrated the Takumi way to serve Suntory The Premium Malt, which is:
- Prepare the glass, where the glass should be washed with hot water and leave to dry
- Create the foam, with fine froth by pouring the beer strongly from above
- Pouring the beer, by waiting until the foam settles before pouring the rest of the beer gently along the side of the tilted glass
- Ready to drink whereby the ratio of the foam to the body of the beer is 30:70, known as the Golden Ratio
Naturally we were provided with cans of Suntory The Premium Malt and Suntory Beer Glasses to not only practise our beer pouring skills, but also savour this fine beer, accompanied with delightful finger food served. I enjoyed Suntory The Premium Malt, with my view below:
Appearance – fine shade of golden yellow
Aroma – floral
Taste – somewhat watery, but smooth & hint of bitterness
Drinkability – high, can drink this all evening
Overall a well organised media launch and my only grouse is the lack of seating, especially for those who arrived early.
As for Suntory The Premium Malt, Yatte Minahare!
The Dude
