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ALSO THIS ISSUE:MAGIC HAT BREWERYDIET ENERGYBOUTIQUE CSDsRTD JUICE

O C T O B E R 3 1 , 2 0 0 8

Single Serves Grow, Drink Mixes Reach $1 Billion

POWDERPOWER

OCT.08.BEVERAGESPECTRUM.5

OCTOBER 2008vol. 6 :: no. 7

Beverage Spectrum (Postal Number 024-552) is published monthly with combined issues in January/February, May/June, July/August and November/December by Beverage Spectrum Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of BevNET.com, Inc. One Miffl in Place, 3rd Floor, Cambridge, MA 02138. Periodicals postage paid at Boston, MA and additional mailing offi ces.POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Beverage Spectrum Magazine, Subscriber Services, One Miffl in Place 3rd Floor, Cambridge, MA 02138-9917.

cover story30 Powder Power

Single serve drink mixes measure profi t by the square inch

features24 We Already HAD a V8

How the world’s best known veggie drink became fruitful

28 Brands in Transition

Another trick for Magic Hat

columns 6 First Drop

Saving time online

8 Publishers Toast

Take a deep breath

22 Gerry’s Insights

Marginal difference

departments10 Bevscape Business

BPA debate back again

12 Bevscape Innovation

Pepsi banks on 8-packs

14 Channel Check

Spotlighting teas

18 New Products

Say hello to Michelob

48 Promo Parade

With hoiday coverage

category focus36 Boutique Sodas

Embracing function

40 Juice and Juice Drinks

The economy and premium products

44 Diet Energy

So very necessary

conference beat46 Review

NACS Show

24

8

30

6.BEVERAGESPECTRUM.OCT.08

THE FIRST DROP By Jeffrey Klineman

THERE’S A LOT of discussion these days about whether various people or companies “get” the Internet. This is not a major concern for us at Beverage Spec-trum, as we, in fact, are creatures “of” the Internet. We don’t so much get it as are gotten by it, are glued to it, spend half our time lost in it, and enjoy forwarding amusing things back and forth that we have found in it.

They say write about what you know, and it’s with this in mind that I tell you I know the Internet. Or, at least, the various news and product sites I patrol hourly. Here’s the thing I get about the Internet: online, there is a justifi cation or rationalization for every single thing written, recorded, or argued, and there are a lot of t-shirts for sale.

The idea that so much of our time is now spent online does offer a wide variety of opportunities for beverage companies and retailers to have an impact. For example, knowing my wife was headed up to tax-free New Hampshire (New Hampshire having voted long ago to offi cially change its state name to “Tax Free New Hampshire), I hopped on the New Hampshire State Liquor Store web site to fi nd out what cheap cases of red wine were available at their 77 loca-tions. It seems to me that this should be a fairly easy trick for chain stores to imple-ment, particularly given the amount of work they are currently putting into category management.

There’s also a lot of knowledge and opinion available online. While a lot of that is political, there’s also a galaxy of sites

THE INTERNET: GET IT?

orbiting around every trend or niche interest one can think of, from the best cheeseburger in Omaha to the various kinds of men who look like Kenny Rogers.

With so much to absorb – and so many misspelled captions laid over photos of cats – it’s easy to take your eye off the ball when it comes to harnessing the Internet for the purpose of making and selling beverages. To spare you the trouble of having to “get” the Internet, however, these are some observa-tions that, having bothered to read this far, you should download to your own personal knowledge base:

1. The niches of common interest that form on the Internet are the same kinds of groups that can sustain a product. Bawls is an example of a product line that has found a variety of different, marketable niches rather than a broad, one-size-fi ts-all market-ing strategy. If you’re launching or selling a new product, go for the right niche.

2. Environmental awareness is not going away, and bloggers, activists and nonprofi ts who fi nd equal footing for their messages with marketers and manufacturers have pro-

duced a lot of the environmental zeitgeist. You can’t beat them. Join them. Start selling your environmental initiatives online.

3. As part of 2, remember – the Internet is the home of the “Master Debunker.” The Master Debunker is a semi-journalistic, semi-consumerist blogger or organization who will fi nd out what is in your product, what claims you make are truthful, and where to get it for cheap. Do not try to lie to the Master Debunker. They will leave you naked and hurting, with all your calories and additives hanging in the wind. Look at the up-and-down fate of “All-Natural” 7-Up for a clue to that.

4. Just because something is an Internet fad, that doesn’t mean it’s going to translate into a good beverage. The better move is to understand what the fad represents: the answer to a question asked by Internet users. Jones Soda did this well for years –using the Web to let users express their individuality.

5. When all else fails, post a photo of a cat enjoying your product. Make sure to misspell everything the cat says.

January 16, 2006.

a10tion calorie counting shoppers!we hate to twist our own caps, but we just did the unthinkable to low-calorie!

only 10 calories per serving

great tasting (trust us, it can be done)

packed with vitamins and nutrients

available in 20oz. singles and 16oz. 4 packs.

low cal


PUBLISHER’S TOAST By Barry J. Nathanson

EDITORIAL

1 Miffl in Place, Suite 300 Cambridge, MA 02138

ph. 617-715-9670 fax 617-715-9671

ADVERTISING

1123 Broadway, Suite 210 New York, NY 10010

ph. 212-647-0501 fax 212-647-0565

PUBLISHERBarry J. Nathanson

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EDITORJeffrey Klineman

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ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERJohn McKenna

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ART DIRECTORMatthew Kennedy

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GRAPHIC DESIGNERAmadeu Tolentino

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ASSISTANT EDITORMatt Casey

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PRODUCTION MANAGERAdam Stern

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SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIESAdam Stern

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BEVERAGE SPECTRUM PUBLISHING INC.

CHAIRMANJohn F. (Jack) Craven

[email protected]

PRESIDENT ANDEDITORIAL DIRECTOR

John [email protected]

BPA Worldwide Member, June 2007

OUR ECONOMY is roiled to a level not seen since the Great Depression. The roller coaster of the Dow Jones and the collapse of several once-esteemed fi nancial institu-tions have launched the anxiety meters to the stratosphere. The entire world’s economy is caught in this downward spiral. Our 401Ks, IRAs, savings, and stock accounts are evapo-rating before our collective eyes. Nothing seems safe or secure anymore.

Being a baby boomer born in 1948, I viv-idly remember the conversations of my par-ents and their peers about their lives during the turbulent Great Depression. Years later, their fears and angst were still very real, and the times they talked about were truly des-perate. But what I remember most was their faith in our system and the American way of confronting dark issues and overcoming them. Sure, what they were discussing was different from today’s situation. They didn’t have the safety nets, government-sponsored deposit insurance, and the immediate intervention that we all hope will eventu-ally bring us back from the economic abyss. We can believe, from their experience, that, while these times are tough right now, they too shall pass. We’ve had economic travails,

TAKE A DEEP BREATH...

recessions and tight credit before, and have always come out of it.

What does this have to do with beverages? Everything. This is not a time for marketers, retailers and distributors to go into a shell. It is essential that we continue to be visible in the marketplace. We are blessed to be in an industry that the consumer both needs and wants. So look where you can trim, of course, but don’t stop your initiatives. Bever-ages are a foundation of our package goods industry. Our brands are some of the few basic and luxury items that the public can afford. We would send a bad signal if the shelves weren’t stocked, if the choices were diminished, and the pricing was either cut drastically or raised too much. Promote your brands and keep up the marketing efforts. Don’t slash budgets on programs that have worked for you for so long. Give a value proposition that the buyer can embrace.

The market will come back, as will the credit. The economy will rebound, as it always has. Our industry is a bellwether of our economy. Make sure you’re serving the customer well, and you’ll be poised to ben-efi t from the turnaround. It will come.

You’re number one, too. Thanks to our retail partners, distributors and all of America for making FIJI Water the best-selling premium bottled water in the U.S.* We’re proud to be more than just the best-tasting water, but also the top-ranking premium bottled water. Thank you for your partnership and support.

*Source: IRI FDMx 52 Weeks Ending 2/3/08 & IRI Convenience Stores 52 Weeks Ending 12/30/07; Volume and Dollar Sales.

Thank you for making us #1.

FIJIWATER.COM


THE LATEST NEWS ON THE BRANDS YOU SELL BEVSCAPEBUSINESS

If you’re interested in selling Monster or Rockstar, get ready to play a little distribution Twister in the next few months, as a set of deals engineered by Coca-Cola North America is about to completely change the cast of characters servicing your store.

Just before Beverage Spectrum went to press, Hansen Natural Corp. and Coke announced that they had agreed to a deal where the soda giant would take over distribution of Monster Energy in Western Europe, Canada, Mexico, and some U.S. states.

The deal came just two years after Hansen entered a distribu-tion deal with another beverage giant, Anheuser-Busch, whose network handles a little more than half of the fast-growing energy brand’s wares. Most of the rest of the brand is run through a series of independents and, more importantly, a series of distribu-tors owned by Dr Pepper Snapple Group. Those DPSU distribu-tors, who revealed they will take a hit of close to $200 million in sales with the loss of Monster, are going to collect termination fees – likely paid by Coke via Hansen – but are still going to need a new energy drink on the trucks.

Meanwhile, the announcement came just two days after Rockstar, whose brand has been fl agging a bit in recent years but remains the third-ranked independent behind Monster and Red Bull, announced the extension of its own three-year-old distribu-tion agreement with Coke.

Rockstar retained the right to terminate the agreement as part of the deal – and it seems highly unlikely that Rockstar would want to share the stage, or the truck, with its longstanding archrival. At the same time, the Los Angeles-based Rockstar ap-peared to have a bit of time to fi nd its own network, as Coke and Hansen are also faced with the challenge of fi guring out how to accommodate A-B – which never truly reached a saturation point in terms of its Monster distribution and is still struggling to get it into on-premise accounts – while familiarizing its workforce with the whole Monster catalog.

There has been some speculation that PepsiCo – the only big company not yet mentioned here – might make a grab for Rock-star, as well, either with an equity piece or as a way of bolstering its own energy portfolio. The company has managed to revamp its AMP line without leaning heavily on an independent, but it still trails the other giants.

The deals sent the Coke staff into a tizzy; most of its regular communications staff skipped the NACS show to deal with the announcement, and there was a lot of adjustment of arrays at the last minute.

As an example, note this statement from Debbie Wetherhead, Coke’s spokesperson to the trade, made on Oct. 13 – day two of the NACS Expo: “If you were here yesterday, the display was a little different than it is today.”

Chances are, retailers will be able to echo that line in the next few months.

TRUCKING ENERGY DRINKS: A NEW GAME Bottled water in the U.S. could include more on-package documentation if a bill proposed by U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) becomes law.

The bill, called the “Bottled Water Safety and Right-to-Know Act,” would require bottled water companies to display – on each bottle – where the water came from, how it was treated, and the quantity of contami-nants in the bottle.

Tom Lauria, a spokesman for the Interna-tional Bottled Water Association, said most bottled water companies already address these issues. They print the source of the wa-ter on the label, he said, along with an 800 number to call for more information – but adding much more information to the bottle may be asking too much.

“You’re trying to telegraph to the consum-er what they need to know, quickly,” he said.

Lautenberg – whose offi ce did not return a call for com-ment – introduced the bill at a hearing in the Environment and Public Works. Lauria described the hearing as calm and “sparsely attended.” He expects more hearings on the subject, including appearances from the FDA and EPA, and said the IBWA may ultimately back the measure – but they will reserve judgment until a fi nal version of the bill is prepared.

The debate over bisphenol-A, or BPA, resurfaced after British re-searchers revealed a study on the potential effects of the chemical on 1,455 U.S. adults.

The study found that people with the highest concentrations of the chemical (used in baby bottles and beverage can linings) in their urine suffered a higher rate of heart disease, diabetes and liver-enzyme abnormalities, Reuters reported.

In April, Canada banned the substance from use in baby bottles. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a draft conclusion in August that current exposure to the chemical fell within safe levels. The administration said it would review the new study, but still believed exposure levels to be safe.

MORE INFO ON BOTTLED WATER?

BPA DEBATE BACK

03

PVC

07

O

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BEVSCAPEINNOVATION THE LATEST IN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETINGBEVSCAPEINNOVATION

Sure, it’s great that functional health benefi ts are frequently associated with food and beverages. But there is such a thing as too much health and wellness, which may put consumers off, according to experts.

Euromonitor’s head of global food research, Lee Linthicum, recently an-nounced that several products are thriv-ing because they promote various health and appearance benefi ts. But watch out for too many scientifi c claims, Linthicum added.

“Manufacturers are leveraging innova-tions in food science and making those messages known,” he told NutraIngredi-ents USA. “But at the end of the day it is still food you are talking about.”

The Takeaway? Don’t Over-Medical-ize, according to Linthicum. “There is a fi ne line between too much science and consumer innovation.”

A new study from European food and beverage maker Danone hinted at color and fl avor are often the chief infl uence on whether consumers will accept new beverages.

