BevBlog

Today, outside of the BevNET world headquarters in Harvard Square, Advertising Ace John McKenna spotted what could be a tea-leaf-like sign of Red Bull’s future. A passing car crushed a can of Red Bull like the first-moving energy drink once crushed its competitors, and the resulting splatter-pattern strongly resembled the logo of Dark Dog Energy Drink:

Dark Dog has a U.S. presence that’s about as strong as beer in Utah. While Red Bull has steadily lost market share to Monster over the past few years, it’s hard to imagine its Europe-based competitor would be able to make much of a move on it. Unless there are darker forces at work! We haven’t heard word that Dark Dog hired a witch doctor, but we can’t be sure. If anyone sees black swirling clouds over either Red Bull or Dark Dog’s HQ, let us know. And don’t make them mad.

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.

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.

A Pennsylvania man has one-upped the Red Bull Bandits of Illinois. William Redfern, 37, of Allentown, Pa. admitted to stealing cases of vitamin water and Monster energy drink that Davis Beverage officials estimated to be worth a total of about $100,000.

His score dwarfs the paltry $50,000 of Red Bull the Illinois pair stole at gunpoint in March of 2006 when they hijacked a pair of Red Bull trucks.

But Redfern had an advantage. He worked at the beverage warehouse and culled his haul over the course of several months, selling the cases from his trunk for $10 each. A judged arraigned Redfern Wednesday and released him on $10,000 unsecured bail, but maybe soon he’ll share a cell with the Red Bull Bandits.

For more on Redfern, click here.

For more on the Red Bull Bandits, click here.

A pair of Illinois men looking for the wings advertised in Red Bull commercials instead got themselves a set of prison bars.

In March of 2006, William Moctezuma, 26, of Chicago and Samer Bader, 31, of Glen Ellyn hijacked a pair of Red Bull trucks carrying about 50 grand of product.

Both pleaded guilty. A judge laid a 24-year hitch on Bader last month, and decided this week that Moctezuma should see the world through bars for the next 18 years.

Maybe the pair will try to escape the prison by sprouting Red Bull-spawned wings, but, by now, they should know better.

For the full story, click here.

Britney Spears, rushed to the hospital this morning and placed on something called “psychiatric hold,” did something vaguely normal last night. She bought a case of Red Bull.

America’s favorite train-wreck-in-action bought the case while driving an apparently rented Mercedes coupe around Beverly Hills, feigning a British accent, and wearing a bright pink wig. As it was L.A., even that part of the story was vaguely normal. Still, psychiatric hold is a bit out of the ordinary.

Of course, the paparazzi followed.

For pictures and more information, click here for X17 Online, or here for Gossip Girls.

The eyes of the world turn to Iowa today, and if any of those eyes belong to Red Bull distributors, chances are they won’t be contributing to the presidential campaign of one candidate, former Senator John Edwards.

Edwards, a former 12-pack-a-campaign trail-day Diet Coke drinker, gave up caffeine after the 2004 election. Perhaps that’s not the best idea if you’re planning on pushing through an uninterrupted 36-hour “marathon for the middle class” at the close of the Iowa Caucus campaign, as Edwards did, but maybe it makes it all the more admirable.

Or, if you’re in the energy drink camp, it might make it all the more foolish. Watch this video from an Edwards press bus visit and you’ll see that the sleep-deprived-but-chipper candidate pulls no punches when it comes to his favorite — and least favorite — beverages.

“Red Bull? That stuff’s nasty,” he told the reporters, who had attempted to offer him some.