Marketing

The Apothecary’s Luncheon

Held in L’Ecrivain’s open kitchen, The Apothecary’s Lunch saw Berlin-based drinks specialist Phum Sila-Trakoon pairing specially-created cocktails with the best in Irish fare on behalf of Thomas Henry’s premium range of soft drinks and mixers.

Indeed Phum was one of a number of mixologists who, six years ago, helped create the Thomas Henry range by giving their opinions on what would be important in creating the best mixer/soft drink on the market.

This novel from-the-bottom-up approach to designing a mixer/soft drink led to the premium soft drink/mixer emerging in a much wider variety of choices than would normally be the case for a brand and 10 of the Berliin-based Thomas Henry range was taken on by Counterpoint just one year ago.

Named after pharmacist Thomas Henry, the first person to successfully enrich water with carbon dioxide, the brand developed its “all day” range in 2014, with its first two products Mystic Mango and Ultimate Grapefruit.

Today, five years after first being launched onto the international market the Thomas Henry range is available in over 50 countries and although not yet available here, it’s Maté Maté has been favourably compared to Red Bull by consumers elsewhere.

Later that evening, Phum prepared cocktails for 150 at a special event held in Dublin’s ‘House’ venue on Leeson Street where guests enjoyed a ‘Taste of Berlin’ complete with signature Thomas Henry cocktails including Paxtas using Thomas Henry’s Cherry Blossom Tonic.

 

About Phum Sila-Trakoon

Phum’s first role in drinks and food was as Chef de Bar and Maître d’hôtel for Hans-Jörg Schlenker of the old Four Seasons Hotel Restaurant and later the Alter Krug in Berlin. After developing skills in classic French cuisine, Phum decided to enter the cocktail world becoming Bar Manager of Secco – Jazz & Cocktail bar in Berlin.

Phum was head-hunted by Gregor Scholl, owner of the oldest drinking institution in Berlin City – the Rumtrader. Together they developed the concept of bringing the culinary world and art together with some new cocktail creations on innovative menus.

Later, at Le Croco Bleu Phum started Food-Pairing Masterclasses related to the changing exhibitions of the Gallery.

In 2015 Phum‘s food-pairing cocktail menus, made with rare vintage spirits, received excellent reviews and awards from Feinschmecker and the New York Times. With the success of Le Croco Bleu, Phum wanted to spread the word about his drinking concept and entered the Bacardi Legacy 2016, finishing in second place.

Four months ago Phum started a restaurant and bar project called Panama with Sophia Rudolph, sous-chef of the Michelin star-awarded Rutz Restaurant, an upcoming star of the European Chef scene. A new Project called Tiger Bar from Phum, with a secret concept for an extraordinary drinking experience, has also been launched and most recently he was part of the team that created the new Thomas Henry Slim Tonic.

 

 

 

 


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