Tamaryn "Makham" Cooper was born in Phuket and grew up in Bali, Indonesia. After graduating at the age of 17, Makham went to the UK to gain a year's work experience, after which she returned to Thailand and started working at the Sofitel Bangkok Sukhumvit.
Once she reached the legal drinking age, Makham joined the hotel's Belga Rooftop & Brasserie as a bartender. Makham is Thailand's youngest bartender to win the Campari Bartender Competition Thailand 2019, after having been the only woman to reach the finals. As the Kingdom's representative, she will be flown to Milan, Italy, the birthplace of Campari, with winners from 16 Asian countries to compete in the Campari Bartender Competition Asia 2019, the final round of which will be held on January 20.
How did you get into bartending?
After I graduated high school, I went to the UK and started waitressing. The restaurant had a bar and it was the first time I was in a bar, because I was below the drinking age. When my boss was in there making cocktails, I found it interesting. When I came to Thailand, the bartending scene was so in your face. It is huge; the community is huge and it reminded me of the first time I saw someone bartending. That really got me into it.
Where did you learn how to make cocktails?
I joined Sofitel Bangkok Sukhumvit's Belga Rooftop & Brasserie as a waitress and it wasn't till August 2019 when I turned 20, did they move me to the bar. Everything I know, I've learned here and from friends in the industry. They were the ones who taught me. I went to their bars, observed them and asked a lot of questions, pestering them to let me work at their bars on my days off or in my free time. That's how I learnt bartending. I had been bartending for only two and a half months when I entered the competition and won.
Who do you look up to in the industry?
There are a few people. My new boss of Teens Of Thailand and Asia Today, Niks Anuman-Rajadhon, was the one who gave me hope, even before I became a bartender. He told me that anyone could learn how to bartend. He is my idol and I look up to him a lot. There are others I look up to, as well, like Jane Kaew-yod from Sorrento and Saharat 'Max' Kaewkong from Find The Locker Room, so many. Last year's Campari winner Supawit 'Palm' Muttarattana is another one of my idols. [Makham has moved jobs and now bartends at Teens Of Thailand].
How did you create your winning cocktail?
When I moved to the UK, I lived with my grandparents. In those two months, my grandmother developed ovarian cancer and I became really close to her. She became my best friend and during that time we did a lot of baking. We always made apple pie or apple crumble and my drink is named after my grandma.
'Amore Nonna', which means 'love grandma' in Italian, is my ode to my grandmother and depicts our special bond as this is how she always signed off on my birthday cards. My cocktail is a take on the Boulevardier. It is Cinzano, Campari and Wild Turkey bourbon, which I infused with apples, cinnamon, cloves, juniper, black peppercorns and vanilla bean. I sous vide it for an hour and a half at 75C. If there is no sous vide machine, you can infuse it for a maximum of two weeks. Any more than that and the flavour will change. I usually make a caramel and rim the glass with it and put crumble on it. Though I tend to use a different garnish every time I make the drink, as I am still perfecting it.
What is it like entering a male-dominated industry in Asia?
At the moment, bartending is stereotypically seen as a male dominant profession. Though this is changing. We are seeing a lot of female bartenders who are making a name for themselves, like Bannie Kang from Singapore's Anti:Dote, who won World Class Bartender of the Year 2019 in Glasgow, Scotland. She is doing amazing and is pushing other female bartenders to step on to the stage.
I think women doubt themselves; that is the base problem. Same for me, when I first started I always thought I was too young and I was a girl. I thought it was difficult to enter a community that is male dominant. This is an Asian culture mentality; age and gender play the main factors when starting any career. At the competition, there were 33 of us and only three of us were women.
What have you taken away from the competition?
The best way to learn a skill is to join competitions. Because it forces you and pushes you to learn more about the product, techniques, skills and creating new cocktails. After this, I plan to enter more competitions. I don't take well to conventional learning and find it better to learn on the job. I want to learn more at the bar and as an apprentice. For me, that is the best way.