Six emerging beverage brands emerged from a field of 12 contestants to secure a spot in today’s final round of New Beverage Showdown 26 at BevNET Live Winter 2023, presented by Coca-Cola North America New Revenue Streams.
Tuesday’s final will feature Magic Cactus hemp-infused sparkling cactus water, Plant Press “clean caffeine” energy drink, Spade sparkling premium soda, Erva Brew Co. yerba mate, Calexo cannabis-infused sparkling water and Fang recovery tonic, winner of the audience vote.
The finalists were selected from a group of 12 competitors which also featured Mixoloshe non-alcoholic cocktails, Sly circadian beverages, NutCase chocolate cashew milk, Adapt Superwater hemp-infused superfood drink, Joie natural energy drinks and Troov non-carbonated performance tea. Each entrepreneur had two minutes to present their brand to the panel of judges.
The judges for the semi-final round included Mike Schneider, CMO, BevNET; Jenny Dowdy, President, Red Tree Beverages, Coca-Cola; April Asico, Group Manager, Beverage Innovation, Starbucks; and Dan Gasper, CEO, The Ardent Company.
Looking toward the final round, the judges encouraged finalists to dive deeper into their market readiness, including price point, as well as the gap their beverage is filling.
“I didn’t see a very clear definition of the white space that [the brands] are hoping to occupy, so I’d like to see a little bit more on that,” said Dowdy.
Tune into BevNET today, December 5 to watch the final round of the competition live, starting with part one at 11 a.m. PT and part two at 1:45 p.m. PT. The New Beverage Showdown champion will be announced at 3:15 p.m. PT at the closing of BevNET’s annual winter conference.
In addition to bragging rights, the champion will walk away with an industry awareness-building packaging valued at $10,000 and join the cohort of previous New Beverage Showdown winners including Parch, SANS, Plink!, Hiyo, Agua Bonita, Kite, Cann and HopTea.