Molson Coors Enters Barley Milk Market with Golden Wing
After digging into non-alcoholic beverage categories like energy drinks and probiotic sodas in recent years, Molson Coors is looking a little bit closer to home with the launch of Golden Wing, a single-SKU line of barley milk set to launch this summer.
The concept itself isn’t novel: recall that Anheuser-Busch has links with Take Two Barley Milk via use of the beer company’s proprietary spent grain ingredient platform, EverGrain. However, that’s not the case with Golden Wing, which boasts a different type of sustainability angle through its use of barley grown at 7,500 feet above sea level in Colorado’s High Country, where natural irrigation through snow packs means the crop requires no additional watering to cultivate. On-pack, the company is also highlighting the 75-year-plus history of working with American barley farmers to protect harvests and create sustainable growing systems.
As for the drink itself, shelf-stable Golden Wing ticks some important boxes for natural consumers and retailers: the drink has four ingredients – barley, sunflower extract, sea salt and shitake mushrooms, the latter to boost nutritional content – and is designed to pair well with coffee. Golden Wing is set to launch in 32 oz. cartons later this spring, starting in California with Whole Foods (SoPac region) and with Sprouts via L.A. Libations incubation program across 50 stores in San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The suggested retail price is $5.99.
Along with its unique sourcing and straightforward single-SKU approach, Golden Wing is also leaning into a more overtly masculine positioning than some of its plant-based milk competitors, according to reps at the booth. The package itself features classic Americana iconography against a dark blue background.
Frey Farms Gets Serious About Beverage
Last year, Frey Farms hired industry veteran Debbie Wildrick as president of its beverage division to help expand the company’s presence in the ready-to-drink market. Now, after a year of Wildrick’s leadership, Frey Farms is aiming to become a national presence in the cold set.
At the show on Thursday, the company showcased its rebranded packaging for its watermelon juice brand Tsamma (previously available in original and Watermelon Coconut varieties) and introduced a new 25.3 oz. multi-serve bottle and an additional flavor in single-serve 12 oz. bottles – Watermelon Blueberry. As well, the brand featured updated packaging for its Sarah’s Home Grown line of agua frescas, which now feature shrink labeling instead of wraparounds, preventing consumers from noticing sediment at the bottom of the bottle.
Coming into the job, Wildrick said she told founder and CEO Sarah Frey that she envisions Frey Farms’ beverage division becoming a $100 million business. To begin the path there, her goal is to expand distribution nationwide. She noted that although the beverages have been “very strong” in some Southeast distributors and are available along the East Coast, the brands need to grow their footprint significantly. The company has now built out a network of regional brokers across the country to get into as many retail accounts as possible.
The rebranded packaging for Tsamma has been on shelves since last summer and Wildrick said the transition has already paid dividends: recent scanner data reported the brand is up about 30% for the last 12 weeks, she said.
Meanwhile, the aguas frescas – available in Peach, Strawberry, Mango and Watermelon flavors – present additional opportunity for Frey Farms as the category expands with an influx of new brands from startups like Agua Bonita to The Coca-Cola Company’s Minute Maid. For that product, Wildrick said the company is working to improve its messaging around agua fresca and focus on consumer education efforts alongside a distribution push.
“One of the things [I noticed] when I came on board is we were not doing a good job communicating the fresh fruit aspect and that this is a real agua fresca,” Wildrick said. “And what is an agua fresca? The mainstream consumer doesn’t really know what an agua fresca is.”
Wildrick said she is turning to the traditional brand building playbook to better establish the brands. She noted that before joining Frey Farms, the company would frequently use its connections in fresh produce to secure placement in stores but the lack of beverage set experience led to little support once on shelf. Now, Wildrick is adding promotional plans, digital marketing and utilizing SPINS data.
RISE Delivers Pocket-Sized Power With Novel Nitro Shot, Goes Big For C-Stores
New York-based cold brew maker RISE has done plenty of shape-shifting over the years, starting with kegs, then cans and then multi serve cartons. But it’s safe to say that no one has seen something quite like the Nitro Shot.
Why? Because RISE has secured the exclusive American license for the 0.67 oz. bottle, which holds around 20 ml of cold brew concentrate that is injected with nitrogen when the release cap is depressed. Hence, this is not a Forto or Humblemaker-style RTD coffee shot, but rather an on-the-go way to make rich, foamy nitro cold brew by mixing with water. The single-use shots will retail for around $2 to $3 upon launching later this year, but RISE’s exclusive license to use in U.S. beverages means the format could potentially extend to teas and other drinks as well.
While RISE is going small with Nitro Shot, it’s going big with its canned line in a bid to break through the c-store coffee set. In June, the company will begin rolling out 12 oz. versions of four SKUs to select convenience retailers, including some Chevron gas stations on the West Coast. The cans will be priced at $4.99 (up from $3.49 for its 7 oz. cans).
Devin Booker, Loop Capital Acquire Majority Stake in Coco5
NBA All-Star Devin Booker and venture capital firm Loop Capital have acquired a majority stake in coconut-based hydration brand Coco5, according to co-founder Scott Sandler. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Devin was an advocate, he drank the product, and he reached out to us along with Loop Capital and we basically sold them the company,” Sandler told BevNET at the company’s booth in the North Hall.
The company has now relocated its headquarters from Chicago to Phoenix, Arizona where Booker, who plays for the Phoenix Suns, is based and is now preparing for an exclusive launch with Fry’s Food Stores where the brand will receive placement in four different parts of the store, including stand-up displays featuring Booker.
Sandler said Booker has been hands-on with the brand leadership and the company has now expanded its roster of NBA influencers with the additional involvement of Charles Barkley, Michael Wilbon, D’Angelo Russell, Derrick Rose, Marcus Morris and Markieff Morris.
The acquisition comes about six months after Coco5 introduced a packaging refresh across its line. Sandler noted that with Booker up top, he’s optimistic the company will be able to build on the success of other coconut water-based sports drinks (i.e. BodyArmor) to scale the brand in the coming years.
Welldrinks Makes U.S. Launch with Collagen Water Brand Avasara
European beverage maker Welldrinks has opened up a U.S. division, which made its debut at the show with its latest brand: Avasara, a line of functional collagen waters.
Helmed by former PepsiCo senior director of marketing Michael Hammer, who serves as CEO, Avasara is aiming to position itself as a more affordable, more efficacious and better tasting alternative to competing brands in the collagen water space. The drinks are available in Lime, Crisp Apple and Cucumber Mint flavors and are sold in 16.9 oz. bottles with an SRP of $2.99 – $3.49 per unit. Each serving contains 10 grams of Peptan collagen, 40 calories and is sweetened with stevia.
As well, the drinks contain additional vitamins which vary by SKU; Cucumber Mint features biotin, vitamin B12 and zinc and Crisp Apple contains B12, zinc and magnesium.
According to Hammer, Avasara is available in about 90 stores in the U.S., including Erewhon, and the company is now aiming to expand its presence in the Northern California and Pacific Northwest markets.
Collagen water is familiar territory for Welldrinks, which produces the Qwell Collagen Water brand in Europe. As the company makes the leap to the U.S., Hammer said the focus will be on establishing Avasara for the foreseeable future before exploring additional launches.