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This month marks a milestone for beverage innovation as we celebrate the publication of our 50th issue. Launched in 2000 as a bi-monthly trade journal, softdrinksworld offered something new in business to business publishing for the international non-alcoholic drinks industry.

In 2004 the magazine began publishing monthly, rebranded as beverage innovation and added www.foodbev.com. In the same year, we began an important media partnership with UNESDA, the Union of European Beverages Associations. That partnership has been extended to the beverage innovation awards.

For seven years and through 50 issues, we have reported and analysed change and innovation in the global non-alcoholic drinks industry. Through our beverage innovation awards programme we have also had the opportunity to celebrate and reward that innovation.

So here is the beverage innovation senior editorial team’s selected Top 50 non-alcoholic beverages of the decade so far.

Our thanks to colleagues at Zenith International for their input and to industry observers on both sides of the Atlantic for their assistance in compiling this list. The criteria are complex – we have avoided both value and volume, preferring to take a more emotional look at an industry whose new product development has gained considerable pace in the past three years and shows no sign of slowing.

In our Top 50 we therefore feature a wide range of products. At one end, established brands and category leaders which are included because they are still relevant – despite the advent of so many more modern competitors. Further down the line are newer entrants which we sense may stand the test of time. At the other end we have some that are genuinely groundbreaking and even unproven, but we feel they deserve first to market recognition before their ideas are industrialised by larger players.

I doubt that any of our readers will agree with all our rankings and each of you will have favourites that we have chosen to omit. <1> and <2>. You can agree or disagree with each of our choices and send an email suggesting brands which you feel should be included – and your reason why. We’d welcome a genuine debate.

At the 4th Global Soft Drinks Congress in Moscow in April 2008, during the presentation of the 2008 beverage innovation awards, we will announce a revised list based on the industry’s assessment – with one or two special extra awards.

To focus on the non-alcoholic drinks arena from juice to energy and functional drinks through carbonated soft drinks and ready to drink teas and coffees, we have excluded bottled water and water plus from our listings. These will be addressed in a similar feature in partner publication bottledwaterworld during next year, which by then will be rebranded as water innovation and will also reach its landmark 50th issue.

Bill Bruce Zenith International Publishing Group Managing Editor

<1>: http://beverage.foodbev.com/downloads/beverage/bi_50_top50.pdf <2>: http://beverage.foodbev.com/staticpages/contact.aspx