By Fiona Hepher, Founder of Sansorium
Two weeks ago, I had the privilege of joining a cohort of about 30 alcohol-free experts in London for the Second Annual World Alcohol-Free Awards. I’m excited to take you behind the scenes of the only competition in our industry solely dedicated to alcohol-free beverages.
About the awards
The World Alcohol-Free Awards was established by Chrissie Parkinson and Chris Losh, individuals boasting decades of experience across the realms of drinks, hospitality, journalism, and competitions.
Chrissie, serving as the Head of Judging, rose to prominence during her highly-acclaimed tenure as Group Head of Wine at Hakkasan. It was during this time that her exploration into non-alcoholic beverages began, when she initiated a significant in-house research project focused on no/low options. The resulting “Orchard List” marked a pioneering move toward non-alcoholic offerings within the restaurant group.
Throughout her three-decade tenure in hospitality, Chrissie has lent her expertise as a judge in various competitions, most notably as the Head of Judging for the Sommelier Wine Awards. Her accolades include prestigious titles such as Imbibe Industry Legend, IWC Sake Contributor, IWSC Lifetime Achievement award winner, WSET Educator of the Year, and Wine & Spirits Ambassador Catey award winner.
Chris, drawing from his extensive background in magazines, has dedicated over 25 years to his career as a drinks journalist and editor. In addition to contributing to leading drinks publications, he’s held editorial roles at Wine and Spirit International, Wine Magazine, and most recently, Imbibe. He played a pivotal role at Imbibe in establishing several competitions, with the Sommelier Wine Awards emerging as the world’s largest on-trade wine competition.
Together, Chrissie and Chris form the dynamic duo we need to lead the World Alcohol-Free Awards. Their values, deeply rooted in community, integrity, quality, and support, shine through their work (and they’re absolutely lovely to work with).
What follows a behind-the-scenes look at the World Alcohol-Free Awards. But first, some things to note:
- These were blind tastings. We judged the liquid in the bottle for its balance, length, strength, delicacy, flavour, aromatics, etc. We weren’t judging branding, bottle design, naming, or ingredients.
- The categories of products submitted consisted of: beer, cider, mead, sake, ready-to-drinks, wine, spirits, and tea-based drinks. These were also carefully subdivided to take into consideration how drinks are made and served and what their key taste influencers might be. This ensured each drink appeared in a flight adjacent to similar products, so all were tasted fairly.
- At the last count, there were over 180 sub-categories available to producers!
Day one
The first day greeted us with clear skies as we gathered at a venue overlooking the River Thames and Tower Bridge. The room, set with white linen tables and wine glasses, received approximately 20 of us at 9:00 AM sharp. As we introduced ourselves, we realised how diverse the representation was; we hailed from the United States, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Germany, and all over the United Kingdom (Chris and Chrissie hope to see folks from more parts of Europe and Australia next year).
We learned we had nearly 450 drinks from producers all over the world to judge over two days. According to Chris, this was double digit growth from year one! We were then divided into teams to evaluate the entries.
Our judging process comprised two parts:
- The first half of the day had us tasting multiple flights from various categories to determine if they deserved a medal, a commendation, or were considered “out.”
- Products deemed worthy of medals and commendations were assessed by another group of judges in the afternoon to determine their specific medal category: gold, silver, or bronze. Switching groups for the medaling helped to balance the judging process, giving each brand more tastebuds to entice.
We were well supported! Senior judges provided valuable insights into the products at our tables, guiding us through the key points about each entry.
One of the common interests this year was functional beverages. We were told which products were designed to be “functional” and our task involved evaluating how well the functional elements were incorporated into the drinks (over their function). This was certainly a challenge as I’m known to put up with some funk if it’s giving “func.” Here, I had to put that aside and judge composition.
Furthermore, many entries—especially those of spirits, aperitifs, bitters, and elixirs—were assessed both neat and/or mixed, with an “N” designation on the judging form indicating drinks nominated by their producers for sipping neat. Sipping neat hasn’t always been recommended in the non-alc space, so it’s a pleasure to see how innovation has evolved sipping styles.
Day two
The second day dawned with London basking in more beautiful sunlight (we got seriously lucky!), after our group of judges, especially those from overseas, had caught up on sleep.
We tackled the next round of entries with the same process and rigor as the previous day. I reckon I tasted over 100 products over two days, with some of my category-specific flights being 40 products strong!
As the end of day two neared, we were all feeling the regret of there not being more time to spend with one another! Numbers and emails started exchanging rapidly, and we hastily took group photos.
Final judging
After we completed both days, senior judges took our medaled products through yet another round to ensure further opinion and fair assessment.
Senior Judge Josh Kelly, who’s been invited to judge at many competitions, noted about WAFA that “this is the best one hands down. It’s the only one that takes place over two days, and it’s the only one where every liquid gets tasted by at least two panels and often three. So, the average liquid is tasted by nine to 12 people, which is very thorough.” In comparison, I heard other competitions spend one day judging their non-alc category, putting entries through a single pass, maybe two, with the top entries getting rejudged for trophies.
Among the group of nearly 30 judges, all were experts in the no/low category. Though we all came with unique styles, experiences and perceptions, we were united in our desire to see our category succeed within the wider drinks community. Only a few came from a more traditional alcohol background, but even those had their hands in no/low.
Further reflections
As we exchanged experiences over the two days, it became evident that our immersion in the non-alc space was not just helpful but indispensable to the judging process. Our collective tasting experiences, interactions with producers, and responses to thousands of customer queries formed the foundation of our ability to judge these drinks well. Our process was informed by the evolving landscape of food science and technology, acknowledging what’s achievable today and remaining open to the discoveries of tomorrow.
After I returned to Canada, I spoke to Chris, who shared these final remarks:
“This is almost certainly the biggest tasting of alc-free drinks in the world, and we [Chris and Chrissie] are totally committed to rewarding the best drinks with the best tasters from as many countries as possible. So if you make an alcohol-free drink, whatever it is and wherever you’re based, please don’t hesitate to send it in next year. We’d love to see it.”
About the author: Fiona Hepher is Co-Founder at Sansorium, Canada’s premium alcohol-free marketplace and distribution agency.
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