Six beverage startups emerged from a group of 12 contestants to secure a spot in tomorrow’s final round of New Beverage Showdown 24, at BevNET Live Winter 2022, sponsored by Coca Cola’s Venturing and Emerging Brands Unit (VEB).
Tuesday’s final will feature canned spring water ApeBeverages; Volay, a caffeinated sparkling water; non-alcoholic cocktail alternative SANS; Plants By People, a botanical beverage blend; EriTea spiced iced teas; and MelaWater watermelon water.
The finalists were selected from a field of 12 competitors which also included zero-proof beverage maker Tilden Cocktails; Running Lights, a better-for-you soda; Seoul Juice, Korean pear juice beverage, Artizn prebiotic tonic, Pink Cloud Beverages hemp-infused functional drinks, and bonbuz alcohol-free functional spirits.
The judges for the semi-final round included BevNET Chief Marketing Officer Mike Schneider; Bonnie Shah, L.A. Libations Chief Marketing Officer; Matt Hughes, VP of The Coca Cola Co. New Revenue Streams — Emerging brands; and Ken Sadowsky, Senior Advisor at Verlinvest.
Tune into BevNET.com tomorrow on Tuesday to watch the final round of the competition live, starting with part one at 10:45 PST and part two at 1:30 p.m. PST. The New Beverage Showdown 24 champion will be announced on Tuesday at 3:15 p.m. PST at the closing of BevNET’s annual winter conference.
The winner of the competition will walk away with bragging rights and an industry awareness-building package valued at $10,000 and join the cohort of previous New Beverage Showdown champions including Plink!, Hiyo, Agua Bonita, Kite, Cann and HopTea.