As summer descends upon us, days of sipping a drink sounds welcoming. And then we miss our mothers, who’d whip up nimbu pani and rose relishes in a jiffy when we returned sweaty from school. Sarthak Aggarwal, co-founder of Gunsberg ginger ale, ginger beer and grapefruit ale (Rs 90 for 325ml) says that he grew up in Chandigarh drinking his mother’s ginger ale. “We never had Pepsi or Coke at home!” Cut to a trip to Singapore, where he sat in a café looking at an open refrigerator and admiring the choices available in non-alcoholic drinks. “I had run an IT company and e-commerce portal for 15 years, but had no experience in food,” he admits. A chat with childhood friend Abhishek Bajaj, now co-founder, brought clarity because his family had run a sweet shop chain for long.

Gunsberg is named after a Swiss-German hamlet