Lan Kwai Fong got a little more crowded when Otto Lounge (4/F, 15-16 Grand Progress Building, Lan Kwai Font St, Central) opened there on June 19. The invitingly cozy bar has soft lighting, DJ accommodation and a large corner balcony that allows guests to watch the shenanigans on Lan Kwai Fong and D’Aguilar streets as they sip their drinks or even – gasp! – smoke.

Booze-loving football fans will be pleased to hear that Smirnoff recently announced a new, ‘Limited-Edition Promotional Pack’ with a design that celebrates Manchester United. Some of Manchester’s best-known players appear on the bottle and if you can identify all four footballers, enter the draw to win a trip to Old Trafford and see the boys in red and white duke it out on the field in person. The contest lasts from now until September 30, 2009.

The 6th Annual Lan Kwai Fong Beerfest is a two-day extravaganza of bands, babes, and, of course, plenty of booze. The music is being organised this year by Chris B, the ‘rock mum’ behind the Underground. The Miss Beerfest contest will once again select one lucky promotional girl as its queen, and lushes can enjoy events like a beer pouring competition and the Budweiser Arm Wrestling Combat. You can also vote for your favourite beer out of 20 options to win prizes like dining vouchers or, oddly enough, fitness centre memberships. Then again, that last prize does make sense; you’ll probably need to spend a few weeks on the treadmill to pay for your indulgences at the beerfest.

The newly opened King Ludwig (G/F Hopewell Centre, Wanchai, 2861 0737) features some great imported German sausages, freshly imported Lowenbrau and a most interesting opening promotion -where if you’re wandering around our green and damp city keep an eye open for the King Ludwig tram, snap it and visit the new outlet to enjoy a free beer throughout July.

Get your music fix at Insomnia (LG/F, Ho Lee Comm Building, 38-44 D’Aguilar St, 2525 0957), Dusk till Dawn (Wan Chai, G/F, 76-84 Jaffe Road, 2528 4689), and All Night Long (9 Knutsford Terrace, Kowloon), where live acoustic music is played every Tuesday to Friday from 7:30pm onwards. Later in the evening, seven nights a week there great live music till the wee hours. Visit www.LiveRockMusic247.com to learn more about which acts will be playing where and when.

June 24 saw the release of Shanghai White Vodka, a new hand-crafted, premium vodka by distillers Diageo and Shui Jing Fang. The drink is inspired by 1930s Shanghai, when glamour ruled and Eastern traditions melded seamlessly with a Western push for progress. Shanghai White itself is a mixture of these two paradigms: it’s made by combining new Russian vodka-making techniques with Shui Jing Fang’s centuries-old baijiu distillation heritage.