Some careers are a slow burn; others ignite instantly. For Tamaryn, it was definitely the latter.
As soon as she turned twenty, the legal drinking age in Thailand, she mixed her first drink at a bar. Just one year later, she submitted a video of herself preparing three drinks for the 2019 Campari Bartender Competition. The result? She clinched first prize, making history as the first woman and the youngest person ever to win the competition in Thailand. She didn't stop there, proceeding to the Asia Finals in Milan and taking the runner-up position.
Despite this stellar success, Tamaryn’s entry into the bartending world was almost an afterthought. Though her parents worked in the F&B industry, she spent her post-graduation years drifting between jobs, even working as a tattoo artist at one point.
It wasn't until kismet landed her a role at the Sofitel Hotel in Bangkok in 2018 that she truly tried her hand at the craft. But her biggest break came from a chance encounter while working at the Asia Today bar.
Tamaryn cites her appearance in the Netflix series Midnight Asia as the most significant turning point of her life. The crew approached her when she had only been bartending for nine months. Although the pandemic delayed the episode's release by three years, its impact was monumental. Tamaryn puts it plainly: she hasn’t been the same person since her Netflix premiere, and her trajectory has skyrocketed ever since.
Today, Tamaryn moves through the world like a sponge, absorbing the quirks of different locales to infuse into her creations. She notes the experimental strokes of Japanese bartending and the casual social atmosphere of Singaporean bars.
At the A/A Bar in Jakarta, she curated a collection of four cocktails representing locations close to her heart: ‘Huddersfield,’ ‘Bali,’ ‘Bangkok,’ and the suggestively titled ‘What’s Next?’. Despite her global reach, her personal style remains grounded in homegrown Thai flavors: mango, pomegranate, coconut, and other tropical produce.
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What is Tamaryn's favorite drink?
From her sustainable work at Kuala Lumpur’s Bar Trigona to how bartending cured her social anxiety, there is much more to this rising star's story. To read the full feature, check out ASCENSION, the 3rd volume of INTERLUNAR’s zine.