The journal Food Quality and Prefer-ence published the study, which placed intensity of color and fl avor as the domi-nant elements of a “sensory marketing approach.” Labeling and packaging take a back seat, according to the study, which measured only those four elements.

The study’s methodology involved hav-ing consumers look at potential improve-ments to a given beverage – and revealed that packaging size and labeling type were taken into account to a lesser extent than color intensity, which was named 43 percent of the time, and fl avor, which was named 32 percent of the time.

For a long time, the 12-pack of 12 oz. cans has been the key package for soda makers. But in a move that is either testing innova-tion or wallet size, PepsiCo is trying out an 8-pack, the Tampa Bay Times reported. According to the story, PepsiCo’s costs have gone up 11 percent in the past year – and with CSD volumes down, pricing increases have not let the company keep pace.

It’s an important development – while health concerns were unable to force compa-nies to change package sizes, materials costs have fi nally led to reductions. Up next, 20 oz. bottles will drop into 16 and 12 oz. con-fi gurations (At NACS, Coke was bannering its 16 oz./99 cent convenience store deal). PepsiCo will also try out a 1.5 L bottle for its most popular lines.

The test is going on in about 20 percent of the country, according to the Times.

HEALTH & WELLNESS CAN KILL YOUR PRODUCT

PEPSI EXPERIMENTS WITH 8-PACKS

COLOR BEATS ALL

THE FLAVOMETER

1. Blend

2. Carrot

3. Tomato

4. Apple

5. Orange

6. Celery

6. Lemon

6. Pumpkin

9. Lettuce

9. Spinach

Rank

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

% Change vs. year ago

-12.9%

12.8%

-2.0%

44.4%

38.6%

-20.8%

-1.6%

13.3%

47.6%

74.2%

Category

Fruit & fruit fl avored drinks

Wine & wine coolers

Tea

Liqueurs & other alcoholic drinks

Coffee

Milk, non-dairy milk & yogurt drinks

Beverage mixes & fl avorings

Soft drinks

Isotonic, energy producing beverages

Beer & ale

Vegetable Flavored Drinks:

Top Flavors in New Products,

June 2007 – June 2008

SOURCE: PRODUCTSCAN ONLINE (www.productscan.com) SOURCE: PRODUCTSCAN ONLINE (www.productscan.com)

Global Leading Drinks Launched by Category, April – June 2008


Channel Check october 2008

SPOTLIGHT CATEGORY

RTD TEA

RTD TEA Dollar Sales Change vs. year earlier

AriZona $298,831,300 5.2%

Lipton $239,111,000 1.2%

Snapple $125,630,600 -5.5%

Lipton Brisk $84,087,370 -4.0%

Diet Snapple $77,787,710 -7.7%

Nestea $63,093,040 -7.1%

Lipton Diet $52,384,120 27.8%

Lipton Pureleaf $36,153,390 170.7%

Private Label $24,567,850 33.4%

Nestea Diet $17,774,310 0.9%

Lipton Iced Tea $16,321,160 -53.0%

Nestea Enviga $15,378,710 -40.5%

Gold Peak $13,128,280 34.8%

SoBe $10,711,260 -20.7%

Tradewinds $8,780,738 58.9%

Heading Up: Lipton PureleafSOURCE: Information Resources Inc. Total food/drug/mass excluding Wal-Mart

52 Weeks through 9/7/08

SOURCE: Information Resources Inc. Total food/drug/mass excluding Wal-Mart

TOPLINE CATEGORY

VOLUME52 Weeks through 9/7/2008

BOTTLED WATER

$5,159,143,0001.1%

BEER

$7,737,549,0003.7%

BOTTLED JUICES

$3,808,174,0001.0%

ENERGY DRINKS

$886,901,40013.5%

SPORTS DRINKS

$1,713,134,0002.3%

TEA/COFFEE

$1,415,107,0001.0%

AriZona continues to lead the segment as an individual brand, but Lipton’s aggregate sales outclass the category. The big performer of the month, Lipton Pureleaf, probably owes its triple-digit growth to its recent introduction (it’s up only one tenth of one percent over last month), but the sub-line’s twist on tea authenticity still snared $36 million for Pepsi over the last year. In the mean time, private label teas continued to perform, while Snapple slid and Nestea plunged.


Channel Check october 2008

SPORTS DRINKS Dollar Sales Change vs. year earlier

Gatorade $600,151,100 -8.5%

Powerade $243,004,900 1.1%

Gatorade All Stars $131,878,700 4.1%

Gatorade Frost $130,128,800 -8.1%

Gatorade G2 $124,347,200 N/A

Gatorade Rain $119,901,200 -20.3%

Gatorade Fierce $70,977,290 -23.4%

Gatorade X Factor $58,766,830 -31.1%

Gatorade AM $55,530,080 5.6%

Gatorade Tiger $48,981,160 N/A

Heading Up: Gatorade G2SOURCE: Information Resources Inc. Total food/drug/mass excluding Wal-Mart


RTD COFFEE Dollar Sales Change vs. year earlier

Frappuccino $190,754,900 4.0%

Doubleshot $24,523,050 -7.5%

Doubleshot Light $10,461,850 -3.1%

Starbucks Cappucino $9,475,734 -29.7%

Bolthouse Farms $4,656,019 3.2%

Godiva Belgian Blends $4,376,248 -56.3%

Private Label $2,089,993 103.6%

Cinnabon $1,691,035 20.7%

Hillside $611,517 25.8%

Emmi $540,817 N/A

Heading Up: EmmiSOURCE: Information Resources Inc. Total food/drug/mass excluding Wal-Mart


IMPORT BEER Dollar Sales Change vs. year earlier

Corona $441,939,100 -2.2%

Heineken $299,865,600 3.7%

Corona Light $125,157,100 0.6%

Tecate $92,910,010 10.1%

Heineken Premium Light $73,538,500 15.5%

Modelo Especial $61,040,720 13.5%

Newcastle $50,632,180 2.8%

Guinness Draught $48,563,960 2.7%

Stella Artois $45,629,580 43.2%

Labatt Blue $44,019,760 -2.4%

Heading Up: Stella ArtoisSOURCE: Information Resources Inc. Total food/drug/mass excluding Wal-Mart



DOMESTIC BEER Dollar Sales Change vs. year earlier

Bud Light $1,352,248,000 3.8%

Miller Lite $688,197,700 1.6%

Budweiser $659,891,300 -2.7%

Coors Light $644,709,000 8.5%

Natural Light $267,739,400 1.1%

Michelob Ultra Light $202,730,500 4.7%

Busch Light $195,868,800 3.7%

Miller High Life $165,455,800 5.2%

Busch $150,362,100 3.2%

Miller Genuine Draft $141,082,200 -7.6%

Heading Up: Coors LightSOURCE: Information Resources Inc. Total food/drug/mass excluding Wal-Mart


ENERGY Dollar Sales Change vs. year earlier

Red Bull $363,400,300 11.7%

Monster $141,672,900 18.3%

Rockstar $100,580,900 8.1%

Amp $33,947,080 25.6%

Full Throttle $26,199,540 -34.1%

Java Monster $19,153,690 1,124.4%

Monster XXL $18,309,220 72.0%

SoBe No Fear $17,048,390 -44.6%

Amp Overdrive $12,825,420 109.8%

Rockstar Juiced $12, 255,680 17.8%

Heading Up: Java MonsterSOURCE: Information Resources Inc. Total food/drug/mass excluding Wal-Mart


CONVENIENCE/PET STILL WATER Dollar Sales Change vs. year earlier

Private Label $694,634,100 10.5%

Aquafi na $445,495,300 -13.9%

Glaceau Vitaminwater $439,670,800 36.4%

Dasani $431,164,400 -4.6%

Poland Spring $257,089,400 -0.2%

Propel $178,929,500 -8.3%

Arrowhead $173,827,200 -6.2%

Deer Park $135,224,500 -6.7%

Nestle Pure Life $121,187,400 4.3%

Crystal Geyser $105,716,800 -1.3%

Heading Up: Vitaminwater SOURCE: Information Resources Inc. Total food/drug/mass excluding Wal-Mart



BEER

This fall, Miller Lite is introducing a new, 16 oz. aluminum pint bottle that enhances the Miller Lite taste experience. The pint’s wider opening provides a smoother flow to enhance the Miller Lite taste experience; the aluminum cools like a can; and the resealable closure helps lock in freshness. The Miller Lite aluminum pint will be tested throughout much of the Midwest and South through the end of the year. The Miller Lite aluminum pint, designed by Broomfield, Colo.-based Ball Corporation, is intended for off-premise retailers, with a focus on convenience stores. The package will be sold as part of a 9-pack. MillerCoors will support the debut of the Miller Lite aluminum pint with television, radio, out-of-home and online advertising, as well as a variety of retail point-of-sale and merchandising materials. For more informa-tion, call (414) 931-3848.

MillerCoors is also relaunching Foster’s Special Bitter as Foster’s Premium Ale.The beer remains the same. But the packaging is getting tweaked along with the name. The Foster’s Premium Ale oil can contains more gold coloring and the logo is cleaner and more closely resembles the Foster’s Lager. Oil cans and 12-packs hit retail in August. For more information, call (414) 931-3848.

Michelob Dunkel Weisse and Michelob Pale Ale are joining Michelob, Michelob Light, Michelob AmberBock, Michelob Honey Lager and Michelob Porter as beers available year-round to adults nationwide. Dunkel Weisse is an unfiltered dark wheat ale brewed with a special Bavarian yeast strain combined with wheat, caramel and chocolate malts. Pale Ale, previously only available on a select seasonal basis in the annual Michelob Specialty Sampler Pack, can now satisfy beer drinkers throughout the year with its delicious floral and citrus notes. These Michelob Brewing Co. beers are also getting a fresh, consistent look. Each will be packaged in the brand’s signature embossed bottle with its raised ridge around the neck displaying a subtly arched label trimmed in muted gold. New 6-pack carriers will show detailed information on the side panel about the ingredients, taste and color of each beer style. They will be line-priced with other Michelob products. For more information, call (314) 577-9105.

After debuting on draught, Budweiser American Ale launched in 12 oz. 6-packs and 22 oz. singles at select on- and off-premise retail accounts. Robust and well-rounded, Budweiser American Ale’s rich

amber color and bright, hoppy finish is the ideal counterpart to Budweiser’s signature golden, crisp flavor. Budweiser American Ale is an all-malt, top-fermented ale that is dry hopped with Cascade hops from the Pacific Northwest. Budweiser American Ale is 5.3 percent alcohol by volume (ABV). It will be supported in the marketplace by a targeted media plan consisting of television, print, outdoor and Internet, along with exclusive sampling events and on-premise merchan-dising. For more information, call (314) 577-9671.

ENERGY DRINKS

Go Fast Sports and Beverage Company, cre-ator of Go Fast Energy Drinks, announced that this fall, Go Fast Energy Drinks will now be available in a 16 oz. can. Also launching in the new 16 oz. cans will be new, revolutionary formulas; Z-17, Light and GFTea. Z17 was created by Go Fast to pro-vide you with the most unique flavor blend. Z17 still provides that Go Fast “kick” but with the flavor, additional energy and ben-efits of Green Tea. GFTea includes a one of a kind taste with an exclusive blend of White, Green and Black teas. Go Fast Light has the benefits of Z17 but in a light formula with little aftertaste and no “diet” flavor. Hitting store shelves this fall, Go Fast Sports and Beverage Company will also be premiering the new line of flavors and 16 oz. cans at this year’s NACS. MSRP is $2.59 per can. For more information, call (303) 893-1222.

DAIRY

Portland, Maine based Oakhurst Dairy has announced that they will be introducing Oakhurst Super Premium Chocolate Milk to consumers across Northern New England. New Oakhurst Super Premium Chocolate Milk will be made with Oakhurst’s high quality fresh whole milk produced with no artificial growth hormone. Oakhurst has had an overwhelmingly positive response from retailers to the Super Premium Chocolate Milk which will be available in both con-venient on-the-go pints and in quarts. The new product will be supported by in-store merchandising, including shelf strips and fridge clings, and with trade advertising. For more information, call (207) 772-7468.

FUNCTIONAL BEVERAGES

NESTLE, the world’s largest food and bever-age company, has introduced GLOWELLE, a daily beauty drink dietary supplement that

NEWPRODUCTS


protects and hydrates the inner and outer layers of the skin. GLOWELLE is formulated with a proprietary blend of high antioxidant vitamins, phtyo-nutrients, botanical and fruit extracts to help fight the signs of aging by nourishing the consumer’s skin. GLOWELLE is available in beautiful ready-to-drink glass bottles as well as convenient seven (7) or 30 day powder pack kits. Made with real tea, fruit and botanical extracts, GLOWELLE of-fers two flavors, Natural Raspberry Jasmine Flavor and Natural Pomegranate Lychee Flavor. GLOWELLE is available exclusively at Neiman Marcus stores nationwide and Bergdorf Goodman. Glowelle’s MSRP is $7 per bottle, and the powder is $40 for 7 day and $112 for 30 day. It can also be found online at NeimanMarcus.com. For more information, call (212) 598-4400.

