It was the start of another fabulous evening, courtesy the nice folks at the Four Points by Shertan Bengaluru Whitefield. However, it was a little different this time. Besides being invited to be a part of their Beer Master Class at their Best Brews Bar, I was staying the night over. Being a business hotel, it made sense for us to get the true business feel of coming in straight from a busy day at the office in the middle of the week, unwinding and heading back out the next day. The last time I stayed at a Sheraton property was way back in 1991 at the Sheraton in Lagos. Clearly, I was super-thrilled.
We checked in at around 6:30 in the evening. When I entered my room, I had to try very hard to act my age and not use the bed as a trampoline. A quick shower and we began the facility tour by around seven, led by Mr.Rajesh Malliya, the GM at the hotel. It was nice to see the hotel choosing to promote the vast and beautiful heritage of Karnataka through all the artwork. Every room had a custom portrait over the bed depicting various places in Karnataka. The rooms themselves are quite spacious and adequately stocked to meet the needs of business travelers. Pictures at the end of the post.
Now onto the fun part that you've all come to read on this blog. The Beer Master Class was a workshop of sorts where we were allowed to sample various beer-based cocktails and accompaniments that were also cooked in beer. Driving the cocktails section of our evening was Karl Fernandes, who entertained everyone with little stories of how he made the cocktails. We started off the evening with a Beer Kazi. Made in a snifter glass, the Beer Kazi was a refreshing drink with a distinct flavour of coriander, accompanied with vodka, lemon juice and of course, beer. The Beer Kazi is a great drink to be had even as shots.
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| Beer Kazi |
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| Beer Kazi |
The second cocktail for the evening was the Summer Drummer. Tasting almost like a modified Cosmopolitan, the drink had watermelon, cranberry juice, and peach syrup and was topped with beer. Served in a tall glass, this cocktail was not my favourite as it was too sweet. While Karl did try to be a little cheeky saying that it was a ladies drink, the women that evening vehemently disagreed.
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| Karl Fernandes |
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| Summer Drummer |
The third and final cocktail for the evening, my favourite, was the Citrus Oak. The concoction contained whiskey, the dominating taste of orange juice, a little bit of lemon juice and was topped with beer. What I really liked about this drink was the fact that it wasn't overly sweet and you got all the flavours of the beer, orange juice and whiskey at the same time. Needless to say, I had a fairly good share of the same. This is the one I would recommend for anyone heading to the Best Brews at Four Points.
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| Citrus Oak |
A quick note on the decor at the Best Brews - the ambiance is very laid back, almost retro. A lot of the art work on the walls depicts life of Bangalore from the 70's. The lighting is warm and makes you want to sit back and try out all the brews while munching on some local savouries that are quite popular in smaller joints.
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| Best Brews |
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| Om nom nom nom |
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| Fried Prawns |
Now to the food. The first dish was prepared by Chef Mangilal Kurly. The Dahakte Jhinga was my favourite dish of the evening. A spicy dish of jumbo prawns marinated in a ginger and garlic paste, accompanied by beer was cooked in a hot pan and served on a sizzler plate. After this, the prawns were flambéed with brandy. You’d think that the amount of alcohol would actually make you high, but the taste of beer hits you very mildly. I loved this dish and could have spent the entire night just munching on those juicy prawns.
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| Burning in Brandy |
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| Dahakte Jhinga |
Next up was Chef Michael Swamy, who besides being the host for the evening's Beer Master Class, made a very neat Meen Varuval (fish), again cooked with beer. The fish was marinated in egg, ginger-garlic paste, lemon and coriander powder. Fried well, the fish had a nice crunchy feel to it, but I loved the prawns way more.
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| Chef Michael Swamy with his masterpiece |
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| Meen Varuval |
Karl was kind enough to whip up another batch of cocktails for everyone before we went to dinner. We also got a second helping of the prawns which was a clear favourite. We retired to the Four Comfort Beds post dinner. All those lovely cocktails, prawns and fish gave me one of the best night's sleep I’ve had in a long time.
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| Don't you just want to jump on that bed? |
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| Idea for my living room |
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| Simple super reception |
We checked out by around ten in the morning after a lavish buffet breakfast put together , aptly titled 'For the Love of Great Breakfast' . I made my way to work in a really good mood which made my boss worry if I was going to leave for greener pastures. Little did he know that I was thinking about the fab Dahakte Jhinga from the previous evening and that I was all fresh and rested for another long day at work.
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