Slow and steady is helping at Zola, which will follow a 60 percent sales increase last year with between 70 and 80 percent this year, according to CEO Chris Cuvelier.

CSD share might be slipping as a percentage of total beverages consumed, but there’s a Zero-sum gain out there – Coke Zero, that is. After a long period of double-digit growth, the brand continues to be the growing star of the company’s sparkling portfolio. Over the past year, the brand grew a little over 4 percent, according to A.C. Nielsen Scantrack numbers in Food, Drug and Mass retailers to push it into third place in the diet drink category.

Balance Water, a line of functional waters infused with tasteless herbal extracts, pulled in investment to the tune of about $4-5 million recently, according to co-founder Martin Chalk. The funding came from a mix of sources: Emil Capital Partners supplied institutional cash, while famed investor Thomas H. Lee, the founder of Thomas H. Lee partners, put in money as an individual investor, as did Australian actor Hugh Jackman.

Lance Gentry, the well-known and well-liked former VP of marketing for Izze Beverage Co., passed away Friday following a battle with brain cancer that lasted more than a year. Gentry became a familiar and welcome presence when he visited the BevNET team during frequent trips to Boston as he attempted to open the market for Izze.

After spending months in limbo as product slowly trickled through a declining number of stores and online retailers, relaxation shot RelaxZen has been sold to a pair of Brooklyn-based investors by former CEO Brent Sonnek-Schmelz.

Looking at the numbers at the seventh incarnation of BevNET Live, which finished up on Tuesday after two days of intense teaching, networking and community building in New York City, however, the event started and ended with the simplest number: one.

A letter sent to stockholders of the long-struggling Adina beverage company seemed to indicate that the new age beverage shop's doors are about to close for good. The company is selling through its remaining stock but is also liquidating its assets in order to satisfy debt obligations.

Rob Ehrlich, of Rob’s Really Good, has always been fast on his feet when it comes to rolling out on-trend products, but this has to be something of a record. One day after New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg launched his latest salvo against the beverage industry by attempting to severely restrict the sale of sugary beverages larger than 16 ounces, Ehrlich announced plans to release three zero-calorie Kola-nut based sparkling beverages.

BevNET has learned that former Muscle Milk marketing chief John Blair has joined shot-and-a-beer brand Bruvado as President after a slow exit from the protein drink's parent company, Cytosport.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg officially proposed the ban during a City Hall briefing this morning, but word leaked out last night, at which time the ABA sent an e-mail to members stating it would “challenge this latest example of government overreach.”