WINE

Sterling Vineyards, the landmark Napa winery, has announced a new line of organic wines from Mendocino County, Sterling Vineyards Made With Organic Grapes 2007 Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. Additionally, a Cabernet Sauvignon made from organic fruit is scheduled for release in April 2009. The wines have been certified by the California Certified Organic Farm-ers (CCOF) organization, whose emblem appears on the back label. The SRP for both the Sterling Vineyards Made with Organic Grapes Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc is $13. For more information, call (707) 299-2618.

Sutter Home has taken a contemporary twist on tradition and broadened the defini-tion of ‘red blend’ for more to enjoy. The Napa Valley-based winery’s latest offering, simply called ‘Red,’ offers consumers a chance to further their wine tastes. A blend of predominantly Merlot and Zinfandel, Sutter Home pushed the envelope and mingled in a touch of Moscato, a varietal that has enjoyed wild success among Sutter Home fans for years. Also widening the appeal is how the wine can be served – at room temperature as one would serve a red wine, or chilled as with a white wine. Red began hitting stores around the country in mid-August, with a suggested retail price of $5.99.For more information, call (707) 963-3104.

Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines has announced the launch of The Monterey Vine-yard, an ultra-premium Burgundian brand from two of Monterey’s most respected sub-appellations, Arroyo Seco and Santa Lucia Highlands. The Monterey Vineyard Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines are a reflection

of the region’s unique terroir and represent the very best Monterey has to offer. The small production Monterey Vineyard Pinot Noir has a suggested retail price of $25.99. The Monterey Vineyard Chardonnay has a sug-gested retail price of $22.99. Both wines will be available nationally with the 2007 vintage. For more information, call (707) 299-2626.

RTD TEA

The Healthy Beverage Company, makers of Steaz Sparkling Green Tea and Steaz Energy, has introduced its newest organic tea in-novation – Steaz Organic Iced Teaz. Steaz Organic Iced Teaz is the first full line of fair trade certified, ready to drink iced teas. Fla-vors include four green tea varieties (Peach, Blueberry/ Pomegranate/Acai, Mint, and Unsweetened with Lemon), black tea with lemon and white tea with lime and pome-granate. They are available in 16 oz. fully recyclable aluminum cans. At 40 calories per serving, the teas are lightly sweetened with 10g of pure cane sugar and contain only all-natural flavors. The Unsweetened with Lemon flavor contains no sugar and has zero calories. Recommended retail pricing is $1.79 per can. For more information, call (215) 321-8330.

ITO EN has debuted the Oolong Shot, a premium unsweetened ready-to-drink tea brewed from whole loose oolong tea leaves. The drink, which contains more oolong tea leaves brewed per serving than any other ready-to-drink oolong tea on the market delivers a whopping 171 milligrams of oolong tea polyphenols in a convenient 6.4 fluid ounce steel can. Oolong, also known as Wu-long and traditionally called blue tea, is a dynamic balance between green tea and black tea. Full bodied with a smooth finish, research shows that an unidentified compound in oolong may promote weight loss. The tea is gaining popularity in the United States among the health and weight conscious. The Oolong Shot retails for $1.79 and will be available at natural and mainstream markets nationwide. For more information, please call (707) 327-6413.

This fall, it’s all about what’s new for High Country Kombucha, which is introduc-ing a brand-new herbal-infused Kombucha line, a new presence in the national market and a new face at this year’s Natural Prod-ucts Expo East trade show. The new herbal line has five different flavors: Elderberry Hi-biscus, Lemon Myrtle, Tibetan Chai, Herbal Passion and Herbal Lite. Pricing has not yet been released for these products. For more information, call (720) 352-7144.


RECOVERY DRINKS

Code Blue, which calls itself “the world’s first complete recovery drink,” is available for purchase at www.drinkcodeblue.com. Designed by beverage scientists to revive your body, Code Blue is intended to combat dehydration, replenish vital nutrients and remove harmful toxins. Code Blue was cre-ated for people who enjoy going out at night but need to wake up feeling refreshed the next morning. Code Blue can be consumed before, during and after a night out to speed the recovery process and bring the body back into balance. Code Blue is the first ready-to-drink beverage to include Reduced Glutathi-one, one of the most powerful antioxidants available. The drink is sweetened with natural agave nectar. Code Blue is packaged in a fully recyclable 12 oz. PET opaque blue bottle. Its cutting edge design utilizes “Liq-uidMetal” technology to replicate a polished metal look, and a 3D Holographic Ink label which provides a strong shelf presence. This product is searching for national distribution with an expected MSRP of $2.99 per bottle. For more information call (212) 584-4274.

SPIRITS

Heaven Hill Distilleries, Inc., the nation’s largest independent family-owned spirits supplier, has announced a licensing agree-ment with McIlhenny Company of Avery Island, Louisiana, creator of Tabasco brand Pepper Sauce, to produce Tabasco Spicy Tequila. Created from premium tequila fla-vored with the authentic and iconic Tabasco brand Pepper Sauce, Tabasco brand Spicy Tequila is a unique and perfectly balanced marriage of the highest quality tequila with the hot, spicy and bold Tabasco kick.Tabasco brand Spicy Tequila will be avail-able in a striking proprietary 750ml package that features the highly recognizable Tabasco “Diamond” logotype graphic on the face label, with red and gold foil flames rising be-hind to the edges of the rectangular border. Offered at a suggested retail price of $21.99 for the 750ml bottle, Tabasco brand Spicy Tequila began selling in September in Dal-las, Houston, Georgia, Indiana and North Carolina. The brand will be supported by a full range of on- and off-premise point-of-sale material, including a branded website www.TABASCOtequila.com, all utilizing the “Heat Up the Night” tagline and graphics. For more information call Heaven Hill at (502) 413-0220.

KIDS BEVERAGES

The American Beverage Corporation proudly introduced two proprietary new, kid-friendly drink alternatives this Septem-ber – Wall E Ice Bop juice slushies and High School Musical fruit drinks. Both products are all-naturally flavored, use no preserva-tives, are under 110 calories, and are rich in antioxidants appealing to consumers looking for healthier drink alternatives for their children.Wall E Ice Bops – licensed with the robot character of the movie with the same name – are an innovative product that offers the excitement of frozen fruit slushies at home, at a picnic, beach or the park without the hassle of a blender. They come in a con-venient pouch and are made with 50% juice, are all naturally flavored, naturally low in calories, high in antioxidants and contain no preservatives. Wall E Ice Bops are available in four flavors: Space Station Strawberry, Tropical Sunshower, Meteor Mixed Berry and Lunar Lemonade.The new High School Musical fruit drink is a line of single-serve, naturally flavored fruit drinks in an 8 oz. proprietary Disney ears PET bottle. This fruit drink line carries the widely popular Disney High School Musical branding and will be available in three flavors – Reach for Melon Peach, Big Game Lemon Berry, and East High Fruit Punch. Wall E Ice Bops will retail for a suggested price of $3.49 for a four-pack. Twist ‘n’ Chill will retail for a suggested price of $3.79 per six pack.

RTD COFFEE

POM Wonderful has launched POMx Iced Coffee, available exclusively in New York City and Whole Foods Markets in the Northeast and North Atlantic States. With a potent dose of caffeine and healthy antioxi-dants, POMx Iced Coffee is a sophisticated energy drink for consumers who seek an en-ergy boost but who typically avoid the excess sugar and artificial ingredients associated with carbonated sodas, coffee beverages and energy drinks. POMx Iced Coffee does not include or taste like pomegranate juice, but comes in two creamy and delicious flavors: Cafe au Lait and Chocolate. Each bottle of POMx Iced Coffee contains a Healthy Buzz -- a stimulating 175mg dose of caffeine and enough POMx to equal the antioxidant pow-er of an 8 oz. daily dose of POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice. Sold in a 10.5 oz. single-serving bottle, POMx Iced Coffee has a suggested retail price of $2.99. For more information, call (310) 966-5858.

Concern about fostering good health as well as maintaining a high quality of life has been shown to impact 70% of food purchases. Consumers’ belief that active ingredients reduce the

risk of disease and improve long-term health qualities has pushed the functional foods market to domestic sales of $26.9 billion and $81 billion worldwide.

Recognizing the need for ingredients without formulation issues, WILD Flavors has developed H.I.T.S., Health Ingredient Technology & Solutions®. This line of health ingredients will add

value to your formulations for more commercially viable foods and beverages. To support you in implementation of H.I.T.S. from concept-to-market with industry,

market and technological support, WILD offers health ingredients, flavors, colors, sensory evaluation and complete commercialization of ideas.

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WILD’s Heart Healthy Tropical Beverage


GERRY’S INSIGHTS By Gerry Khermouch

COUNT ME AMONG the wrong-headed majority who were doubters back in the late 1990s after Red Bull had inaugu-rated the energy drink category, and with it, profi t margins that were unheard of in soft drinks. Surveying the aisles crammed with knockoff brands at the InterBev show the following year, it was easy to predict that the competition would knock down those rich margins in no time, leaving energy drinks as just another modestly profi table segment. It wasn’t just me; lots of others drew the same conclusion. After all, it had played out that way in every other segment. Yet looking at energy drinks a decade later, their margins are still the envy of the business. The widely predicted margin collapse has yet to occur.

I wonder if we all refl ect often enough on what a miracle that is. After all, we’ve seen literally hundreds of entries come and go, in-cluding quite a few from such industry giants as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Dr Pepper Snapple Group and Anheuser-Busch, but we have yet to see the ruinous price wars that have characterized every other sector. How du-rable have the premium brands been? Even private label has barely made a dent. Among other beverage categories, I can think only of beer as a segment where private label is not a factor – and in beer there is a thriving tier of subpremium brands, which is far from the case in energy.

For the most part, consumers have been content to stick with premium entries. I think much of the credit for that should go not just to the restraint shown by the manu-facturers of energy drinks but to retailers who’ve worked hard to protect this impor-tant profi t center. A lot of you Beverage Spectrum readers have been smart enough not to let anyone kill this golden goose.

To fi nd another beverage segment that has protected its margins as well you have to venture outside the ready-to-drink segment to hot coffee, where Starbucks established an

elevated price for good coffee and everybody else, from Caribou to Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s, has been happy to ride its coat-tails by conjuring up premium offerings at a premium price.

True, over the past year promotional activity in energy drinks has been on the rise – two-for-$3 deals and three-for-$5 deals for the 16-oz. players – at a time that mount-ing economic stress has winnowed traffi c at convenience stores and begun to force many Americans to cut back even on so-called affordable luxuries. Even if margins have edged back a bit from $6 or $8 per case, they’re still uncommonly lush.

So why did this segment break the trend? Looking at what’s happening in other non-alcoholic beverage segments, one has to wonder whether a key factor has been that several of the leading brands continue to operate independently. Red Bull, facing more intense competition in this country than it had experienced elsewhere, hasn’t panicked. It’s maintained its high register ring and tried to orchestrate its inevitable diversifi cation into larger packages in a way that doesn’t seem as if it’s discounting. Hansen Natural’s Monster, while fi ghting its skirmishes with Rockstar and Full Throttle, has maintained its marketing commitments in alternative sports and offered line extensions – notably Java Monster coffee energy drinks – that generate an even higher register ring.

Contrast that pattern with segments like iced teas, sports drinks and bottled waters. They were all premium businesses until Coke and Pepsi entered and eventually turned them into a new front in the cola wars. In the latest segment in which they’ve chosen to do battle – enhanced waters – the transformation from premium to commod-ity is occurring with scary rapidity. Barely a year ago this niche was a paragon of superpremium pricing, thanks to the efforts of Glaceau, the deft marketer of vitaminwa-

ter and smartwater. Sad to say, even before that brand reaches its one-year anniversary in November of its transition to the Coke bottling system, that segment has gone the way of bottled waters, iced teas and isoton-ics, as Coke blows out the brand at 10 for $10, fi ve for $5, even 10 for $8 while rivals Pepsi (with SoBe Life Water) and Dr Pepper Snapple Group (Snapple Antioxidant Water) likewise plumb the $1-per-bottle barrier. By some estimates, in doing so, Coke already has cut the value of its $4.2 billion invest-ment by nearly half.

Against that dreary picture, energy drinks are a marvel to behold. So how long can this lucrative run continue? We can’t rule out as a concern that the foundering economy will increase the stress on margins for this most blue-collar of segments. Given the lessons of the other categories, though, I fi nd greater concern in some of the maneuvering that was occurring as this article was going to press: Coke trying to establish a distribution alliance for Monster, Rockstar looking to negotiate a similar partnership with Pepsi or DPSG if it loses its place at Coke. In both cases, it seemed likely that an equity invest-ment would be negotiated as part of the deals, meaning both brands would lose some of the autonomy they’ve enjoyed under their current distribution partnerships. No ques-tion, in areas from procurement to overseas expansion to procuring bigger beachheads in non-c-store channels, those alliances could be very benefi cial. But seeing how quickly those giants have managed to turn enhanced waters into a commodity makes me wonder if, for energy drinks, those potential rewards will be worth the tradeoff.

