I was curious, with all the new energy drinks flooding the market in the last couple of years. What are your thoughts on the viability of new brands in this category. I know that energy drinks are one of the fastest growing beverage categories in recent memory, but is there really room for new products or have the established brands such as Red Bull, Sobe, and Amp locked it up from new competition?

It seems that every week more and more new drinks are released (175 in BevNet's database). But aside from the rantings of a few fanatic sales people on these boards, they don't ever seem to go anywhere. Any thoughts? For those of you with experience with other segments of the beverage industry, how does this growth compare with trends seen with isotonics,juice, teas, and even water - which are all fairly new categories that have developed in the last decade or two?