Released this past New Year’s Eve, “Cold Brew Coffee with Milk” further entrenches Stumptown in the ready-to-drink coffee category, while giving it a surprising new push into the dairy aisle.

With Christmas and New Year’s Day bridging the most recent distribution roundup, we’ve got lots of terrain to cover, so hold on tight.

CEO Daniel Birnbaum recounts SodaStream’s first foray into advertising during the Super Bowl. Despite showing a diluted version of the original ad during the game’s fourth quarter (that’s post-blackout, for all you keeping score at home), Birnbaum writes that the investment was easily worth the cost.

Three weeks after BevNET reported on the Tata Group’s decision to cease all new investment in Activate, co-founder Anders Eisner confirmed that he has acquired all financial interest in the brand from Tata as well as that of Tornante Co., the investment firm owned by his father, former Disney chief Michael Eisner. The deals were completed on Jan. 1, and while Eisner declined to share terms of the deals, he stated that he is now the sole owner of the company.

Fueled by increased scrutiny and criticism about the energy drink category, nearly six in 10 Americans who are current consumers of the products say that they are concerned about potential health risks associated with the highly-caffeinated beverages, according to a new report from Mintel, a global research firm.

As more consumers begin to seek beverages with sugar substitutes, scientists aim to solve the massive puzzle of sweeteners. What’s all-natural (whatever that means), calorie-free and tastes, you know, good? In an article for The New York Times that has the meat of War and Peace, Slate.com columnist Daniel Engber writes about the widespread, ongoing journey toward an answer that may or may not exist.