Longtime beverage-watcher Gerry Khermouch is executive editor of Beverage Business Insights, a twice-weekly e-newsletter covering the nonalcoholic beverage sector.

MORE THAN A MARGINAL DIFFERENCE


hile the prototypical good-for-you drink marked three quarters of a century this year, it had to change. Although it’s managed to stay consistent with

its original mission to provide a drink for the consumer who knows that veggies are good but doesn’t have the time to prepare them, V8 pulled itself out of an innovation lull – and into a high-visibility deal with distribu-tors like Coca-Cola Enterprises – by crossing the produce aisle and marrying itself to some sweeter fruit fl avors.

In all likelihood, however, it was a forced union. Staying true to its space-age “drink your vegetables” motif had, over the years, left the brand as crusty and old as John Glenn and his fellow Mercury astronauts. The story of how V8 made the move from space age to information age, adding new SKUs that include – heresy! – fruit juices, offers an interesting lesson in how a well-established but ancient brand can keep itself relevant and entice a new generation of consumers.

In so doing, the brand managers also made the product into an important part of parent company Campbell’s bottom line. In

rolling out V8 Splash, a fruit juice mixture, and more recently and impactfully, V-Fusion, a daring fruit-and-vegetable juice combina-tion, the V8 brand has been revived from its old-age doldrums faster than you can say “Cocoon.”

“They’re taking a good corporate band name and branching it out over good-tasting [fruity] beverages,” said Marty Brown, president of the California-based beverage consulting fi rm, Power Brands. And the market has responded.

Even as second-quarter earnings for Campbell’s fell 3.9 percent in February, ac-cording to the Wall Street Journal, V8 put in a strong performance. Information Resourc-es Inc. reported that sales from V8 Splash and V-Fusion were up 12.46 percent and 82.25 percent, respectively, for the past year. V8 Splash sales in supermarkets, drugstores and mass merchandise outlets – excluding Wal-Mart – totaled more than $61.1M for the year ending March 23. V-Fusion’s sales topped $75.1M. CCE reported that its V8 partnership was responsible for 10 percent of the volume growth of its still beverage portfolio in the last year.

“We can’t keep it on the shelf. We are

WE ALREADY HAD A V8 By Hinda Mandell FOR 75 YEARS, V8 has been trying to get us to drink our vegetables. But recently, the brand managers turned to an unfamiliar ally to try to pump some life into the old warhorse of a brand: fruit.

making V8 V-Fusion 24-hours a day,” said Juli Mandel Sloves, a spokeswoman for Campbell’s, which purchased the brand in 1948.

Not a bad turnaround for a brand that was becalmed in the center-store doldrums. Lately, all the excitement in the juice cat-egory has rested in the new produce-centered lines of superfruit drinks like POM Wonder-ful and Naked, rather than in the shelf-stable aisle. Even the once-innovative Ocean Spray has taken it on the chin, and attempted to branch out into energy drinks, of all things.

But rather than trying to beat the produce-centric superfruits, V8 joined them, and did so while playing on its own halo as an extremely healthy, if not “super,” product.

Today, the company that has been selling a blend of tomato, carrot, celery, beet, parsley, lettuce, watercress and spinach juices for the better part of a century, is now offering on-trend fl avors as hip as the hottest beverages out there. In the mood for an Acai Mixed Berry beverage? What about some Blueberry Pomegranate, Strawberry Banana, or Peach Mango liquid refreshment? V-Fusion has a variety for each – with a vegetable base that is barely detectable to the taste buds. And

The company that brings you Sun Shower™ 100% Nectarine Juices has just made some great additions to its family of nutritious and delicious beverages:

• All Natural 100% Juice Superfood Smoothies—(Stamina, Defense, Heart Healthy, Revitalize, Strength) • All Natural Superfood Fruit ‘N Yogurt Smoothies—(Strawberry-Banana, Berry Blast, Orange Passion, Pina Colada) • Super Blends—Healthful Indulgence (Iced Coffee, Chai Tea Latte, Mocha Cappuccino, Chocolate Raspberry Frappe)• All Natural 100% Juice Super Juice—(Stamina, Defense, Heart Healthy, Revitalize, Strength) • Super Juice Beverages: Light ‘N Healthy—(Stamina, Defense, Heart Healthy, Revitalize, Strength)

Each new Sun Shower™ flavor features the Lifeguard™ fortification package of essential vitamins, nutrients, amino acids, electrolytes and herbs. Give your customers something new and unique that is also nutritious and delicious. Give them Sun Shower™. www.nbijuiceworks.com


the juice’s color is no longer just tomato red: it spans the rainbow to include purple and orange.

“If you appreciate the core benefi t around vegetable nutrition in a beverage, your imagination can run wild,” said Darren Ser-rao, vice president of beverages at Campbell Soup Company.

Still, it took a long time to start running at all – much to the grumbling of distribu-tors. For years, the company only saw fi t to push out marginal line extensions that put the product in the hands of those who were already familiar with the brand, rather than extending its reach through fruit.

And that risk aversion apparently held off innovation at the company for a long time, making it seem like a product only drunk on airplanes and at brunch, mixed into a “Bloody Mary” with its eternal companion, vodka.

For one industry insider and veteran of Coca-Cola Company and Coca-Cola Enterprises – which has been distributing V8 since 2007 – the question is: “What took so long?”

There’s a good point there. After all, check out these SIZZLING line extensions: Low Sodium! Spicy Hot! High Fiber! Calcium Enriched! No wonder it generated the excite-ment of a Tuesday night Bingo game.

Everyone loves a good “Bloody,” of course. But for a long time, the core con-sumer of V8 has been perceived to be as much an enthusiast of blood thinners as they are of cocktails.

When a brand reaches geriatric age, it can either slow down with its consumers – a la Ovaltine – or it can try to stay spry, and that’s fi nally what V8 has done.

After all, not everyone is keen on the old-fashioned V8 product, a fact even Camp-bell’s acknowledges. This gap – between those who drink V8 for health’s sake and those who were likely to forsake nutritional health because of the taste – read: KIDS – proved enough of a market segment to prompt V8 to add a splash of fruit.

The goal was to capture the purchasing power of those who don’t like the “zesty, tomato-y taste of original V8,”said Mandel Sloves. Campbell’s even gave this group a name: “red-rejectors.”

“We estimate that these ‘red rejectors’ make up 50 percent of the population and therefore a signifi cant audience that we could reach with a new product just for them,” said Mandel Sloves.

So the innovation of a squeeze of fruit was a solid one. After all, the brand has always had a healthy aura. Consumers ranked V8 as the healthiest brand in the 2007 HealthFocus Trend Report, which provides analysis of food shoppers’ health and nutri-tion behaviors. Consumers were asked to rate brands – beverage and foodstuff – they believe are “extremely or very healthy by those who are familiar with the brand.” V8 captured 66 percent of the vote, beating 49 other brands for the top slot, including such wellness brands as Quaker, Kashi, Horizon Organic and Organic Valley – all of which tied for second place. Potential competitors to V8, such as Tropicana and Ocean Spray, ranked 12 and 19, respectively. Campbell’s ranked 24.

And it’s worked. Households with kids, adults 25 and over, are the ones buying the V8 fruit lines as core consumers, according to Mandel Sloves. Part of what has attracted the families to try V8 Splash and V-Fusion is the recognition of the original brand name, say beverage analysts. It’s almost like bever-age nepotism – picking up a brand on the basis of a parent’s good name.

“Where it’s positioned, it has very, very good, solid brand name recognition,” says Brown. “If you think about a tomato based product, you’ll think about a V8.”

But before to the decision to add the fruit, that may have become as much of a liability as it was an advantage.

Campbell’s wouldn’t provide details on how and when, specifi cally, the decision emerged to juice up the brand. Nor did it say whether there was any opposition to the move. According to Mandel Sloves, however, there was “great enthusiasm for the opportu-nity to evolve the V8 brand.”

And decades of effective advertising for V8 – showcasing the healthfulness of veg-etables in a bottle – may have also paved the

way for new customers to try V8’s fruitier varietals.

“V8 is capturing a whole group of consumers who are reinforcing the fact that they’re drinking something healthy because it has the V8 label,” said the veteran executive.

The next challenge for V8 is to keep up with the demand. Increased production space for V8, V8 Splash and V-Fusion may require capital investment in the near future. According to a transcript from the second quarter press conference in February, Bob Schiffner, senior vice president and CFO at Campbell’s, said: “As far as the capacity is concerned … we are nearing capacity con-straints … we will be spending capital start-ing this year into next year to add additional capacity in beverage.”

Doug Conant, president and CEO of Campbell’s, cited “a strong record of in-

novation” as driving the performance of the company’s beverage segment at the Con-sumer Analyst Group of New York Confer-ence in February. In fact, beverages – i.e. V8 – represented the best-performing segment of Campbell’s business in 2007, according to a transcript from the event.

“We have migrated our positioning of V8 from merely a smarter juice choice among many on the shelf to a key weapon in the search for an easy way to consume more veg-etables every day,” said Conant. He added: “V8 V-Fusion is ideally suited for consum-ers who are looking for vegetable nutrition without vegetable taste. As a result of the strength of this proposition, V8 V-Fusion has been the best launch in the shelf stable juice category in the past fi ve years.”

There you go: an overnight success. At 75.

With Splash, V8 started its campaign to move past its traditional boundaries into fruit juice blends.

With V-Fusion, the company has stepped solidly into the New Age, mixing up veggies with its new fruit drinks.


BRANDS IN TRANSITION

Anyone who has ever cracked open an apricot-tinged Magic Hat #9 will tell you that Magic Hat takes a unique approach to beer. The company has never followed the conventions of the industry, and has experi-mented with fl avors most brewers wouldn’t approach. (Think lemongrass. Or – ick – garlic.) Couple that with quirky promotions that range from traveling circuses to Mardi Gras parades in eight-inch Vermont snow storms, and the brand has earned a reputa-tion like none other – but what else would you expect from a brewery that spawned from the same city as Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream and the alternative rock band, Phish?

Despite the brand’s free-wheeling Burling-ton vibe, Magic Hat founder Alan Newman knows a bit about business. In the late 80s, he bought a catalogue company called Re-new America that sold Earth-friendly house-hold products. Today, that company – now called Seventh Generation – ranks as one of Vermont’s largest employers, and stocks the cleaning aisles at natural foods retailers like Whole Foods, but Newman’s tenure with the company ended in 1992 when his partner forced him out. Undeterred by his ouster, he started Magic Hat. The brand’s distribution territory initially clung close to the coast of Lake Champlain, but, today Magic Hat ranks as the twelfth-largest U.S. craft brewer, and sells #9, Circus Boy, Lucky Kat, Single Chair Ale and a selection of seasonals as far south as Georgia and as far west as Chicago – admirable progress for a man that says he got into a business he “didn’t understand.”

“I really don’t have a crystal ball and I really don’t know what’s going to happen,” Newman said, “so I keep following my nose.”

Newman plays humble, and calls himself “stupid,” but he earned the label of “serial entrepreneur” from the Wall Street Journal, so he must be following one lucky nose.

Lucky or not, that nose recently led him all the way to Pyramid Breweries on the West Coast. Newman and his partners at Magic Hat ponied up $25.7 million to

purchase Pyramid in a move that represents a new stage for the quirky Vermont beer company. But, for those of you reading on the West Coast, don’t expect to pick up a six-pack of Berkeley-brewed Magic Hat any time soon.

“That last thing in the world we would try to do would be to consolidate the brands,” Newman said.

While there’s probably some ideology to Newman’s aversion to consolidation, there’s a practical aspect as well. According to Magic Hat Brewer Matt Cohen, the beer he brews can only be fermented in one place: the high-school-gym-sized fermenting room at the South Burlington Artifactory.

PINCH POINT The company uses an open fermentation process, which allows continuous reuse of the same yeast. Other breweries have to discard their yeast after three or four genera-tions. Keeping the yeast creates a consistent note in the beer, and Cohen said the room itself “creates a unique fl avor that’s found across all of our beers.”

Crammed tight with catwalks and open-topped vats, the room smells faintly of fruit. Bubbles gurgle out of fresh worts – the solution that, with the help of microorgan-isms, becomes beer. Waves of carbon dioxide tumble out of the tops of the vats, and yeast forms a crust on beer nearing the next stage of production. Those conditions, Cohen said, hold a key to Magic Hat’s personality.

But that unique fl avor comes with a price. Cohen can only brew with one strain of yeast at a time – otherwise they’ll cross-pol-linate – and the conditions surrounding the room faintly resemble those of a Haz-Mat lab. Okay, so nobody wears sterile plastic suits to check the beer, but anyone entering the room washes their shoes fi rst, and air rolls out when they open the door. The clean

shoes and pressurized room – the result of pumped-in fi ltered air – keep wild yeast out.

