By Chris Losh, Co-Founder of the World Alcohol-Free Awards
One of the most striking aspects of non-alcoholic growth has been its speed. When Seedlip launched a decade ago, it was hailed as a trailblazer. Today, there are hundreds of non-alcoholic botanical spirits alone—most of that growth happening in just the past few years.
That rapid expansion is why we founded the World Alcohol-Free Awards in 2022. Consumers and trade buyers needed a way to navigate the flood of new bottles and cans hitting the market each week. We wanted to create a competition judged by experts, giving buyers the confidence to explore this evolving category.
But the pace of non-alc’s rise presented a major challenge: finding qualified judges.
In traditional wine and spirits competitions, recruiting experts is easy. There are thousands of sommeliers, bartenders, educators, and buyers with decades of experience tasting and judging alcoholic drinks. But non-alcoholic beverages lacked a comparable talent pool—the category barely existed five years ago.
One thing was clear: we didn’t want judges simply crossing over from alcohol. Even highly respected experts in alcoholic drinks often lack the nuanced understanding required for non-alcoholic.
Finding judges for alcoholic beverages is straightforward, thanks to well-established qualifications in every field. But even global institutions like the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) have yet to introduce dedicated non-alcoholic courses.
Many people volunteered to judge, but often for the wrong reasons—they saw it as an opportunity to educate themselves on the category. And while the appeal was obvious (where else can you sample hundreds of alcohol-free drinks in just a few days?), we weren’t looking for eager students—we needed true experts.
It wasn’t easy, but assembling a knowledgeable panel was a core part of our competition’s mission. Fortunately, the alcohol-free industry is incredibly supportive. A few clear experts stood out, and they helped connect us with others whose opinions they trusted.
Some of our judges had long careers in alcohol before shifting to non-alcoholic. Others had given up drinking years ago and had been rigorously exploring the category ever since. Many were non-alcoholic specialist retailers; some were bartenders or journalists who had taken the space seriously from the beginning and could assess drinks with both fairness and expertise.
As word spread, we built a panel of judges we knew could evaluate drinks thoughtfully and without bias. Every candidate underwent a rigorous interview process, and we rejected more than we accepted. Recruiting judges from around the world not only expanded our expert pool but also ensured we incorporated diverse cultural perspectives and tastes.
Judging often sparks debate and strong opinions, but there are also moments of genuine excitement when we discover something exceptional. With so many drink styles and such varied backgrounds among our judges, even the most experienced tasters continue to learn. And in a category that thrives on education and awareness, that’s almost as rewarding as seeing great drinks take home medals.
