World Alcohol Free Awards - Behind The Scenes!

Getting Certified!

We shared in the group last year that we were delighted that our founder, Lisa Marie Godfrey, had been selected as a judge for the first ever World Alcohol Free Awards. At the beginning of March, in preparation for judging,  she completed the (AF) (NA) Beer Certified Exam and a  few days later headed down to London to take part in the judging.

Here’s Lisa’s “behind the scenes” insight into what goes on at a drinks tasting..!

Having met up with fellow judges; Laura Silverman (from the US), Mariëlle Timmermans-Klessens (from the Netherlands) and Andy Mee (from Wetherby!) at our hotel we arrived at the judging venue, Cantina del Ponte, with its Thameside location and stunning view of Tower Bridge!

The venue had been converted for the awards from a busy restaurant to a hub for our exclusive use, with half a dozen judging tables, where row upon row of plastic-wrapped bottles awaited their fate! 

Team Up

After coffee, introductions and an explanation of the process,  the team of about 20 judges were split into judging panels of 3-5 people. Each judge had a laptop where we logged into the competition portal.

Our first “flight” (category) of drinks was brought out – all bottles wrapped securely so they could not be identified and we proceeded to blind taste the drinks. Each judge individually recorded  their own tasting notes and decided whether they thought the drinks should go through to the medal round in the afternoon or should be eliminated at that stage.

The team then compared their tasting feedback and a consensus was reached whether each drink progressed to the next stage.

On the odd occasion that there was a disagreement, we had two amazing Senior Judges; Josh Kelly from Club Soda and James Morgan from Brimful Drinks who would come and sample the drinks with us and guide us on anything we may have missed and help us reach a consensus. 

You can find info about the amazing judging panel here 

Neat Spirits!

Spirits were sampled 'neat' to get a more in-depth profile of the flavours and aromas, and also judged when partnered with the mixer recommended by the competition entrants – all made up with the correct volumes of spirit and mixer to give the perfect serve.

Before lunch on the first day our team had sampled 8 flights made up of 5-8 drinks each! Between flights, when it all got a bit much for our palates, we had water and crackers to enable us to reset before starting on the next category of drinks.

The discarded drinks were all available to the Head Judge, Chrissie  Parkinson who verified all the entries and collated all of our feedback to prepare for the afternoon, ably assisted by Chris Losh. 

Logistical Lunching

After lunch (which was a feat in logistics itself with different cocktail flags highlighting products which were Gluten-free, Meat-Free, Nut-Free, Dairy Free,  Plant-Based etc!) we were into the medals round!

This time our teams were tasting different products; those “put through” by the mornings’ tasters. Again on an individual basis we filled in our tasting notes and recommendations as to whether a product be scored as Commended, Bronze, Silver or Gold.

Having not judged a competition before I was surprised that not every category had a gold, silver and bronze medal. Each drink was judged on its own merit across a set of strict guidelines on how well it  performed across a set of criteria – so in some categories there were several bronzes but no golds.

The alcohol free sector has improved enormously but in some cases there’s a little way to go yet before drinks reach a gold standard. As we compared notes as a team,  again the Senior Judges were on hand to guide us when needed, however within our team we found we had very close scores!

It was fascinating to learn from the other judges there as we compared tasting notes and it’s inspired me to do some further training on the wine tasting side as it’s such a fascinating area. 

We were tasting drinks solidly from 10am to 6pm on Day 1 and then Club Soda invited us all to their amazing Drury Lane venue ( a tasting room, low and no bar and bottle shop all under one roof!) for a cocktail party before heading next door for a Belgian Feast! 

If you missed it in the group – here’s a link to a video I made of the amazing products you can get hold of there! 

Day Two!

Day 2 saw the process repeated, we met a few new judges as we had said goodbye to a few the day before who were only judging on Day 1. We were split into different teams and again spent the morning on an “elimination round” and the afternoon awarding medals – after each round of tasting we took our still-disguised bottles, cans and carafes to the commended, bronze, silver and gold tables to join the award winning drinks from other judging teams. Again everything was verified by the Head of Judging who had access to all of the tasting notes from both rounds!

The day finished with a trip to the Lucky Saint Pub in Marylebone which had opened that week and we got to sample pints of it on draught as well as a host of other alcohol free drinks they have behind the bar! 

The Judging Experience

Over the two days I personally judged over 150 drinks and I believe that there were in excess of 400 entries from across the globe. The level of organization and logistics to co-ordinate multiple flights of drinks delivered from across the world, all wrapped securely to hide identity, with the correct reference number,  pre-allocated on the judging portal to the correct team for the correct round, with the correct mixer and glass was jaw-dropping!

It was a fascinating process and I felt so proud to be part of this vibrant alcohol free international community! I tasted some amazing drinks and  am waiting, with bated breath, to see who the medal winners are – there are some drinks I see our American and Australian members sharing in the group that I have been desperate to try and I have no idea whether any of them were included in the entries!

There were definitely drinks I tasted that were completely different to anything I’ve tried in the UK market!

I also got to spend two days in the company of some amazing fellow judges who are experts in their countries;  organisers of sober social events, owners of prestigious alcohol free stores (online and bricks and mortar), drinks journalists, curators of subscription boxes, other alcohol free community founders etc.

It was great to see a few familiar faces from our community on the judging panel; Gemma Mills from JOMO Club and the two Tom’s (Ward and Proctor) from Wise Bartender and The Alcohol Free Co!

Stand Out Categories

Stand out categories for me (bear in mind I didn’t judge in every category) were the sparkling teas, shrubs and sparkling wines. But every company that submitted entries should be proud of their drinks, it really was a high standard and difficult to choose at times! 

If you look out in the Financial Times there should be a little taster of some of the award winners this weekend but the full list of medal winners will be announced on Friday 31st March ..we’ll be sharing details in the group and the full list will be announced on the WAFA site here

What an amazing experience, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll be invited back next year!