by Chris Losh
There’s no question that cutting back on alcohol – or cutting it out altogether – has been one of the biggest social shifts since the pandemic. No question either that that trend has been made hugely easier by an explosion of alcohol-free adult drinks.
After all, if you were doing Dry January ten years ago, your options were, to put it politely, limited. Now, it’s a doddle with literally thousands of alc-free wines, spirits, beers and cocktails – and a growing number of unique adult drinks that have no alcoholic equivalent. Non-alc is an incredibly vibrant space that seems to shift and develop on an almost weekly basis.
But that vibrancy creates a few challenges. Firstly, if you’re a consumer looking for something to drink, how do you know what’s good? And if you’re a producer, how do you stand out in an ever-changing landscape?
These are the two questions that led to the creation of the World Alcohol-Free Awards back in 2022.
What was needed, we felt, was a competition that was wholly dedicated to this space. That took non-alc as seriously as the producers and the public did, and whose results people could trust. That would allow consumers (or trade buyers) to pick with confidence and successful producers to shout about their achievements with pride.
To do this, several things had to happen:
Firstly, the competition needed to have an absolute focus on what it was doing. So, after much thought, we decided not to judge anything above 0.5% ABV – the globally recognised cut-off for alcohol-free.
Click below to watch co-founders Chrissie Parkinson & Chris Losh on the Low No Drinker YouTube channel, visit the LND Podcast show notes page, or listen to the
episode wherever you get your podcasts (search ep #42)
Secondly, the entry and judging process had to be geared towards the particular needs of the AF category. This meant in-depth questions for every single entry to understand not just how they should be drunk but also how they are made. You’d be surprised how many different ways there are of making drinks that can taste broadly similar. Non-alc is an incredibly wide-ranging area, and it’s essential that every drink is flighted and tasted how its creators would wish.
Thirdly, we had to find expert judges. This was not easy since the category is so young – but we were adamant that our judges had to be properly AF-literate, not simply wine or spirit experts who fancied dipping into alcohol-free.
With judges from all over the world, we don’t just have expert tasters – we have different tastes and cultures represented, too. Again, this is important to ensure that every drink gets a fair hearing.
Your chance to shine
We’re open for entries for 2025 now until mid-February, with judging in March and the medals announced in April. For a growing number of producers and AF drinkers around the globe, these results are the yardstick for the world of alcohol-free.
And we’re delighted to tell you that we’ve teamed up with Denise and her team to ensure that, alongside the WAFA website, Low No Drinker will be one of the first places where you can see the results. Alcohol-free’s only publication teaming up with its only independent competition.
If you want to taste some of them, we’d suggest coming to London Wine Fair in May. It’s one of Europe’s biggest drinks shows, and every year, we show off our Gold Medal winners there. With so many visitors from bars and restaurants attending, it’s great free publicity for the drinks, of course. But it’s also a wonderful way of showcasing the strength of the alcohol-free category as a whole.
We’ve seen cynics won over, fans discovering new drinks’ styles, and medal winners gain listings or find importers all around the world on the back of their success in the World Alcohol-Free Awards.
While the specifics of putting the competition together are incredibly complicated, its essential mission is very simple: to reward great drinks and encourage people to buy them. If we can do that, then we’re happy!
To enter the WAFAs 2025 before the February 14th deadline, go to worldafawards.com
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