All of those little issues add up to a bigger one: the room can’t grow. Cohen calls it the company’s “pinch point.” As Magic Hat gains popularity amid a craft beer market that grew 12 percent in 2007, the brewery approaches the limits of its capacity. Magic Hat already moved its headquarters once, but Cohen said the company has striven to deliver consistent product as it has become more popular.

And it has defi nitely become more popu-lar. According to the Brewers Association, Magic Hat’s sales hit 102,506 barrels in 2007 – up from 38,400 in 2003 – after four continuous years of 23-40 percent annual growth rates.

ORGANIC AND GARLIC But growth brings pain. The brewery had to discontinue several fl avors – including Humble Patience, Magic Hat’s one-time fl agship product – because their sales didn’t warrant continued production. Additionally, not everything they try succeeds.

Cohen said Magic Hat once brewed a garlic-infused beer that served best as a pen-alty for losing a bet, and their Orlio organic line has suffered from fi ts and starts since its March 2007 roll-out. Initially launched with blanket distribution, it didn’t quite catch on everywhere. Magic Hat spokeswoman Krissy Leonard said that initial broad launch al-lowed the company to fi nd out where the product worked, and calibrate their support accordingly. Since then, she said the line is “doing everything that we’d expect it to.”

Then there are the physical limitations of that one precious room. To get around them, the company installed new equipment and expanded its facility. They added a centrifuge to cleanse the beer more quickly, built two grain-silo-like towers to free up fermentation

MAGIC HAT’S NEW TRICKS BY MATT CASEY

Magic Hat’s Brewery Bar.


space, and recently completed a new bottle fi lling line.

That last one represents a big jump. The old bottling line – still in operation – can clean, fi ll, cap, label and pack 100 bottles per minute. The Magic Hat crew ran the machine 24 hours per day, six days a week just to meet demand. In September, they started the new bottling line. This one can process 400 beers per minute, but has yet to be pushed to that limit.

“If we didn’t do the Pyramid deal…. Magic Hat would be fi ne for the next three to fi ve years,” Newman said.

CRYSTAL BALLS But what of the Pyramid deal? Newman called it part of the company’s “longer-term strategic vision” – something that sounds suspiciously like it might involve a crystal ball, though, perhaps a hazy one. New-man said he doesn’t have a plan for what the world will look like in fi ve to ten years, but, the way he sees it, the beer industry is currently in a state of consolidation. For evidence of that, look no further than the big American brands of Coors and Budweis-er, now divisions of MillerCoors and InBev, respectively. Newman doesn’t like it, he said, but he doesn’t make the rules. He just plays the game.

“When we began, the hottest category in alcoholic beverage was something called wine coolers,” he said. “Then that disap-peared and next came ciders... then ciders kind of lost their way and that new amor-phous malt beverage started coming in... and now you have a huge infl ux of what I’ll call super premiums.”

His solution to the ever-changing market is to accept that the environment will change, and employ people that stay plugged-in and passionate about beer. In the current environment, merging makes sense. And despite suddenly owning a second beer company, Newman said he and the Magic Hat team “really believe in small indepen-dent craft breweries.”

He’s not kidding. Cohen, standing in Magic Hat’s quality control room (one of the few quiet places in the Artifactory), said he doesn’t view other craft brewers as competi-tors. Their experience has told them that craft beer drinkers don’t declare their alle-giance to a single brand. Instead, they gravi-tate toward a handful of brands and dabble in others. If a Magic Hat drinker picks up a six-pack of Switchback or Sierra Nevada, the theory is that the company hasn’t lost a customer, because they’ll be back.

So why consolidate? Because, Newman said, uniting the

otherwise-solo breweries under Independent Brew-ers United Inc., will allow the companies to be “big behind the scenes.” The two breweries will be able to share costs and knowl-edge on the back end while maintaining their own personalities.

The deal puts a scat-tering of West Coast infrastructure under Magic Hat’s control, but also, as Brewers Association Director Paul Gatza put it, “puts Magic Hat a little bit in the restaurant business.” Pyramid operates two production breweries with attached restaurants and three stand-alone brew pubs.

“I see it as more evolutionary than any-thing else,” Newman said. “I don’t see it as being that huge of a leap, but that could be because I’m stupid.”

Newman said if he had time, he’d proba-bly fi nd the transition at Magic Hat “scary.” But he doesn’t have time. So, he’s excited.

“I may be in for the shock of my life,” he said. “But we’re still in the beer business.”

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dmittedly, powdered beverage mixes aren’t new technology. Tang, after all, has been around long enough to have been used during NASA’s Gemini program in the 1960s, and,

early on, Gatorade sold in canisters as often as it sold in bottles. But modern marketers have taken a new twist on powdered drinks. Instead of relegating drink mixes to tubs that sit in mom’s cabinet, new powdered beverages come in single-shot sleeves, called “sticks,” that can go everywhere that bottled water can.

“The stick is very portable,” said Ryan Alarid, co-owner of Zizzazz Explosive Energy Mix. “It’s not like the old Gatorade canisters… you can’t take that anywhere.”

That convenience, along with price, profi t margin and customizability pushed the over-all powdered beverage market segment to a respectable 7 percent growth rate between 2006 and 2007 according to Mintel market research –growth that, in all likelihood, hascontinued to increase in 2008. As pow-dered drinks near $1 billion in yearly sales, Gatorade, Propel, AriZona, Zizzazz, Jones Soda and others have added new single-serve options. While those companies package their powders in envelopes, some companies have taken a more innovative tack on quick-mix drinks, incorporating powders into cap-delivery systems or condensing the whole formula into an Alka-Seltzer-like tablet.

BIRTH OF A TREND Before there was a trend, there was Crystal Light. The sugar-free mix debuted in 1984, and powered sales through its low-calorie status – and an endorsement from Dynasty star Linda Evans. (She played Krystle Car-rington, don’t-cha-know.) Even though Dynasty ended in 1989, and big hair soon followed, Crystal Light pushed on with a revolving cast of spokeswomen and the banner of “I believe in Crystal Light because I believe in me.” Along the way, Kraft sold the product in both large canisters and in multi-packs of individually-packaged tubs pre-measured to mix with a pitcher of water.

As a brand in touch with its mostly-female customer base, Crystal Light noticed when its customers started carrying bottles of water everywhere. In 2006, Kraft intro-duced Crystal Light “On the Go” packs, now found in individual packs and ten-stick boxes. The brand also changed its focus from low-cal to low-cal and high function. Crystal Light pushes antioxidants in their tea mixes, vitamin-C in their “Sunrise” pow-ders, and energy, hydration and immunity in their “Enhanced” line. That shift not only parallels the modern beverage industry, it also serves as a microcosm for the whole powdered-drink segment.

“The major growth has come from energy drink mixes and sports drink mixes,” said Mintel Analyst Garima Goel Lal. “Consum-ers are usually ready to pay higher prices for

value-added products.” Despite those higher prices, drink mixes

still ring in as inexpensive refreshments and appeal to “price sensitive” consumers, Goel Lal said – which falls directly in line with the history of powdered drinks.

Kool-Aid, the fi rst powdered drink, hit the market in 1927, according to the Hastings Museum. Long before cult suicides made “drinking the Kool-Aid” into a popular epithet for brainwashing, the brand rose to popularity as an attainable luxury, a step up from pedestrian water. During the Great Depression, inventor Edwin Perkins sold packets for 5 cents each, and cash-strapped families snapped the product off the shelves. Perkins’ company churned out as many as one million packets of the powder per day by the time he sold the brand to Kraft in 1953. Powdered iced teas, lemonades and other products arrived later, and fi rms also intro-duced the large-format economy canisters that gave rise to the American standbys of “bug juice” at summer camp and Gatorade showers at the Super Bowl.

But the segment had matured and slowed by the time Bevology co-founder Tom Hicks, about to leave Naked, fi rst contemplated his drink mixes in tablet form. AC Nielsen’s scanner data showed that the segment actually shrunk by 1.1 percent in 2005 in food, drug and mass merchandiser chan-nels (excluding Wal-Mart – a likely source of even more sales). Since then, there’s been

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C O P A C K I N G A N D P R I V A T E L A B E L M A N U F A C T U R I N G


an explosion of brands including Emergen-C, ZipFizz, Easy Drink Packs, and Zym. Nielsen’s data shows that the segment’s dol-lar value has grown by 25 percent in those channels, as marketers have pegged their powders to functional claims and rolled out individual servings.

A typical single-serve drink mix costs be-tween 35 and 55 cents and tops out around 70 cents. Adding a bottle of water raises the total price to a range similar to that of an RTD, but tap water and a tall glass or reus-able bottle works just as well as store-bought water in a 16.9-oz PET. That not only makes the carbon-footprint crowd happy, but also puts mixes within the reach of Goel Lal’s price-sensitive consumers. Because of that, she projects powdered drink mixes will add sales to their respective segments.

Zizzazz’s Alarid also noted that custom-ers don’t have to use water as the base liquid for drink mixes. Other beverages, he said, make interesting options – especially alcohol. He pointed to the example of Red Bull. The brand holds a special place in bars where it makes up one half of the now-ubiquitous Red Bull and vodka Favorite or not, it doesn’t allow bartenders any room for creativity. Zizzazz, Alarid said, lets them experiment with four different fl avors while still mixing caffeine with liquor.

While versatility with intoxicants might rank as a big perk in bars, consumers can also customize their drink mixes in most situations by simply using more or less water than suggested. Hicks said his wife, for ex-ample, drops one Zenergize tablet into a liter

Many of the prod-ucts entering the powdered beverage market are exten-sions of ready-to-drink beverages, but a couple have gone in the opposite di-rection. Both Jones Soda’s 24C and Alacer’s Emergen-C existed as powdered products before fi nding their way – pre-mixed – into a bottle.

Alacer introduced their Emergen-C Health and Energy Water in March, as an RTD extension of the company’s existing powdered products. Bruce

Sweyd, Alacer’s vice president for powders and tablets, said powdered Emergen-C has been on shelves for two decades and leads the category in sales, but its appeal is limited to the vita-min aisle – a place

many consumers rarely visit. However, the company saw an opportunity to expand its audience amid the surge in enhanced waters.

“We felt like, who could be better positioned to provide a better ready-to-drink [enhanced water] than Alacer?” Sweyd said.

In that spirit, Al-acer launched 16 oz. RTDs with the same vitamin content as their powder pack-ets. Sweyd said the product is perform-ing well in natural channels, and reaches a different

consumer than the powdered product.

Jones’ 24c presents a different story. Jones wanted to enter the growing enhanced water category, and liked the idea of using ‘24’ in the brand name. They discovered, however, that a company called 24c already existed, and peddled powdered vitamin beverages in a tiny distribu-tion area in Costa Mesa, Cali. – so they bought it.

Jones Spokesman Seth Godwin said the two products offer different ad-

vantages – the RTD form tastes better, while the powdered form contains more vitamins – and give consumers two options for drinkable vitamin supplements. The RTD version sells in Target nationwide, and in DSD accounts throughout the country. Godwin said it performs par-ticularly well in the Northeast, but the company didn’t have a strategy prepared for entering the powdered beverage market. “We’re still kind of fi guring out… how to go to market

of water instead of the suggested half liter to create a drink with a lighter fl avor.

Major RTD brands introducing powdered mixes might not like consumers tinkering with their formula, but Gatorade Spokes-woman Jill Kinney said powder extensions buttress the core product.

“With the Powder Packs, we’re providing our consumer with the opportunity to take their Gatorade on-the-go in the event the portability of a ready-to-drink product is a barrier to usage,” she said. “With placement in the powdered drink aisle, we have also created a new point of interaction with our consumers in-store.”

Consumers can fi nd Gatorade Powder Packs near the brand’s sister-product, Propel Fit Powder. Kinney said Propel Fit Pow-der met at “extremely” positive consumer response on the strength of its low-carb and low-calorie credentials as well as its vitamin payload. She added that the product’s suc-cessful debut cleared the way for Gatorade to appear in a compact, quick-mix form.

While that’s all good news for beverage marketers, the benefi ts of powdered drinks extend to retailers and distributors.

ALL THOSE INCHES As ultra-compact products, drink mixes run at a higher price-per square inch than other beverages, and could translate to more coin in your cash drawer. AriZona’s Tea Stix, for example, come in 30-count counter packs that take up 18.75 square inches of shelf space – a space that could hold just three 16 oz. energy drinks – and yield total revenue of

$10.50 to $15.00. Selling three 16 oz. energy drinks, on the other hand, would yield a total sale of $6-9. As a bonus, powdered beverages don’t need to be refrigerated, and can be strategically located in otherwise hard-to-use spaces. Crystal Light offers stick-holders that hang on cooler doors, but bev-erage mixes present a profi table use of space even in bulk. Bevology’s Zenergize products come in 10-tablet tubes that retail for $6.99 and occupy less than an inch of shelf space.

