Berczy hard seltzer wins Speciality & Fine Food Fair's Drinks Pitch Live

Berczy, an alcoholic sparkling water brand, has won Speciality & Fine Food Fair’s Drinks Pitch Live, an online pitching opportunity for start-up drinks brands.

The founders of Berczy joined tea-infused liqueur brand Tipsy Tea and non-alcoholic fine spirit brand Gnista in a session that saw them deliver five-minute product pitches to a panel of industry judges.

Berczy Co-Founder Nick Johnson described the inspiration for the brand: a summer’s evening in Toronto’s Berczy Park, during which he and his fellow founders first tried a hard seltzer and began planning how to bring the drink to the UK market.

Berczy drinks currently come in three flavours: lemon & lime, peach & raspberry and passionfruit & turmeric.

“We wanted to stand out in the market,” commented Johnson. “Sustainability had to be core to our brand and we developed everything from the ground up with a very compact UK supply chain.

We’ve eliminated plastic waste from our products where possible and have tried to position Berczy as the new, low-impact way to drink.”

The product pitches were judged by industry experts Herchelle Perez Terrado, Founder, The Drinks Partnership, Laura Willoughby MBE, Co-Founder, Club Soda, Raissa De Haas, Co-Founder, Double Dutch Drinks and Dawn Davies, Head Buyer at Speciality Drinks.

As the pitch winner, Berczy will receive a 4sqm stand within The Drinks Cabinet at Speciality & Fine Food Fair 2021 plus a consultation with The Drinks Partnership Founder Herchelle Perez Terrado.

Philippa Christer, Event Manager for Speciality & Fine Food Fair, said: “The standard of entries for our virtual edition of Drinks Pitch Live was extremely high and the three brands that pitched to our judging panel today are all fantastic, unique propositions. It’s so encouraging to see all the new, emerging drinks brands that have launched into the market over the past year.”