Cocktales Launch @ Modesto’s Tao Lounge

Is alcohol the elixir of life? Well, to the Thirsty Blogger it is. The man loves his drinks, friends and parties and has a blog to prove it. Cocktales is Malaysia’s first and only alcohol blog to chronicle the liquid life.

Don’t get me wrong, this is not some preppy client-sponsored marketing tool to sell more bottles. This is one man’s honest and often humourous take on drinking culture. Amongst the topics covered in his blog are: where to get retail-priced absinthe, and how to brew your own Tuak and sneak alcohol into festivals. And as mentioned earlier, all of his articles are uncensored so you won’t see any bullsh*t asterisk marks.

The Thirsty Blogger aka Deepak Gill has been a writer all his working life, most of which was at The Star Weekender writing travel, adventure, F&B, lifestyle and bar reviews. In 2004 he volunteered on a 1 month mission to Kandahar, Afghanistan, with Mercy Malaysia. The experience changed him; Afghanistan is alcohol-free.

Deepak has been a DJ and bartender as well. His more popular cocktails include Kelapa Rock and The Yeltsin Boogie, both served at the launch as warm-up drinks. He has also organised several underground parties that have appeared in the media for the wrong reasons.

Apart from being a great drinker, Deepak is also my neighbour. So when the invitation came for his blog launch, I already knew what to expect from this aspiring celebrity drinker. By the time I got to Tao Lounge, most of the guests who were made up from friends and the who’s who of the alcohol industry were already senget.

Out of 16 bottles of liquor and 4 bottles of champagne, only 1 and a half survived. Michelle and Vincent from TWE, the company the imports absinthe were also on hand to fix drinks. Many feel victim to the green fairy’s “charm” and someone even had to be “carried” back home.

Back at Deepak’s place, I caught up with the Thirsty Blogger and threw a few questions at him hoping to catch him off-guard in his drunken stupor. Unfortunately, I forgot most of the questions (and answers) as I was a bit senget myself. But here’s one that I do remember:

Ben aka Me: Why did you decide to throw a launch for your blog?

Deepak: Firstly, to get f**cked. Secondly, to get more invites to alcohol events. The more invites you get, the more f**cked you get.

Words of wisdom indeed. Salud!

Cocktales was launched at Modesto’s Tao Lounge on Thursday 25 June. If you could taste pictures, you’d probably get drunk looking at the launch photos in our gallery. For more on the Thirsty Blogger’s exploits, get wasted at thirstyblogger.my