That compact nature offers an additional benefi t to retailers – lowered transportation costs – according to Zizzazz’s Alarid.

“For the convenience stores, the margins are much higher than your average drink – mainly because of fuel costs,” he said.

Zizzazz’s 72-count retail boxes weigh less than two pounds, 30 pounds less than 72 8 oz. Red Bulls would weigh. Factor in the much smaller package, and the ship-ping costs for mixes approach zero when compared to RTDs. Where shipping costs fall, so do environmental impacts, and Hicks noted that the compact nature of the prod-ucts reduces waste.

“Do you want to recycle one of these small tubes, or do you want to recycle 10 bottles?” Hicks said.

Some stores have even exploited this angle by selling his Zenergize tablets with Sigg, a fast-growing line of metal water bottles, he added.

CAPS AND TABS Hicks’ brand represents a twist on ready-to-go beverages. Instead of packing a breath’s

›› REHYDRATED OPPORTUNITIES

with the powders.”Godwin said.

While Jones feels out the best way to approach the seg-ment, they’ve signed 24c with a strong distribution partner: Whole Foods.


ZYM Catapult ZYM recently added “Catapult” to its line of tablet-based drink mixes. Infused with 100mg of natural Guaraná caffeine, Cata-pult is a supercharged version of ZYM Endurance, the hydra-tion drink introduced two years ago by BE Innovations. Catapult adds B12 vitamins to the mix as well, for a hydration drink that fi ghts dehydration, fatigue, muscle pain, and lactic acid build-up.

Phix Phix, Inc. announced the launch of Phix Energy. The all-natural powdered energy drink mix promotes improved energy and mental clarity. It contains green tea anti-oxidants, yerba maté and NADH. Phix Energy is now available online at Whole Foods Markets, Metropolitan Markets and New Seasons Markets in the Northwest.

Açai Daily Drink Packs Manufactured by Easy Drink Pack LLC of Norcross, Geor-gia, the açai packs contain a powdered, freeze-dried form of the berry’s pulp – without sugar or other additives. The new Açai Daily Drink Packs are USDA certifi ed fully organic and natural.

Zipfi zz Zipfi zz recently expanded its distribution channels by adding CVS, Target, Rite Aid and Odom distributors, and announced a new fl avor: Grape. All Zipfi zz fl avors can be pur-chased in 20 count boxes and three-packs as powdered-fi lled tubes.

Zenergize Zenergize, originally sold in 10-count tubes, recently added 32-count canisters of individu-ally-wrapped enhanced-water tablets for national distribution in Costco.

Zizzazz Zizzazz energy drink mix recent-ly diversifi ed its line to include a workout mix, a drink mix for kids (Kidz Zazz), a weight loss mix and a non-caffeinated mix. All ZizZazZ products come in stick packs.

BRAND NEWS

SPORTS DRINK MIX Dollar Sales Change vs. year earlier

CATEGORY TOTAL $66,422,150 31.0%

Propel $30,801,850 75.9%

Gatorade $23,413,370 9.4%

Crystal Light Energy On The Go $6,051,213 39.7%

Gatorade Frost $2,791,256 -16.1%

Capri Sun Sport On The Go $1,079,592 -42.8%

Private Label $663,846 49.6%

Powerade $657,485 -25.5%

Gatorade Fierce $334,694 -23.9%

Power Bar $193,218 N/A

Replenish $103,199 132.5%

Power Edge $74,515 269.1%

4C Totally Light 2Go $74,294 N/A

Gleukos $48,173 43.8%

Power Bar Recovery $41,695 94.7%

Power Bar Endurance $36,613 73.8%

SOURCE: Information Resources Inc. Total food/drug/mass excluding Wal-Mart

worth of powder in a sleeve, he packed his powdered drinks into effervescent tablets. (read: “plop-plop, fi zz-fi zz…”) Zenergize and Superfl y dissolve in water, mixing themselves and giving off bubbles. How-ever, that self-mixing process takes about three minutes compared to the few seconds required to properly stir a powdered mix, and the tablets don’t fi t through the mouth of a standard PET bottle. The tablets must also stay in their specially-treated tubes prior to use, or moisture in the air could dissolve them prematurely. And don’t put the tablets in your mouth, unless you have a sudden need to appear rabid.

Those complications appear surmount-able, as Hicks said Bevology is currently shipping product to Costco – and his company will likely enjoy limited competi-tion in its sub-category for the foreseeable future. Hicks said the brand’s packaging “went through probably 67 changes” before they settled on a fi nal design, and the tablets themselves required extensive development to reduce their dissolve-time to three min-utes. Each new fl avor also requires intense trial and error because the tablets must weigh exactly 5.5 grams.

“Anytime you take something out you have to add something back in,” he said.

While fi zz-tabs might shun the standard PET bottle, other mixes are putting them-selves right on top of them. Delivery-caps are put powders in innovative packages. A hand-ful of companies, including Liquid Health Labs and Blast Cap Technologies, have produced cap-mounted delivery mechanisms for drink mixes. Both companies license their

technology to beverage brands that market the caps with attached bottles of water, but a few companies have sold the caps as stand-alone products. At 99 cents to $1.50 each, the caps retail for a higher price than either sleeved-powders or tablets, but they bring a hint of novelty and more convenience to consumers.

“I think it is a new category,” said Ken Milligan, executive vice president of Liquid Health Labs. “It’s not an RTD, it’s an ‘RTG’ (ready-to-go.)” (See our earlier story on delivery caps, available online at BevSpectrum.com)

Products using that kind of packaging in-novation are subject to pricing pressures, to be sure. On the other hand, they are playing in the fast-growing arena of functional-ity – with enhanced waters the fastest-growing part of the category - and there’s an argument that a packet helps keep those functional ingredients fresher than premixed beverages Now, companies are rushing mixes into the market. Once relegated to bug juice and elementary school lemonade stands, mixes are moving into gym bags and purses.

But are they mainstream? It’s hard to tell, especially since some of these products are moving in the other direction, like Alacer’s push to put Emergen-C into an RTD form. Still, it wouldn’t be doing so without a strong powder aisle base from which it could grow. More mainstream brands are entering the segment, and Alarid, for one, expects all major energy drinks to introduce powdered versions. Maybe one day soon, everybody will be able to carry dry versions of their


CATEGORY REPORT: BOUTIQUE CSDs

For years, the divide in the boutique CSD cat-egory has been easy to trace – it’s the line between the carbonated juice and the gourmet, old-school soda. That’s why Beverage Spectrum divided cover-age this year, letting the Izzes and Fizzy Lizzys of the world strut their stuff without having to wrangle with the Reeds’s and the Maine Roots.

But apparently soda makers abhor easy defini-tions, so the gourmet soda group, this year, has morphed and split once again. The gourmet stuff remains gourmet stuff – more sugar, high end packages, natural sourcing, hard-to-beat flavor profiles.

But there are also enough new entries under the “healthy soda” rubric that they basically comprise a group of their own: even though these products make no pretension about hav-ing the wholesomeness of juice are nevertheless pushing their health benefits forward. They’re still sodas, of course, but they’re functional, they’re artificially sweetened, and they’re try-ing to bridge the divide between the old-school flavor associations of the CSD with the new

age idea that a drink can do more.The key piece of leverage to many of these sodas

is the experimental sweetener stevia. The idea that a natural diet sweetener might be a game-changer is a big one. But it’s such a big idea that the Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo are working on stevia-based products of their own. And the notion that they might want to steal the thunder of independent brands isn’t a flawed one. After all, as functional sodas moved into the mainstream, what did they

launch? Diet Pepsi Maxx and Diet Coke Plus.It makes the nutritional sell tough for some

of these guys, to be sure. What’s an indepen-dent operator to do? How about go both high-end and enhanced? That’s something that both Hank’s and Snow are giving a shot, taking new flavors and nutrition, mixing them up, and putting them out there. If nothing else, it adds a few more vitamins to your shelf set. And then there’s Health Cola.

“We’re in the healthy category in a way that they used to be,” says Alejandro Lacea, brand manager of Health Cola. “No phosphoric acid, natural cane sugar It’s for what we don’t have.”

Jones SodaJones Soda Co. has announced the launch of its personalized soda, myJones, at Wal-Mart Photo Centers nationwide. By the end of September all 3,400 photo centers will be complete and Wal-Mart consumers can up-load their favorite photo, type a personalized message on the label and order a six-pack of myJones at United States based Wal-Mart stores. Jones Soda is recognized and awarded for its unique labeling that features images generated and submitted by its customers. MyJones will be available in six flavors: Green Apple, Root Beer, Blue Bubblegum, FuFu Berry, Cream Soda and Sugar-Free Black Cherry. The custom myJones order can be picked up at the store by the Wal-Mart customer two to three weeks after the order is placed.

Reed’sReed’s Inc. has launched an all-natural diet cola, Virgil’s Diet Real Cola. The new flavor is the signature addition to the Virgil’s portfolio of diet, including Virgil’s Diet Root Beer, Virgil’s Diet Cream, Black Cherry Diet Cream and now, Diet Real Cola. Virgil’s Diet Real Cola is caffeine-free and gluten free, and contains no preservatives or artificial ingredients. Sweetened with Stevia and Xyli-tol, all-natural sweeteners, Virgil’s Diet Real Cola expands upon Virgil’s Cola, which was successfully introduced within the main-stream marketplace in March of 2008. Maine Root Handcrafted BeveragesThis summer marked the rollout of three new flavors of Fair Trade Certified Or-ganically sweetened sodas: Lemon Lime,

Mandarin Orange, and Blueberry. Cur-rently, Lemon Lime, Mandarin Orange, and Blueberry sodas are available for shipment in loose cases of 24; they will be available in 4-packs the middle of October. Additionally, Maine Root’s Ginger Beer cases received an upgrade, and are now available in a stylish printed mother carton in either loose or 4 pack configuration. Among independents on board to sell the entire line are North Country Naturals out of Brattleboro VT, Atlantic Importing from Framingham, MA., Ace Metro Beverage in Long Island, NY, Big

BRIDGING THE GREAT DIVIDE

BRAND NEWSBY JEFFREY KLINEMAN


Sky Beverages in CT, Bradley Distributing in the Midwest, Savannah Distributing in GA, and Greenling in Austin TX.

Wet PlanetJolt, continuing to straddle the line between CSD and energy drink, has tagged itself as “refreshment energy,” or as they put it, “good tasting energy.” Jolt Energy is avail-able in 7 delicious flavors. And this year, in addition to a re-sealable 16 oz. can, Jolt has launched three new flavors; Wild Grape, Orange Blast and Passion Fruit. All the fla-vors contain a generous dose of stimulating ingredients, including with Taurine, Ginseng, Guarana, Vitamin B Complex, and Caffeine. Snow BeveragesSnow is introducing a new line of naturally flavored sodas that are not only fortified with vitamins and antioxidants, but also come in popular flavors like Pure Cola and Lemon Lime. Snow Naturally Flavored Vitamin Sodas will be launched at select east coast retailers in October 2008. Wide scale regional distribution is set to begin in early 2009 with expectations to expand nationally soon thereafter. Snow Naturally Flavored Vitamin Sodas contain no high fructose corn syrup, no caffeine, no preservatives and no artificial flavors.

Zevia Zevia, made with stevia, is an all-natural sugar-free diet soda “alternative.” Zevia is made without artificial sweeteners, artificial colors, and artificial flavors, and also has no high fructose corn syrup or phosphoric acid. Zevia launched in late 2007 with three flavors: Natural Cola, Natural Orange, and Natural Twist (lemon-lime). In April 2008, Zevia shipped the latest flavor, Natural Gin-ger Root Beer. High profile Zevia retailers across the country include Hannaford Super-markets, Andronico’s, Bristol Farms, Albert-son’s Southern California, QFC (Kroger NW Division), Haggen-Top Foods, Central Mar-ket in Texas, Wegman’s, Ukrop’s, and Earth Fare. Zevia is available through natural food distributors UNFI, Nature’s Best, DPI, Tree of Life, and Steiner Foods.

Dry Soda Co.For the first time since its inception, DRY Soda Co. will be unveiling two new flavors this October: Vanilla Bean and Juniper Berry. DRY’s new soda additions were cre-ated with the guidance of acclaimed chef and

Food & Wine Magazine’s “Best New Chefs in 2006” Jason Wilson of Seattle’s Crush Restaurant. At 60 calories per 12-ounce bottle, DRY Vanilla Bean is aromatic, lightly sweet and delicate without being creamy. DRY Juniper Berry has only 55 calories, and is crisp with a pine essence and high acidity. As with DRY’s original four flavors, kum-quat, lavender, lemongrass and rhubarb, the two new flavors are all-natural and sweet-ened with pure cane sugar.

