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Currently the Business Head for India –TWG Tea, the Global Luxury Tea Brand from Singapore. Prior to this Prarrthona Pal Chowdhury was the Country Manager, Indian Sub-continent for the French Luxury Liquor majorRémy Cointreau. I operate essentially in the Luxury Beverage space.
I was inducted into the spirits trade by Pernod Ricard and learnt my wines from Sula Vineyardsand my journey with beverages continue with tea! I am a certified Whisky Ambassador from Glasgow, Scotland, WSET Level 2 in Spirits – Level 3 in Wines, London and a Cochran Fellow on Wine, Spirits and Beer from United States Department of Agriculture, also certified Tea Seller from TWG Tea Training Academy, trained in luxury fromESSEC Parisand an alumnus of IIM Calcutta– Advance Management Program in Marketing. Graduated in Philosophy from the prestigious Presidency College Calcutta and also a Post Graduate in Digital Marketing and Communication fromMICA, Ahmedabad.
Who would you like to make fall in love with tea?
Why not the Gen Y, the millennials and Gen Z? Tea is not a grandfather’s drink…it’s trendy and chic!
What is your opinion on coffee and coffee-drinkers?
Try Tea…it helps you lose weight and is an immunity booster (that’s all what matters today.)
What’s the most unusual style of tea Prarrthona Pal Chowdhury have ever tasted?
It makes you fall in love with it. And that isn’t good.
One serious tea no-no? And one tea no-no that you allow yourself to indulge in now and then?
Milk is a strict no-no. Love sugar in my tea, although that too is a no-no.
If you were to experiment with tea and any alcohol what would it be?
Why if? I do that regularly! I spike my cold goblet ofSilver Moon from TWG Teawith vodka and top up some blended rooibos(Vanilla Bourbon) with sparkling.
How does one become a tea taster?
If you are a wine sommelier or aspiring to be one, your taste palate is mature enough and so you are ready to be a tea sommelier. If you wish to learn about teas, we can teach you. But a ‘Tea taster’ is an entirely different job profile – they select the teas to import for us or decide on the prices of teas depending on their quality. This is a very crucial job like that of a cellar master in Cognac, I say this so that you can easily gauge the difference. Knowledge here comes with time, dedication and passion, it is not a subject that can simply be taught By – Prarrthona Pal Chowdhury.
Ace lensman, cigar enthusiast, sneakerhead, and the co-founder of Svami Drinks, Aneesh BHASIN juggles many hats. He founded one of India’s first online apps for alcohol called Hipcask before co-founding Svami Drinks, India’s first premium brand of Indian tonic water. He is a gentleman of fine tastes and many accomplishments and it was a pleasure to catch up with him over a brief tête-à-tête.
What inspired you to produce tonic water in India?
As a gin and tonic drinker myself, I was tired of Schweppesand saw so many better options when I traveled abroad. At the same time, there was no premium non-alcoholic beverages in India – be it tonics, ginger ale, etc.
What’s the ideology behind Svami Drinks?
The idea with Svamiis to create the most relevant and definitive portfolio of aerated beverages, catering to both – the alcoholic drinker and the sober curious. We make our own recipes and bottle in house, which is first for any such product in Asia.
After ginger ale and tonic, what’s next?
We just launched the Svami Soda, and we’re soon launching a completely new line of products which again, would be the first of it’s kind in Asia.
What are the biggest impediments to the growth of tonic water in India?
It’s fair to assume that tonics will be linked to gin consumption and India is still very low on gin numbers. There is excitement in this space and as gin consumption grows, so will tonic consumption.
If not tonic water, what other mixers do you give in to?
I do enjoy a lot of drinks with soda!
How does your love for watches, sneakers, and cigars mix with Svami?
We ultimately want Svami to be a lifestyle brand and not a commodity. That distills down to being a part of many subcultures and I think an appreciation for better drinks, food, lifestyle etc all go hand in hand so my interests and Svami fit very well.
What is your favourite tipple at the end of a busy day?
So many choices! Don’t think I can narrow it down to one but my favorites would be a good gin and tonic, tequila tonic, Hanky Panky or some IPA!
What does the Mandala on the Svami Tonic crown cap represent?
