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Following a three month campaign in which the company enlisted its Facebook fans and media professionals to help choose its newest flavor, AriZona announced today that Cherry Lime Rickey would join its formidable cadre of tea and juice drinks. BevNET’s own John Craven and Andrew Guard were two of the folks asked to help choose from three contending flavors, and we created a short video of their taste test back in April. It turns out that Craven and Guard know how to pick a winner...

Innovation Ventures LLC, the manufacturer of 5-Hour Energy, is planning a major expansion that includes broader sales and marketing initiatives, new product lines, export to international markets, and a third manufacturing and distribution facility, according to a recent article in Forbes. The company has created a new offering for $400 million in notes to fund the expansion of the 5-Hour Energy brand.

PepsiCo and the National Football League (NFL) announced today that Pepsi will be the sponsor of the 2013 Super Bowl Halftime Show and follows the renewal of a long-term agreement between PepsiCo and the NFL last year. Pepsi, which last sponsored the live event in 2007, will also have 60 seconds of advertising time during the game, one that attracted over 111 million viewers this year.

Pitaya Plus has gained new distribution in over 100 Ralph's stores in Southern California. Ralph's is the first mainstream grocer to carry the all-natural pitaya (more commonly known as dragonfruit) drink, which is also distributed in hundreds of natural foods stores along the East and West coasts, including Whole Foods, Sprouts, and New Leaf.

Calling New York City's proposed ban on large containers of sugar sweetened drinks an "arbitrary" idea that "complicates the practical realities of commerce," Honest Tea founder Seth Goldman expressed frustration with Mayor Mike Bloomberg's plan in an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal today.

Despite weaker sales for the mid-calorie soda, PepsiCo has launched two limited-edition flavors for Pepsi NEXT. Pepsi debuted Pepsi NEXT Cherry Vanilla and Pepsi NEXT Paradise Mango earlier this week, and each will be available nationwide through September 8.

Hey, readers: if you’re in the beverage innovation game and haven’t yet read Jonah Lehrer’s Imagine: How Creativity Works (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), you ought to put it on your summer…

The long-running patent infringement lawsuit between Sandwich Isles Trading Company, maker of KonaRed coffee fruit beverages, and VDF FutureCeuticals appears to be nearing an end. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently made its final ruling that VDF's patent claims against KonaRed - related to coffee fruit production methods and technologies marketed by VDF - are invalid. VDF now has until September to appeal the USPTO's decision.

A recent Wells Fargo Securities survey of convenience store retailers found that most saw an uptick in beverage sales over the July 4 holiday as compared to sales last year, according to Convenience Store News. The survey, which polled beverage retailers representing thousands of convenience stores, revealed that 75 percent of respondents had better beverage sales than last year with 40 percent indicating that sales had increased by more than 5 percent.

Looking for a unique edge in a weakening soft drink market, PepsiCo Inc. plans to launch a new malt-flavored version of Mountain Dew later this summer, according to Reuters. PepsiCo will initially test Mountain Dew Johnson City Gold at Kroger and 7-Eleven stores in select cities in the Midwest as well as Denver, Colo. and Charlotte, N.C. beginning in late August.

With distribution in over 100,000 accounts across the U.S., Honest Tea has now set its sights on increasing brand awareness and, today, launched its first integrated marketing campaign. Dubbed "Refreshingly Honest," the campaign will emphasize Honest Tea's use of healthy and organic ingredients and incorporates a variety of ad mediums including television, social media, and outdoor signage.