It's a Whole Foods exclusive for a while, natch. According to the company's Twitter account, it is releasing the four-flavor line in "Austin, SA, Houston, Dallas, New Orleans and beyond." The flavors for Honest Fizz, which will be available in 12 oz. cans and 6-packs, include Root Beer, Lemon "Limey", Orange Pop, and (perhaps in tribute to Yale School of Management-based co-founder Barry Nalebuff?) cherry-flavored "Professor Fizz."

The nutritional and performance shake company, which was 69 percent Hershey-owned, "has decided to immediately cease operations and dissolve," noted a brief press release sent to BevNET. The reasons? A competitive category requiring further investment to make the company work.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group announced via Twitter today that next month it will begin a national roll-out of 10-calorie versions of five soda brands, including 7-Up, Sunkist, Canada Dry, RC Cola and A&W Root Beer.

As my children have taught me, the scariest monsters are the ones you can’t see. And when it comes to scares, it’s certainly been a tough couple of months for Monster Energy, which has seen its share price ride something like the “Scream Machine” while it faces waves of negative publicity and scrutiny from state and federal authorities, lawyers, the media, and a public that is increasingly starting to rethink its relationship with these products.

Call it the brotherhood of the scrappers, as the hard-working Sider brothers, Mark and Jon, have managed to leverage their friendship with floor-burned NBA journeyman Brian Scalabrine to create a series of videos on behalf of their underdog sports drink Greater Than.

For those of you who dream nightly about this kind of thing – and yes, the BevNET crew is part of that group, don’t you doubt it – we recently got some spectacular news. Symphony IRI Group, the company that provides our awesome brand sales data, has updated its information to include Wal-Mart.

These attempts to make over the pedestrian soda category with highbrow products seem to come every year, making for a diverse set of companies for retailers and distributors to consider. The entrepreneurs wouldn’t mind the consideration – it’s tough out there, they say, when you’re competing with the Cokes of the world. But things are starting to turn...

With about six weeks to go before a scheduled appeals decision concerning the Federal Trade Commission in the agency's false advertising claims complaint against POM Wonderful, the agency -- and the companies it regulates -- may soon have a good handle on the kinds of evidence it needs to substantiate scientific claims, according to a legal blogger.

While energy drinks have received a considerable amount of scrutiny in recent months, mostly from individuals concerned that the products are unsafe for children, it's the sale of Marley's Mellow Mood at a Holmdel, N.J. middle school that has a school vending agency in hot water, after some students fell ill after consuming the product.