Beverage Giants Put Functional, Alcohol-Free Drinks on London Agenda

The 15th Innovation in Non-Alcoholic Beverages conference opens in London on Wednesday, Sept. 23, with speakers from Asahi, Royal Swinkels and PerfectTed. The two-day event, organized by Just Drinks and Arena International, is being held at 155 Bishopsgate.

The program spans non-alcoholic beer and wine, functional drinks, coffee, tea and other beverage categories. Sessions also cover changing consumer demand, packaging, sustainability and the use of artificial intelligence to speed up product development.

Royal Swinkels’ Flemming Morth is scheduled to discuss why the Dutch brewer has entered 0.0% wine. The company recently introduced BarLoca, its own alcohol-free wine brand, extending its brewing expertise into a product outside beer.

PerfectTed co-founder Levi Levinche is due to give a keynote on energy drinks and functional beverages. His session will examine how brands can design products for particular moods and lifestyle occasions, according to the conference preview.

Asahi’s Europe and International innovation and insights lead, Flaminia Carbonari, is set to speak Thursday about adding functional benefits to flavoured non-alcoholic beer. That puts product development, rather than alcohol removal alone, at the center of the company’s conference contribution.

Other sessions will address GLP-1 medicines and their implications for beverage ingredients, as well as rules around health claims and sugar reduction. The agenda also includes discussion of how artificial intelligence might help companies test flavors and shorten development timelines.

The line-up reflects how broad the non-alcoholic category has become: established brewers are exploring new formats while newer brands pursue energy and functional products. For beverage companies, the discussions offer a look at the formulation and positioning choices they may need to make as consumer preferences shift.