This is the time of year that, as the “Boys of Summer” return to Florida for Spring Training, I get to think about my favorite things: the Yankees, and my annual baseball analogy column. I just love the chance to compare the comings and goings of the sport I love to the action in the business I love. This year, I’m going to play the grizzled vet, dispensing lore and wisdom to a group of eager rookies wondering how they’ll break into the lineup.

Taking its first crack at the ever-expanding health and wellness market, H2M Beverages recently introduced 989 On Demand, a new cap-activated enhanced water. The product boasts an innovative and proprietary twist cap that contains a reservoir of liquid ingredients, a key point of differentiation from competitors like Activate and Karma, whose caps contain a powder-based mix.

Steve Gress has a message: Don’t count him out yet. Gress, the owner of distributor Exclusive Beverages, acknowledges his business has taken some shots in the past year, including the departure of key staff and one especially prominent brand, Vita Coco, but he said he’s getting back to the basics, taking on a suite of newer entrepreneurial brands while adding a few others that have struggled to find their way in New York.

In recent months, several veterans of the beverage industry have resurfaced in the water category. It’s a surprising twist because just three years ago that category itself was in the midst of a downward spiral, one brought on by a race to the bottom on pricing and a backlash over the environmental impact of its product containers.

Just four months after picking up super-squeezer Jimmy Rosenberg’s high-pressure pasteurization juice company Evolution Fresh, Starbucks made good on its promise to move it into a fresh-juice retail concept.…

During the last eighteen to twenty four months, the beverage industry has seen an onslaught of litigation in a particularly scary form of litigation – class actions. These cases are particularly frightening for companies because enterprising plaintiffs’ lawyers are able to initiate a case, ostensibly for the good of numerous wronged consumers, with the sign-off of only a handful of people that are willing to lend their names to the lawsuit.

Chaleo Yoovidhya, the co-creator of Red Bull who rose from impoverished beginnings to become one of the founders of the global energy drink market, died on Saturday. The self-made Thai billionaire passed away in Bangkok and was believed to be in his 80s. Chaleo’s death was first reported by Thailand’s state broadcasting service MCOT, which cited the Thai Beverage Industry Association.

Larry Trachtenbroit is nearly two decades into a career in the beverage industry that has brought him cash from Coke – twice – and the respect of his peers. He’s demonstrated a near-legendary ability to produce wildly innovative products on a regular basis. But, while his talent as an innovator has translated into a long and profitable career, his products have struggled to find solid footing in the market.