Logan Gola’s Blow Energy Drink Mix got exactly the kind of attention that the BevNET staff was afraid it would.

Last week, U.S. Rep. Mary Bono-Mack – while standing next to a representative from the Betty Ford Clinic – urged Gola to pull his product from the market.

She also called him a “scumbag.”

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It looks like beverage burglars have diversified. The latest pair of drink thieves moved beyond energy drinks and included Loganberry Tea and Jones Soda in their Red Bull heist. Their $7,000 score paled compared to earlier Red Bull and Monster bandits, who jacked $50,000 and $100,000, respectively.

These two may want to consider a career change. They’re not only going to jail, but they’re also worse at beverage filching than their predecessors.

Get the full story here.

Two researchers have an idea that could put the power to reduce global warming into your hands – specifically into your beverage bottles.

Dr. Thomas E. Muller and Dr. Toshiyasu Sakakura say it could be possible to cull carbon dioxide from smoke stacks and use it as a base chemical for the polycarbonate plastics used to make bottles and DVDs.

That could lead to cheaper, safer and greener products compared to current PET bottles, the researchers said. But you have to wonder, do you really want your beverages packaged in industrial waste? More importantly, how many times could you buy water in one of these and sing “Smoke on the Water” before it would stop being funny?

For more info, read the full article here.

After branching out into all-natural cola, Red Bull’s next move could be into the music industry. The New York Post reported that the energy drink company is building a multi-million dollar recording studio in Santa Monica, Cali. For more, click here.

In the strangest collision of the beverage and music worlds since witnesses watched Amy Winehouse snort vodka, Axl Rose has thanked Dr. Pepper for supporting his (maybe) forthcoming album, Chinese Democracy.

In a clear, Taco Bell-like stunt, the resilient number-three soda player announced that they would give a free can of Dr. Pepper to everyone in America if Axl releases the 17-year-in-the-making album sometime – anytime – during 2008.

The beverage company exempted estranged guitarists Slash and Bucketthead from the offer, and framed the promotion as encouraging Axl to release the album in a time when it is badly needed due to the current wash of wanabee singers and movies about high school musicals.

That’s exactly how Axl reacted to the promotion – publicly, at least.

Axl released a statement last week saying that he was surprised and happy about Dr. Pepper’s support and, as the album features performances by Buckethead, Axl would share his free beverage with the guitarist.

Have you ever wanted a glimpse into the life of Bobby Genovese, founder of BG Capital Group — the company that owns Clearly Canadian?

Neither have we, but nobody consulted us before the Mojo network decided to make “Bobby G: Adventure Capitalist.”

The first episode, available online, shows Bobby G and his company at an annual meeting. Prepare for the excitement of power point presentations and stock footage. Okay, so there’s some rock climbing in there as well, but this show might as well be one giant press release for BG Capital Group.

There’s a section in the middle that might be of interest to beverage industry professionals. The team works on powdered beverages, and has a brief discussion about how to deal with flavor houses. The rest of the show, however, consists of Genovese and his followers patting him on the back.

Unless you like watching corporate promotional videos, you’d probably have a better time watching reruns of “CSI: Miami.”

Regardless of your political views, we all have to agree that Iraq is currently an unsafe place for a long list of things. That list now includes Coke and Pepsi.

Ayatollah Sheikh Qasim Attayi issued a fatwa calling for all Muslims to cease consuming, selling or importing the cooler case staples.

Despite what it might look like, this isn’t a new strain of anti-Americanism. Though Pepsi and Coke are fantastic symbols of U.S. consumerism, Attayi called for the Fatwa after a study allegedly confirmed that Pepsin – a key ingredient in both drinks – is extracted from pig intestines.

While the idea of pig-intestine extract in our beverage might make most of us queasy, it’s downright forbidden for Muslims to consume pig products. Hence, fatwa.

Apparently, when my guidance counselor asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I should have said “beverage company CEO,” not “a writer.”

Pepsi filed regulatory paperwork Monday that pegged CEO Inda Nooyi’s 2007 compensation at $14.7 million.

Based on that, I don’t want to tell you how many times Nooyi could cover my salary, while still keeping enough change in her pocket to buy her own private island – and let’s not start calculating her income in terms of Ramen noodles. That would get truly depressing.

But I have to give Nooyi credit where credit is due. She garnered $9.83 million of that $14.7 mil from Pepsi stock. That same stock climbed 21.3 percent last year – so somebody’s doing something right at the top of that corporate behemoth.

So, remember kids, when your guidance counselor asks what you want to be when you grow up, say “Pepsi’s CEO.”

For more on Nooyi’s income, click here.

Coke is already test-marketing aluminum bottles, (see what they look like here) but Coke also has a different aluminum bottle design (shown at right) listed at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The trademark, filed in July of 2005, specifies the silver bottle and white text - a color combination that isn’t present in any of the test-marketed bottles.

Does anyone know anything about this?

Energy drinks have been nailed with a number of negative health claims, but this is a new one on us. Now they’re on the hook for being bad for your teeth–even worse than soda.

While it’s been said for years that acidic drinks erode your teeth, recent research by the Academy of General Dentistry discovered that some drinks are better at minimizing the effects of that acid than others - and energy drinks apparently do the least.

Note: We did our due-diligence, and all signs say that the AGD is a legitimate group The New York Times online archive listed the group in obituaries as far back as 1966.

To see the AGD’s full release, click the link below.

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