Wineweek 173: The Launch Party

Today I want to write about one of the greatest things I have been working on the past year, our Tripsteri travel app, that was finally officially launched this week. And when you launch something that great, you have to have a party, right! I had very little to do with it, but my girls had put together a super event at our office in Helsinki. We had some awesome raw pizzas, vegan chocolate cake, Moritz beer and newly launched Kyrö distillery Bitter Rye with Fever Tree aromatic tonic. For viewing frankly the best travel app there is, you can visit the app store and search for Tripsteri, and for reading more about the concept and about our company, visit www.tripsteriapp.com

I will not actually talk that much about the content or features of the app in this post. Frankly, the website will do a better job at that (and it is much prettier than my blog). But what I really want to write about the great catering we had at the party. My partners, Paula, Tuulia and Siru are very much on top of today’s food trends, and they had found the perfect partners to keep our guests entertained.

The food was made by Camilla from High Frequency Food Catering: we had raw pizza with tomatoes and amazing homemade pesto, Spanish pie made from chickpeas and sweet paprika and this amazing raw chocolate cake. All dishes were vegan and nut-free, so they were suitable for everybody. I chatted a bit later with Camilla about the ingredients she used, and was surprised that the chocolate cake was basically made from avocado, raw chocolate and seeds. It was actually not more unhealthy than the average breakfast – oh, to have that every morning!

Drinks were sponsored by Spanish Moritz, and Finnish Kyrö Distillery. Kyrö is mostly known for their Napue Gin, that hit the country with a storm a few years ago. Gin and tonic made a comeback, with Napue being mixed with premium Fever Tree tonic, cowberries and fresh rosemary. This week, Kyrö launched their new spirit, Pale Rye Bitter, made from 100% rye off course and distilled with hops, spruce, birch and rowan berries. We were lucky enough to get a few bottles to our party, including a recipe for the perfect theme cocktail. The Bitter Tripster includes 4cl Kyrö Pale Rye Bitter, Fever Tree aromatic tonic with angostura bark, and a slice of fresh ginger. We forgot to buy the ginger, but the cocktail worked anyway. I heard from the girls who partied a bit later than I did that the spirit worked also neat on the rocks.

There is not much more to say about the party than it was awesome. People had a good time and the drinks and food disappeared faster than we had time to replenish the table. The next step in our app world domination will come in March, when my colleagues fly to Japan for Slush Tokyo, to introduce our product together with Visit Finland – Isn’t that awesome! I wish I was going too, but I am “unfortunately” in Seoul then. Oh well! Next time them.

All the below pictures are compliments of my mentor and photography coach, Tuulia Kolehmainen (mine did not come out nearly as well).

xx Soile

High Frequency Food raw pizza and chickpea pie. Photo: Tuulia Kolehmainen

Moritz non-alcoholic beer. Photo: Tuulia Kolehmainen

Our video introduction. Photo: Tuulia Kolehmainen

Talking about the app. Photo: Tuulia Kolehmainen

Vegan chocolate cake made from raw chocolate, avocado and seeds. Photo: Tuulia Kolehmainen

The new Pale Rye Bitter from Kyrö Distillery. Photo: Tuulia Kolehmainen

Our newly launched guide books. Photo: Tuulia Kolehmainen

The simple recipe for Bitter Tripster. Photo: Paula Kultanen Ribas

My girls having beer. Photo: ??