1) Read the process outline (below)
2) Read the Overview Disclaimer, and fill out the official request form on this website
3) Pay the starting costs invoice (expenses for lab fees and retail product purchases)
4) Await lab test results (approx 10 days)
PROCESS OUTLINE
The process for joining the Additive Free Alliance has been simplified from past procedures. Distillery visits are no longer required. Instead, we require lab testing of all products, which must be purchased by us directly from a retail store.
It is important that we are testing the same product that the public can buy, so we cannot accept samples sent to us directly from brands or distilleries.
In addition to lab testing, sensorial evaluation of the retail product is also conducted. We reserve the right to exclude products that exhibit aroma and flavor profiles that are far outside of what is naturally possible with an additive-free process.
Our certified lab testing partner is located in the United States, and they are ISO 17025 accredited. We are currently using Liquid Chromatography (LC-MS/MS) and testing for the following:
Sugar:
- Glucose
- Fructose
- Sucrose
Caffeine
Glycerol*
Propylene Glycol*
Triacetin
Vanillin*
Artificial sweeteners:
- Acesulfame-K
- Aspartame
- Saccharin
- Sucralose
- Neotame
- Cyclamate
- Alitame
Stevia:
- Stevioside
- Rebaudioside A
- Rebaudioside B
- Rebaudioside C
- Rebaudioside M
Pending Tests:
- E150a (Caramel color)
More elements will be added to this list over time as needed, but these are the most commonly used additives in the industry.
Is this a list of all possible additives that could be added? No. But we have found that one or more of these additives are usually present along with others, making this an acceptable indicator of products that use additives.
Our job is not to identify all possible additives within a sample; we only need to find one in order to disqualify it from the list.
Once a product has been tested and shown to be clean, we will add it to our list. If a product fails the test, re-testing using the same or other samples will incur the same lab fees.
Brands will receive a full copy of the lab report for each sample.
We do not disclose or publish any lab tests without prior approval from the brand. However, brands are free to share their own lab tests as they see fit.
If a product is being made in a distillery that uses additives for other products, cross contamination is likely to occur unless the distillery maintains different tanks and bottling equipment used exclusively for additive-free products. The lab equipment we employ is extremely sensitive, capable of finding additives in parts per million or billion, so cross contamination is commonly detected even with the most vigorous cleaning regime.
These amounts are so small that the human palate cannot smell or taste them, but they will show up in parts per billion in our lab reports.
To help visualize this, one part per billion (ppb) is like one drop of water in a 13,000 gallon (or 50,000 liter) swimming pool. One part per million is about 1 cup of water in that same swimming pool.
In situations where cross contamination may be at play, the samples are evaluated on a case by case basis. If the amount present is too low for human perception, where it cannot be detected on the palate, it may not be a reason for disqualification of membership based on that factor alone.
Is our process perfect? No. We will continue to make improvements over time, and we welcome suggestions from the community on how to make it better. This is an evolving initiative, made stronger over time through the support of our community. Our goal is to offer independent third party evaluations, and we are doing our best to fact check a brand’s additive-free claims.
*Some elements, such as glycerol, vanillin, or propylene glycol, can be found in trace amounts in samples because they are part of the process itself. We are looking for levels that are outside what is naturally capable.
>> Next Step: APPLICATION TO JOIN
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
The first year is free. A brand will simply need to pay for the costs related to the lab testing of their products. Lab testing fees are currently $900 USD per sample tested. After the first year, your membership may be covered by donations from other members. If not, fees start at $2,000 per year, which includes the cost of random lab testing of their products purchased from a retail store in the USA.
No.
We are not a regulator, and we don't inspect every batch. We randomly test retail samples, which is suitable for our purposes, but not thorough enough to qualify as a "certification."
Although the team at Tequila Matchmaker were the founders of the program, it has since been taken over by the Additive Free Alliance, Inc., an independently run corporation that is in the process of gaining non-profit status. Tequila Matchmaker uses the information we provide within their website, and others are free to do so as well.
Absolutely not. We have no restrictions placed on how any product should be made. Small batch producers as well as industrial manufactures are already members, and that will not change. Our mission is to highlight the products that are free of additives, and to encourage transparency in labeling.
Our board of directors are:
- Grover Sanschagrin, President
Founder of Tequila Matchmaker and TasteTequila.com, Grover has been overseeing the initiative of the additive free movement since 2019, when the initial planning for the designation within the app began.
- Taylor Marvulli, Secretary
Based in Los Angeles, California, Taylor has extensive experience working with non-profit organizations, and graduated in 2020 from Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles. She is knowledgeable about the tequila industry and is a passionate believer in the mission of the additive free movement.
- Jack M. Gruber, Treasurer
More commonly known as a world-traveling photographer, Jack splits his time between Washington DC and Cynthiana, Kentucky where he runs Boyd’s Station, a successful non-profit organization that benefits artists in the State of Kentucky by providing grants, gallery space, and other assistance.
- Eli Diamond
President and Co-founder of The Beverage Collective, a national sales and import agency based in Canada that supports entrepreneurs in launching their brands. Eli divides his time between Vancouver and Guadalajara, and he is a passionate advocate for the additive-free movement across Canada.
- Vinicio Estrada
Graduated from law school in Guadalajara, Vinicio specialized as a corporate attorney at law until he became President of Tequila Partida in Mexico, where he worked with the founder to lead the company’s strategic growth both domestically and internationally.
Today, in his role as CEO of the Guadalajara-based consulting firm Tequila Partners, he supports entrepreneurs and international companies in realizing their vision of crafting world-class agave spirits.
The program began after repeated requests from small Mexican-owned tequila brands and distilleries asking us to do it. We didn’t just decide to do this on our own. Why us? Because, through Tequila Matchmaker, we already had access to a platform and a large enough audience to make it happen.
With only a single regulator holding all of the power, brands and distilleries are naturally nervous to make that regulator unhappy. Mexicans within the industry who are aligned with our cause continue to serve as advisors and contributors to the Additive Free Alliance, under the condition that their names be kept confidential.
And finally, back in April of 2021, we specifically asked the tequila industry regulator, the CRT, to do this program instead of us. Our 3.5 hour meeting in their office ended with them telling us they wouldn’t do such a program because it would be unfair to brands who use additives.
But the CRT may be getting competition soon, and these new regulators may think differently. We hope so. Once an official and trustworthy certified additive-free program is available from Mexico, we will happily honor it.