Svami asserts it’s Indianness via the Mandala, the spiritual symbol for the universe across several native religions and a key element of our packaging. After all, who can resist a drink blended with cosmic juju?
We also wanted to stay away from the cliche Indian names and branding elements.
What is your advice to young professionals seeking a career in this field?
It’s a fantastic time to be in this industry, craft spirits seem to be the most exciting in terms of new opportunities and hopefully, with growlers and craft beer rules getting relaxed, that’s another space to look out for. Whatever you get into, please make sure you are always learning and up to speed not only with what’s happening in India but globally.
Anushka PANDKAR, winner of the 12th Indian Sommelier Championship is currently working with ITC Maratha, one of the leading five star hotel in the country. Trained under different industry experts, Anushka has refined her skills in every aspect of the beverage industry. For this week’s segment, team INDULGE sat down with her (online, because, social distancing) and here’s what she had to share. Warning: If you have met her, or might someday soon, don’t let her somber exterior shell fool you for a minute because the young lady has a snappy sense of humour, a smatterings of which you will find as you read on here.
If you want to serve a wine to your favourite Fantasy character, who would you choose, which wine would it be and why?
I’ll have to ponder over this one a bit, I have quite a few favourites there. Hmmm let’s see, the Iron Man would be too snobbish a guest, so not him. Thor is amazing but he’s got a drinking problem (we all saw that in Endgame). Deadpool is cool but he probably won’t be into the subtle nuances of fine wine. Who else.. The Hulk is a great guy on the inside, but it would break my heart to see him struggle with frustration trying to hold a wine glass. Umm..Oh yes I know who I’d pick!Dr Stephen Strange – he is just the right kind of sophisticated, earthling superhero who would appreciate some good wine and service (also ‘cause Benedict Cumberbatch, duh!).The wine would be a 2005 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti La Tache – super extravagant I know, but he was a famous neurosurgeon in NYC prior to the sorcery, I’m pretty sure he’s had his share of fine wines and knows his stuff. And I’m clearly looking to impress, so I can request him to grant me the magical self-filling beer mug he offered to Thor in Ragnarok (because scribbling 10% on the check is not enough gratuity from a superhero)
Being in a commanding position like yourself, how does one raise awareness about sommelierie amongst aspirants?
To any person interested in Sommellerie that comes up to me, I always say one thing – You can do it! Making it seem possible right in the beginning encourages them to explore more about this profession. Loading them with details about how difficult the studies are or how many books they ought to read may overwhelm them too early. Then I recommend them to read one of my favourite books for beginners – Wine Bible, it is a great window into the vast world of wine. I also like to take up trainings (at work) or conversations to make beverages simpler for them. Be it wine, beer, whisky, gin or cocktails, I always emphasise them to expand their product knowledge. Understanding the subject well is overcoming of the first hurdle, one can then start considering a career in the field.
Apart from mastering the wine world, what else must a sommelier master, both, in skills and in knowledge?
A Sommelier is no longer a person who just serves wine. A Sommelier today also needs to have knowledge about Spirits, Beer, Sake, Food and wine pairing, while displaying excellent service skills. Not to forget, pursuit of knowledge and learning should be maintained as a continuous process, the world of beverages is ever evolving. In spite of all the knowledge, never think that you are always right. Be humble, and be a team player. A Sommelier is also the face for beverage programs in their establishment, thus good communication and inter-personal skills, I feel, are vital in developing good relations with suppliers and customers alike.
What, according to you, constitutes the perfect wine list?
The perfect list is the one I make! I’m joking, but I do believe you should have confidence in the wine list you prepare and present it with pride to the customers. A perfect wine list should be like a luxury product catalog. It should entice the reader – to make a purchase – regardless of whether they are genuinely interested or casually flipping through. That’s how you know you have listed something for everyone.
What do you reckon are the pros and cons of being a lady sommelier in India?
The same as those of being a non-lady Sommelier in India(?!). We all benefit from the pros of access to good job prospects, opportunities to attends tastings and events, etc. High pricing, high taxation, non-availability and lack of variety in products are cons that affect all of us working in India the same way. The only additional con I can think of specific to ladies is the occasional mansplaining.
If given a free ticket which wine region you want to travel to?
Why the cruelty in making me choose one? You need to get better sponsors! Humour aside, there are literally too many beautiful wine regions to chose from.
