This sommelier can’t easily consume alcohol. So he created non-alcoholic beverages for fine dining

Jaehyun Sim's journey to becoming a sommelier took an unconventional path, driven not by a love for drinking but by a desire to elevate the dining experience. During his sommelier training, Sim confronted a significant challenge: he cannot easily consume alcohol. This personal limitation led him to question his career path but ultimately inspired him to find a unique solution.

His culinary journey began as a line cook before a head chef's recommendation moved him to front-of-house, where he discovered his aptitude for wine. However, the physical barrier of alcohol consumption remained. Sim's perspective shifted dramatically during his time at Evett, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Seoul. There, he witnessed a rigorous non-alcoholic pairing program that treated teetotalers not as an afterthought but as integral to the dining experience.

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Watching colleagues discuss the nuances of wine late into the night, I naturally began to question whether I could realistically sustain a career as a sommelier.

Inspired by the innovative use of ingredients like green juices from perilla leaves and whey-carbonated liquids, Sim founded Havn. This non-alcoholic botanical beverage label focuses on carefully sourced Korean ingredients, aiming to provide complex, balanced, and alcohol-free alternatives for fine dining. His subsequent placement at Copenhagen's Alchemist further solidified his vision, offering him access to advanced infrastructure for developing non-alcoholic beverages, including a dedicated fermentation cellar and unique creations like a smooth water kefir and a "Korean Cola."

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These were not mere substitutes for alcohol. They were independent components of the dining experience with their own structure and balance.