Global Beverage EnterprisesGlobal Beverage Enterprises has launched Sweet Blossom, which it claims is America’s first soda made from flower petals. The soda is all natural, pasteurized and made from flower petal extracts. The sodas contain cane sugar, and the line will be featured on The Food Network’s Unwrapped with Marc Summers in December 2008. Another extension of the line is the company’s “Mr. Q-Cumber” soda. The company is using the trademark “Stop and Taste the Flowers” in its advertisements.

High Voltage Beverages LLCHigh Voltage Beverages LLC, manufacturer, distributor, and marketer of Volt High Ener-gy Electrolyte Replacement Carbonated Soft Drinks and Sports Drinks, has appointed Cascadia Consulting Group’s Bill Sipper as President. Sipper has held key management positions with brands like Evian, Nantucket Nectars, Fresh Samantha, and Naked Juice. Volt Carbonated Soft Drinks targets the Mt. Dew consumer with a high caffeine, ginseng, guarana, and taurine enhanced soda with a campaign which states, “When Dew Don’t Do it.”

Ardea Beverage ComapnyArdea, the creators of Nutrisoda, has an-nounced an expansion into the West Coast market with its line of nutrient-enhanced, sparkling beverages. The company has en-tered into partnerships with several Califor-nia distributors, allowing retailers through-out the state to meet the needs of consumers searching for healthy, sugar-free beverage alternatives. In Southern California, leading distributors John Lenore Company, GBL Santa Barbara Distributing and Real Soda in Real Bottles are supplying Nutrisoda to the market. In Northern California, Nutrisoda will be distributed through Superior Prod-ucts and Bay Area Distributing.

TeaZazz TeaZazz Sparkling Tea announced it has partnered with 5 Star Beverage Distribution Inc. and Underdog Distributors to bring TeaZazz Sparkling Tea beverages to San Diego County and Clark County. Launched in 2006 in Valencia, California by Tamara Saretsky and Delicia Soliman, TeaZazz Spar-kling Tea offers the best of both worlds—a hybrid drink, that bridges the gap between the “fun” of soft drinks and the “good for you” elements of tea.

Cricket Cola Cricket Natural Beverages has added 3 new fl avors to their green tea enhanced sparkling beverages lineup – Pomegranate Raspberry,

Mandarin and White Peach. Complete with 2 cups of green tea in every bottle the entire Cricket line is high in antioxidants, deliv-ers a mellow caffeine lift without the jitters, and has a refreshingly delicious taste with mainstream consumer appeal. Cricket now has national distribution in the natural and specialty food channels and a national bro-ker network to support distribution. Cricket has secured placement in many high profi le retail accounts including Whole Foods, HEB, The Fresh Market, Jewel Osco and Giant Eagle. Cricket’s refreshed packaging won De-sign USA best packaging award and gained Cricket recognition as a “fashion brand” in the beverage industry.

Carolina Beverage Corp. Cheerwine is popping up this year in new cities across the nation with a completely new look and feel. The iconic 91-year-old brand has unveiled new branding, packaging and an extensive marketing campaign to sup-port its aggressive distribution plan. Recent launches in Atlanta and Modesto, Calif., will be followed soon with rollouts in additional mid-Atlantic and west coast markets before the end of the year. Cheerwine is one of the oldest family-owned soft drink companies in the country. Carolina Beverage Corporation – which manufactures Cheerwine – has also hired top marketing and design fi rms to cre-ate the new identity for the brand which will roll out on all packaging, point of sale, truck backs, and bought media starting in July.

Medicus Medicus is introducing Sparka, a line of all-natural zero-calorie sparkling bever-ages. Sparka contains no sugar, no artifi cial sweeteners, and no calories. Sparka Natural

Drinks are fl avored with the herb stevia, which makes it a healthy and satisfying drink for anyone concerned about the health implications of drinking the loads of sugar or artifi cial sweeteners most other beverages contain. Sparka is also enhanced with cal-cium and vitamin C. Sparka comes in several fl avors, including Orange, Lemonade, Peach and Raspberry.

GuS Grown-up Soda completed its summer marketing blitz with its new 5.75 oz. sample-size cans of Dry Cranberry Lime. Cans were distributed in its Northeast and West Coast markets via street sampling, events and gift bags. The 2008 launch of new Dry Cola was a success as placements were gained among leading distributors and accounts. Contain-ing real cola nut extract and cane sugar, with only 95 calories per 12 oz., GuS Dry Cola was selected among Good Morning Amer-ica’s “Best 10 Products” from the 180,000 products offered at the Summer Fancy Food Show. New GuS distributors include DSD network Real Soda in Real Bottles of CA, Marz Beverage of NJ and UNFI/Rainbow Foods. Retail expansion continues with national placement in 240 SuperTarget stores and the Rocky Mountain Region of Whole Foods.

Steaz Steaz is going back to school with a big push this fall into colleges and universities across the US. The brand, which includes leading USDA Certifi ed Organic and Fair Trade Certifi ed Steaz Sparkling Green Teas, Steaz Energy, and new Steaz Organic Iced Teaz has gained distribution in over 40 major schools ranging from Princeton to Penn State, UCLA to Vanderbilt, fi lling the growing demand by the college community for healthy organic beverage options.

Fentimans Fentimans North America will begin produc-ing UK-based Fentimans Botanically Brewed Beverages in an historic Pennsylvania brew-ery in November. It continues Fentimans’ time-honored (Est. 1905) recipes employ-ing ginger root, herbs, juices and natural fl avours, fermented and brewed over seven days to bring out natures goodness. Tradi-tional sodas including Ginger Beer, Curiosity Cola, Victorian Lemonade, Mandarin & Seville Orange Jigger, Dandelion & Burdock

and Shandy will now be offered in a new

BRAND NEWS: BOUTIQUE CSDs



4-pack (6/4-pk case), enhancing specialty retail distribution. Fentimans’ mixer line of Tonic Water, Ginger Beer and Curiosity Cola is offered in 125 ml bottles (24-loose tray) giving the brand further appeal in bars, res-taurants and hotels. Wholesaler and retailer inquiries are welcome.

Mosse Beverage IndustriesMosse Beverage Industries introduced its line of Flavored Sparkling Water Beverages to New York City in June of 2007 includ-ing White Grape, Black Grape and Coffee flavors. In May of 2008 they introduced a new package design and a new flavor – Black Cherry. Mosse can now be found in Whole Foods stores in New York and New Jersey, as well as Central Markets in Texas and independent retailers in 11 other states. Mosse Beverage Industries is currently in negotiations to take the brand to national distribution.

Red BullRed Bull Cola was unveiled in Las Vegas in June 2008 and is rolling into markets across the country starting in October with full national distribution expected in Q1 2009. Red Bull Cola is available in 8.4 oz. cans in bars, restaurants and nightclubs. In grocery and convenience stores, Red Bull Cola is available in 12 oz. cans and 12 oz. 4-packs.

Thomas Kemper SodaThomas Kemper Cane Sugar Soda will be available in single bottles to retailers. Its CSDs are sweetened with pure cane sugar and an added touch of pure Northwest honey. Thomas Kemper’s Cane Sugar Soda flavors are complex and rich. Drink slowly and savor the taste. Thomas Kemper’s Cane Sugar Soda collection comes in five family-friendly flavors: Root Beer, Vanilla Cream, Orange Cream, Ginger Ale

BRAND NEWS: BOUTIQUE CSDs

Nature makes Snow pure, we add the vitamins.

WWW.SNOWBEVERAGES.COMFor more information: Call 212.353.3270or email [email protected]

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CATEGORY REPORT: RTD JUICE

Biotta Biotta of Switzerland has announced the formation of Biotta, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary, to market and sell its line of or-ganic vegetable and fruit juices in the United States. Biotta committed itself to organic production in 1951, many years before the enthusiasm for organic food really took hold. Since that time, Biotta has harvested its fruits and vegetables from healthy, living soil. The juices are 100% pure, contain no artifi cial additives and are never made from concentrates. The product line currently in-cludes the following, with new line additions soon to be introduced for 2009: Beetroot, Bilberry, Breuss (Vegetable Blend), Carrot, Celery, Sauerkraut and Vegetable Cocktail.

Fuze FUZE Beverage will join the Susan G. Ko-men Race for the Cure Series for 2008 and 2009 as a National Series Sponsor and bring a healthy ‘infuzion’ of positive energy to the race series and the breast cancer movement. As part of that sponsorship, FUZE’s mission of healthy hydration continues with the launch of FUZE Empower. The drink is a Pomegranate Acai Berry fl avored bevearage and will be available in 18.5 fl oz. and 16.9 fl oz. pink plastic bottles. Fuze is proud to donate $650,000 to Susan G Komen for the Cure through this program.

O.N.E. O.N.E. has launched a pair of new juices, Coffee Berry and Cashew Fruit, both of which are available in 11 oz. Tetra Paks. O.N.E. Coffee Berry is 100 percent natural and contains a similar amount of caffeine as one cup of green tea. It also is sweet thanks to a blend of fresh strawberry and Acerola purees. O.N.E. Coffee Berry retains the nu-tritional benefi ts lost in regular coffee when the beans are roasted, namely phenolic acids. Additionally, O.N.E. Cashew Fruit is a 100 percent natural, nutritional beverage with a fresh, light, and naturally sweet tropical fl a-vor. Made from the fruit of the cashew plant, not the nut, this Brazilian fruit is naturally fat-free and packed with Vitamin C. O.N.E. Cashew Fruit also contains important nutri-ents including beta-carotene, Vitamins B1, B2, & B3, calcium, and iron.

CAN SUPER-PREMIUM JUICES KEEP GROWING?

BRAND NEWS

BY JEFFREY KLINEMAN

There’s a real economic moment here for the juice category. For the past fi ve years, the most important growth driver for juices has lay in the produce aisle, where high-end, super-premium juices like Odwalla, Naked, Pom, and Bolthouse have led a fresh, health-cen-tered charge into the American shopping cart.

As a corollary to that growth, regular juices and juice drinks have been in decline. Nantucket Nectars, Snapple, even Tropicana and Minute Maid have been receding, fi rst buffeted by the non-carb Atkins diet, then by citrus-crop decimating storms, fi nally by a rising tide of variety that has stolen their thunder.

Over the past fi ve years, those high-end juices have grown at about 15 percent annually, while regular fruit juices have actually dropped a percentage point or two each year. The excitement from the health benefi ts, vibrant fl avors and freshness, interesting new packaging and blended functionalities that include protein and vitamins led consum-ers to swallow these drinks higher price points. Shopping patterns played into those drinks’ increasing popularity, as supermarket shop-pers, in particular, continued to spend more time in the produce-rich store perimeter, rather than head for the center store, home of shelf-stable products like Welch’s.

But this year, that growth might be subjected to downward fi nan-cial pressure. Suddenly, the idea of a $4 12 oz. juice might not be so appealing to the coupon-clipping consumer. And those nutritional benefi ts touted by so many of those super-premium products are be-ing replicated in other food and drink categories.

Nevertheless, the strongest selling point of that category overall, its seemingly endless novelty and variety, seems to be holding steady. With ingredients like starfruit, coffeeberry, mangosteen, aloe, and many others, there’s a powerful, ongoing infl ux of new products onto those chilled shelves on the supermarket perimeter. Who knows? Perhaps the phrase “at least you still have your health” will continue to justify shelling out to maintain it.


Old Orchard BrandsOld Orchard Brands has introduced an in-teractive “Fit For Your Lifestyle” campaign for its top-selling Healthy Balance line of low-sugar fruit juice cocktails. A completely redesigned label brings calorie, carb and sug-ar content information prominently to the front of the bottle and an interactive health-focused website (www.healthybalance.com) encourages dialog with a registered dietician as well as peer-to-peer discussions among those with sugar restrictive diets. The effort is supported by a national ad campaign and a robust sampling program at more than 200 Juvenile Diabetes “Walk for a Cure” events across the U.S. this fall.

Star Power Star Power is the first ever pure, premium starfruit juice. In a new initiative from the founders, Star Power has started giving complimentary cases and sponsoring events to good charities. For a recent benefit, all proceeds from cocktails went to supporting the Orphans’ Fund of 9/11. Star Power is now available at many of the more expensive retailers in and around NYC.

ALOALO has announced the addition of two new flavors to its line of alternative drink blends infused with real aloe vera pulp. ALO Enliven crams all the good stuff from 12 fruits and vegetables with real aloe vera pulp for an energizing, healthy drink alternative. ALO Elated combines aloe vera with brewed olive leaf tea, which is rich in anti-oxidants and a good source of energy, to provide a unique, superior drink alternative for the green tea crowd. ALO drinks are available in a 500mL as well as a 1.5L bottle and are shelf stable.

Essential BeveragesEssential Beverages makes Alo Juice into seven flavors: Mango, Pomegranate, Kiwi, Grape, Cherry, Mixfruits, and Original. It has real bits of Aloe Vera and no added sugar. Most people know about Aloe Vera for its remarkable health-enhancing proper-ties for external application to the skin, but Aloe Vera is also packed with Vitamins, Minerals, Enzymes, and Amino Acids to boost energy and maintain proper immune function while supporting a healthy digestive system.