What’s your favourite tipple at the end of a busy day?
Anything that is available in my home bar and is the quickest to prepare.
A Mechanical Engineering + MBA degree and a 15 years stint with the likes of L&T, McKinsey, and Abbott kept a shy connection for Nitin VISHWAS, with the hospitality industry. He and his pal, Rohan REHANI, had very little idea that they’ll were destined to make India fall in love with the age-old beverage, MEAD. Today, the duo runs the country’s first Meadery, called MOONSHINE. With recipes being purely experimental and wisdom of their grandma’s spice cabinet in the kitchen, the brand has come a long way.
Further tuning, of what can easily be (now) called an established drink in the country, came from talking to home and professional brewers (mainly beer) and some chefs as well. Shailly of Independence Brewing Company and Oliver from Doolally are amongst the few people who mentored them along the way.
Team IWBS picked Nitin’s brains on his journey, thoughts, and the way forward.
What led you to choose to make mead in India?
Moonshine meads has reintroduced the lost drink of Indian origin to the world
A long international flight, a boring job, and an old friend who later became my cofounder in Moonshine. I used to be a consultant with McKinsey and Co. in 2014 and my job kept me on the road and in the air quite often. It was on one such flight between Brussels and Munich, that I read about London’s first meadery, Gosnell in the Lufthansa inflight magazine. I took some pics of the article and sent it to Rohan, my childhood friend for over 33 years, with whom in the recent past, I had discussed about making beer (strictly as a hobby). When I returned, he had already arranged all the ingredients to make our first batch of mead and that started our long journey into starting Moonshine. Mead, comes from the indo-latin word Medu, which comes from the Indian word Madhu. Hence, the words Madhira and Madhushala. So, it’s closer to home that most people think. Old Monk, Strong beer, Whiskey with Thumps Up, Water or Soda (to reduce the bitterness), Port wines all stand testament to the fact that Indian typically prefer sweeter carbonated alcoholic beverage. Mead, to our mind, was naturally in the ‘goldilocks’ spot.
When not savouring mead, what is your preferred drink?
I am not particularly fond of spirits. So it’s a nice red wine or a hoppy IPA for me.
How would you describe the taste of mead to a person who has never had it before?
Meads taste like a cider, minus the sour taste, with sweetness closer to that of a dry white wine. Also, the nose is very floral and a little complex. All in all, its arguably the most versatile beverage. The type of honey, changes the type of drink and in regards to fruits and spices, the versatility of nature can be reflected in the styles of meads one can make.
What were the main struggles to overcome in creating a unique style of beverages in/for India?
You have to convince 3 sets of people, if you plan to launch a new category of beverages in India
1. The government – We took 2.5 years to get a law passed to recognise mead as a category in India and then to get a license against this new law.
2. Customers – the human mind is quite interesting. Especially because it’s always trying to normalise an experience to something it has seen before. So, in a country like India, were alcohol is still a bit of a taboo and craft is only just taking off, convincing them to try a new category like mead is always a challenge; Especially when they haven’t had a cider before. Category building is always harder than brand building.
3. Restaurants – Convincing restaurants in India is usually even harder since you have to convince them that customers will come and ask for meads. They do not want to lock up capital for a category which is still unknown. Further, expecting the staff to push meads is a whole new challenge since most of the time, they are not able to field all questions asked by a customer.
What should India be drinking next?
I think there a bunch of very Indian alcohols which no one knows about! As much as I am not fond of distilled spirits, I really think Feni and more so, Urrak, is delicious! Unfortunately, these spirits have been classified as country liquor in India and hence cannot be exported out of Goa to other states. On the other hand, Goa exports Feni to Canada by the containers! Food for thought!
Once you master Mead, which is the next drink you’d like to reintroduce to India or have a take on?
With more than 10 variants available in the market, Moonshine is planning to add more variants under its name
I think we have a long way to go with meads. What we have done is make a low ABV mead, aka a Hydromel. What we want to do next is introduce high ABV meads (12-14%), aged for over a year and made using special Indian honeys sourced directly from tribals in various parts of the country! We have been working on one such mead for the last year and we plan to release 50 bottles sometime in 2020. This to my mind, is where Moonshine will go next!
