By Ian Neubauer
Schweppes’ new owner Asahi last night (Apr 21) hosted a fashion show at Sydney’s ivy ballroom as part of a new strategy to reestablish the soft drink’s long-fogotten market position as a ‘fashionable’ drink.
Embodying the glamour and style of Schweppes’ 20th Century posters, the catwalk event showcased the creations of Australian fashion designer Toni Maticevski and the new Argum range of Schweppes cocktail mixers.
The Argum Collection, as it’s called, includes three new exotic flavours: blood orange, white grape and passionfruit and citrus blend.
Mixologist Mikey Enright used the collection to create three new cocktails served to the entourage of A-list and trade guests attending the event: a blood orange martini, a marmalade martini and the Schweppes passion punch.
Schweppes first appeared in 1783 after Jacob Schweppe perfected a carbonating process that became the blueprint for the lucrative soft drinks industry.
The company has changed hands repetitively over the last two centuries. Earlier this year, the Australian business was sold by the company formerly known as Cadbury Schweppes to Japanese brewer Asahi for $1.19 billion.