Charles Davies, founder of Freed From, organized a unique trade tasting event at The Belvedere in Holland Park where drinks from 42 alternative beverage producers were showcased without the presence of any founders. This deliberate absence allowed attendees to experience and evaluate the products independently. Davies had conducted an extensive search involving over 9,000 drinks from more than 2,300 producers across 57 countries, with only fewer than four percent making it through his rigorous selection process called Made The Grade®.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-20,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
In June 2023, Charles Davies, founder of Freed From®, hosted a unique trade tasting event at The Belvedere in Holland Park, London. Unlike typical trade shows, Davies deliberately excluded producers from the tasting tables to prevent them from influencing guests' experiences directly. Instead, sommeliers, restaurateurs, bartenders, and hoteliers were left to explore 42 different drink lines, guided by Davies's curated selections if they wished.
Davies created Freed From® after a three-year global search involving more than 9,000 drinks from over 2,300 producers across 57 countries. The event featured both wine alternatives and the company’s luxury 12-drink minibar collection, called The Liquid Edit®, aimed at revitalizing hotel minibars which have become stagnant.
This event marked a new approach in the beverage industry by emphasizing product quality over sales pitches, aiming to provide an unbiased experience for attendees.
Written for “Charles Davies Found Freedom Site” on 2026-10-04,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
At the pioneering trade tasting he hosted at The Belvedere in Holland Park, the producers were conspicuous by their absence.
asserted
producers → host → absence
Charles Davies had invited the trade to taste drinks from 42 of them, then deliberately kept every founder away from the tables.
asserted
Davies → invite → tables
Davies wanted sommeliers, restaurateurs, bartenders and hoteliers to encounter each liquid without somebody hovering behind it, selling a dream or awaiting praise.
asserted
somebody → want → praise
Upstairs, Andre Falcao built cocktails from spirit alternatives and elixirs while a classical guitarist played.
asserted
guitarist → build → alternatives
Italian canapés circulated.
asserted
canapés → circulate → ?
Guests could be guided, questioned or left in peace.
uncertain
Guests → guide → peace
‘It’s not an exhibition,’ Davies had insisted.
asserted
Davies → ’ → ?
‘It’s not a trade show.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
It’s not meet the producers.
asserted
It → meet → producers
It was curation made physical, and a fitting first public act for Freed From®, the business Davies created after a three-year search involving more than 9,000 drinks, over 2,300 producers and 57 countries.
asserted
Davies → make → drinks
Fewer than four per cent achieved its Made The Grade® classification.
asserted
cent → achieve → classification
‘We’re not here to replace alcohol,’ he says.
asserted
he → ’re → alcohol
‘We’re here to join the party.’
asserted
We → ’re → party
He introduces himself through what he calls ‘ruthless transparency’.
asserted
he → introduce → what
He is 56, gay and a single father to Leo, three, while co-parenting Jake, six.
asserted
He → - → Jake
Fatherhood, begun comparatively late, is among his greatest happinesses, even if he qualifies that with the realism of any parent: not always, but most of the time.
asserted
he → begin → time
He grew up in Shropshire, driving tractors and combines on the family farm.
asserted
He → grow → farm
His father was ‘a bit of a posh farmer, like Jeremy Clarkson’, although the family preferred landowner.
asserted
family → prefer → landowner
Davies wants his sons to understand that the former does not cancel the latter.
asserted
former → want → latter
While other boys discovered football, Davies began trading shares at about 13.
asserted
Davies → discover → 13
At 17 he made £50,000, concluded he was the cleverest boy alive, and used the winnings to take friends on an absurdly grand Interrailing tour of Europe, punctuated by five-star Parisian palaces.
asserted
he → make → palaces
Then came the 1987 crash.
asserted
crash → come → ?
Davies had been writing options, despite being too young to do so legally, and tried to close positions while sitting his A-levels.
asserted
Davies → write → levels
The £50,000 vanished.
asserted
50,000 → vanish → ?
Humble pie arrived with compound interest.
asserted
pie → arrive → interest
After a law degree at Durham, he entered the City.
asserted
he → enter → City
During his first week at Cargill, he was hospitalised after somebody struck him over the head with a telephone.
asserted
somebody → hospitalise → telephone
Eleven months later he was fired, effectively by popular vote, for being too posh.
asserted
he → fire → vote
‘Who wants to fire Charlie Davies?’ he recalls.
asserted
he → want → Davies
The hands went up.
asserted
hands → go → ?
It was not an environment designed to diminish his urge to prove people wrong.
asserted
people → design → urge
In 1998 he founded Link, an equity derivatives brokerage which broke even on its third day.
asserted
which → found → day
He hired for instinct rather than certificates.
asserted
He → hire → instinct
Another was somebody he encountered on a beach in Thailand.
asserted
he → encounter → Thailand
They did not need to be graduates, he says.
asserted
he → need → ?
They needed to be natural brokers.
asserted
They → need → ?
Davies trained them, expanded through Europe, cracked America, built Hong Kong and made Link formidable.
asserted
Link → train → Kong
When Michael Spencer asked why he would sell it to ICAP, Davies replied, ‘Because I want your job, Michael, when you retire.’
asserted
you → ask → job
The uses of boredom
The nine-figure deal made him extremely wealthy.
asserted
him → make → boredom
For a while, he says, he ‘acted like a rich person’.
asserted
he → say → person
…and 80 more, not listed.
The Aporia
