And the cold brew coffee train keeps rolling... Fresh out of Southern California, Seaworth’s “Single Fin Sludge” is a new organic concentrated cold brew coffee. Well-executed in packaging and flavor, “Single Fin Sludge" is an impressive foray into a category that seems to be growing by the day.
Building on the rapid growth of cold brew and craft coffee brands, Dave’s Coffee is a new line of “coffee syrup” products. In concept, it’s not that much different than most of the other cold brew products that we’ve sampled, but the syrup is a concentrated form that can be mixed with water. However, the fact that it’s syrup form definitely makes it a bit more difficult to mix than other brands that are simply coffee concentrate.
Natural foods conglomerate Hain Celestial has finalized its acquisition of BluePrint, a marketer and manufacturer of high pressure processed organic fruit and vegetable juices and juice cleanses. The deal, which was initially announced in November, is expected to increase the operational capacity of Blueprint and the availability its line of single-serve bottled juices, which are currently sold in a number of natural retailers in the Northeast and Southern California.
North Carolina-based Cheerwine has launched a new 4-pack of 12 oz slim cans. For a brand with a ton of retro appeal, the foray into a modern-looking package is an interesting move. Nevertheless, we think that the company did a great job staying true to its branding - and formulation.
With nearly 500 attendees from every aspect of the beverage industry, the show offered a range of detailed information and insights on how to grow fast and effectively. Below is a link to various photo galleries from the event, featuring a range of speakers, attendees, sponsors and exhibitors.
For most beverage entrepreneurs, the phrase “blood, sweat, and tears” is less of a motivational term as it is a realistic view of a tough and often unforgiving industry. Creating a successful beverage brand is a difficult business, and as an investor in alkaline water brand AQUAhydrate, Mark Wahlberg is starting to see its challenges firsthand.
Dr Pepper Snapple Group announced via Twitter today that next month it will begin a national roll-out of 10-calorie versions of five soda brands, including 7-Up, Sunkist, Canada Dry, RC Cola and A&W Root Beer.
As my children have taught me, the scariest monsters are the ones you can’t see. And when it comes to scares, it’s certainly been a tough couple of months for Monster Energy, which has seen its share price ride something like the “Scream Machine” while it faces waves of negative publicity and scrutiny from state and federal authorities, lawyers, the media, and a public that is increasingly starting to rethink its relationship with these products.
Hoping to make a big splash in the country’s second largest market, HINT Water has signed an agreement with L.A. Distributing Co. to distribute the brand throughout Los Angeles county. HINT, which markets still and sparkling lines of unsweetened, flavored waters is looking to the upstart DSD distributor to dramatically increase its presence in the market, specifically in mainstream grocery and up and down the street retailers.
AriZona recently extended its line of Jack Nicklaus Golden Bear lemonades with a new mint-flavored variety. Although we find the blend of lemonade and mint flavors to be quite appealing, we question whether the brand as a whole can ultimately carve out a successful niche in that there is something that seems disconnected between the image of the golfer and the thoughts of summertime that are inevitable when drinking lemonade.
Call it the brotherhood of the scrappers, as the hard-working Sider brothers, Mark and Jon, have managed to leverage their friendship with floor-burned NBA journeyman Brian Scalabrine to create a series of videos on behalf of their underdog sports drink Greater Than.
As energy drinks continue to take heat from politicians and federal agencies for their caffeine content and labeling, the sales growth of Monster Energy and Red Bull has slightly decelerated, according to a consumer price index (CPI) report released Friday by Morgan Stanley.
As far as bottled water is concerned, high pH (aka alkalinized) water is certainly all the rage right now, at least in terms of new product introductions. And for many of the high pH brands that have been around for a while, rebranding efforts are underway. That’s exactly the case for Essentia, which has gone from being a brand that could blend in with the spring water masses to something that is attempting to establish itself as modern and sporty.
KeVita is launching a new product exclusively in Whole Foods after the first of the year, debuting its first entry into the hot “cleanse” category with KeVita Daily Cleanse. And it’s happening at the same time that the company is plowing new ground in mainstream channels.