Fruit 66Developed in consultation with school nutritionists and foodservice directors from throughout the country, Fruit 66 is a sparkling juice with fewer calories, more nutrients and just as many bubbles and taste as traditional cafeteria juices and soft drinks. Fruit 66 is a patron sponsor of the School Nutrition Association and donates a por-tion of its proceeds to the School Nutrition Foundation to improve children’s health and nutrition. An 8 oz. can of Fruit 66 contains 95 calories. It also boasts 100 percent of the RDA of Vitamin C and 10 percent of the RDA of Calcium, Vitamin A and Folates. Fruit 66 is available four flavors – Kiwi Strawberry, Fruit Punch, Orange Tangerine and Apple Berry.

Glow MamaGlow Mama is leading the new maternity nutrition category with a ready-to-drink natural kiwi juice. Fortified with folic acid and other essential pre and post natal vitamins, Glow Mama is approved by the American Pregnancy Association for the important job of hydrating new moms and moms-to-be. With four grams of soluble fiber per 12 oz. bottle and only 70 calories, Glow Mama uses kiwifruit juice concentrate imported from New Zealand. Glow Mama is launching in West Coast natural grocery and maternity stores.

Firefly TonicsFirefly has created a tonic to raise the spirits. “Recharge” combines antioxidant-packed juices with herbal extracts to boost the body’s credit-rating and raise the spirits. It’s refreshing, delicious, and comes in a swanky silver bottle – because “life’s all about silver linings.” Recharge contains fruit juices (white grape, pomegranate, plum, blood orange, rosehip), with botanical extracts and natural flavourings. No added sugar, nothing artificial.

Simply OrangeSimply Orange Juice Company has launched two new premium orange juice blends, Simply Orange with Mango and Simply Orange with Pineapple. Launched August 18, both are packaged in the 59 oz. clear Simply carafe, and are available in super-markets nationwide. Simply Orange with Mango combines orange juice with the unique sweetness of mango, while Simply Orange with Pineapple couples orange juice


ing artificial. It also comes in a convenient, reusable, spill-proof sippy-top container. It has BPA-free packaging, organic and reduced sugar attributes, and nutritional value and convenience. First Juice is currently avail-able in two flavors: Apple+Carrot and Banana+Carrot.

Zola AcaiZola Açaí is having a record-breaking year, selling more in the first six months of 2008 than in all of 2007. Earlier this year, Zola in-troduced its line of Açaí Superfruit Juices in new re-sealable and recyclable bottles. Since the introduction of the new bottle, Zola has been authorized in 10,000 stores nationwide. Zola’s authentic Brazilian recipe uses 100 percent unfiltered pulp from hand-harvested organic Açaí berries to deliver superior taste, while use of proprietary processing technol-ogy ensures maximum retention of nutrients.

SkylarhaleySkylarhaley has unveiled the newest flavor in its award winning line of essn beverages—sparkling mango and passion fruit juice. A blend of sweet and tropical essence, the 100 percent juice drink is packed with natural flavor and contains no preservatives, ad-ditives, or artificial sweeteners. The juice fuses the taste of ripened mango and the tartness of passion fruit. essn is the nation’s first all-natural sparkling juice beverage that combines the pure essence of exotic fruits with a light effervescence. EmbodiEmbodi, the first natural, non-alcoholic juice blend beverage to provide the health benefits of red wine, becomes available nationwide in the natural and specialty grocery channels this month. Originally introduced in Whole Foods Market stores nationally in June 2008, Embodi has expanded its distribution and will also be available in Mrs. Green’s Natural Market, Fairway Market, and West-erly Natural Market amongst many other natural and specialty grocery stores. Embodi beverages are made from a specially devel-oped grape pomace extract made from the skins, seeds, and stems of red wine grapes. This extract is combined with organic juices and provides Embodi with the full-spectrum of red wine’s antioxidants – and resulting health benefits – without the side effects of alcohol.

Orchid IslandCook’s Illustrated, the nation’s prestigious publication dedicated to evaluating cooking products, recently completed a thorough

BRAND NEWS: RTD JUICE

with luscious pineapple. The juices are never concentrated, never sweetened, and made with only natural ingredients.

NBI JuiceworksNBI Juiceworks’ Drenchers has a new all natural 100 percent super juice, Heart Healthy. Heart Healthy has no fat, no cho-lesterol, no sugar or preservatives added and is fortified with key vitamins and minerals specifically designed for heart health. Each eight ounce serving of Heart Healthy has only 120 calories and contains two servings of fruits and vegetables. Available in shelf stable 64 oz. sizes, Drenchers Heart Healthy all natural 100 percent super juice contains Bodyguard, a fortification package of 15-plus essential vitamins, nutrients, amino acids, electrolytes and herbs.

SenceSENCE Rare European Rose Nectar has launched into several international markets as well as a great many more outlets in the USA. Now found throughout Canada, France, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Poland, Scandinavia, Australia and New Zealand, SENCE will expand its operations further into Central and South America, China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau by the end of Q4 2009.

EnvyEnvy is an all-natural 100 percent premium fruit juice packed with a little fizz. Each can provides vitamins A,C,D and Calcium, and is all-natural. Envy is available now is a lineup of five flavors including Acai Berry, Fuji Apple, Fruit Punch, Tropical Mango, and Strawberry. These could very well be the best tasting alternative to sodas and energy drinks yet!

Uncle Matt’sUncle Matt’s Fresh, the organic produce “arm” of Uncle Matt’s Organic, has an-nounced that the number of organic citrus growers and the amount of acreage dedi-cated to organic citrus that their company manages, is rising at a steady and healthy pace. The company is growing organic or-anges, tangerines and grapefruit for its own juice brand, Uncle Matt’s Organic, along with providing organic fresh citrus for Uncle Matt’s Fresh.

First JuiceFirst Juice organic fruit and vegetable juice beverage is the first juice for toddlers that is significantly lower in sugar and calories than traditional juice offerings, with noth-


taste test of five nationally recognized brands and one family owned brand of orange juice against freshly squeezed juice made from oranges in its test kitchen. The results – Natalie’s Orchid Island Juice Company’s Gourmet Pasteurized Orange Juice beat the competition hands down and was rated the best tasting. The magazine conducted taste tests and independent laboratory tests to judge the juice closest to fresh squeezed orange juice. Cook’s Illustrated testers calcu-lated, buying and squeezing oranges at home made the cost 23 cents per ounce – about three times the price of the winning Natalie’s Orchid Island Juice Company’s juice. SambazonSambazon is expanding its award winning line of single serve Açaí juices by offering family sized versions of their best selling skus. The convenient 32 oz. bottles come in two great tasting flavors: “Original Blend” (Açaí lightly sweetened with pure agave) and “Antioxidant Trinity” (Açaí with blueberry and pomegranate for a triple antioxidant boost).

OdwallaAs part of its ongoing commitment to consumers and to Mother Earth, Odwalla kicked off a unique partnership this summer with state parks in select markets across the country. Through the Odwalla Plant a Tree program, outdoor enthusiasts were invited to visit parkvisitor.com and donate trees to their preferred state. More than 60,000 trees will be planted through the 2008 program. Due to its overwhelming success, the Plant a Tree program will be expanded in 2009.

GenesisGenesis BOOST has launched a new line of refrigerated, ready-to-drink superfruit juices to meet the growing demands from health conscious consumers everywhere. The blended exotic fruit juices, which are all-natural, with no preservatives, added sugar or sweeteners, are made of superfruits grown on wild-harvested farms in the Amazon Rainforest, French Polynesia, Southeast Asia and other pristine regions around the world. BOOST Superfruit Juices come in a 12 oz. glass bottle and are available in four blended varieties: Beauty Boost, Youth Boost, Happy

SFConceptualization to Realization

SOVEREIGN FLAVORS

phone. 714-437-1996 www.sovereignfl avors.net

At Sovereign Flavors, “Energizing” the new age beverage category

is crucial for our beverage partners. From ‘Conceptualization to

Realization’, Sovereign Flavors is with you every step of the way.

With over 40 years of beverage application experience to extract upon,

our beverage staff is poised to develop your ‘Energy’ drink that meets your

specifi c requirements. Sovereign Flavors understands that fi nding great

fl avor solutions and speed of response is critical-and we pledge

to be there from start to fi nish. It’s our promise.

Our Sovereign Promise.


CATEGORY REPORT: DIET ENERGY

HER Enterprises, Inc.Her - an energy drink with women in mind - is now available in 12-packs and 4-packs, and has gained distribution at Kowalski stores in Minne-sota and Wisconsin.

The CL-ONE CorporationCL-ONE recently added the 8.3 oz. ‘Sugar Free’ to its line-up, and the product will be available in 15 states including California, New Jersey and Minnesota.

The Healthy Beverage CompanyPromoted this summer with bicycle and skate-board giveaways at Whole Foods, Diet Steaz is both organic and fair trade certified.

Hoborama LLCBAWLS Guarana is now the official energy drink of the National Bicycle League and the American Bicycle Association. This summer, BAWLS launched a BAWLS BMX Contest. Five percent of the proceeds of every BMX can sold will be donated to the NBL and to the ABA to support the building of new BMX tracks and racer sponsorship programs.

Elite FXCelsius recently launched Green Tea Calorie Burners. Celsius Green Tea Peach Mango and Celsius Green Tea Raspberry Acai offer the same benefits as sparkling Celsius. Each can burns up to 100 calories or more by raising metabolism over a 3-hour period, generating increased energy and alertness.

Source BeveragesSugar-Free BURN has been selling extremely well online, on par with original BURN, providing customers outside of the brand’s distribution areas with an easy and convenient way to get home-delivery. More info at www.burnenergydrink.com.

Whey UPWheyUP, the Original Protein Drink with En-ergy, announced that the company is introduc-ing a new flavor, Grape Punch.

Slump Buster EnergySlump Buster recently launched their sugar free variant, Youk’s Signature with an image of Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis on the front of the can. With zero carbs, MBSB Holdings pledg-es to donate a portion of proceeds to Kevin Youkilis Hits For Kids charitable organization.

We’re not all Michael Phelps.While a quick glance at the

lack of Speedo is, possibly, the leading indicator of that par-ticular insight, on paper, one thing we occasionally do have in common with the Olympic medalist is our Olympian energy drink consumption. While we don’t do it every day, for sure, on occasion, we’ve all consumed about 1,000 calories of energy drinks. (Although Phelps did it – gasp – twice a day).

Still, it doesn’t necessarily take a couple of Big Gulps of Venom or Rockstar to cross into Phelps territory. With many 16-ouncers coming in near 350 or 400 calories, it isn’t too much of a stretch to imagine the gold medalist – and his now-famous 12,000-calorie per day training diet – getting matched sip for sip by some of the country’s most average desk jockeys.

Of course, those desk jockeys aren’t really hitting the lanes as much as Phelps, and that probably accounts for the continued popularity and growth of the diet energy subcategory. We all need the energy, but the dedicated energy drink consumer is coming to understand that their fuel of choice need not carry the extra calories.

The overall energy category remains strong – up 29 percent last year, according to Beverage Marketing Corp. – but with obesity con-cerns a constant drumbeat, reduced-calorie products may be the key to keeping things growing. While most new brands are not coming to market without a zero-calorie, artificially sweetened sub-brand, there’s more going on than just the usual aspartame/Ace K mix. Monster and Rockstar are trying to keep calories down by throwing artificial sweeteners into their full-calorie energy juice blends. The majority of energy shots are also made without sugar, the main calo-rie culprit, and those that aren’t are so small that the count is well under 100. That indicates that reduced-calorie is growing in lockstep with zero calorie. Witness that recently the newly-formed Dr Pepper Snapple Group added a stake in Hydrive, an “energy water” that has minimal calories but still features some sugar in the mix.

So if there’s no clear winner in the race to find the perfect diet energy drink, remember – there’s always going to be a diet (or, at 17 percent of the category, a diet or TWO) in the mix.

Unless you’re training for, like, 19 big races.

THERE’S ALWAYS DIET

BRAND NEWSBY JEFFREY KLINEMAN

YOURPHOTOHERE

PHOT

O BY

SPE

EDO


XO-2 Energy Beverage Corp. The new, reformulated XO-2 boasts a 20-24 month shelf life. XO is best consumed at room temperature giving consumers choices of drier, sweeter and more aromatic blends.

Fluid Motion Beverage Inc. Fluid Motion Beverage launched in August a new sugar-free line extension to its Vixen Energy brand: Vixen Fox Lemonade. The Vixen Fox Lemonade is a pink sparkling lemonade sweetened with Splenda (Sucralose) and Ace K.

Fuze Beverage, LLC Available in Sugar-free 16oz cans, NOS can be found nationally in speed shops, grocery and convenience stores. NOS combines ingredients like Taurine, Caffeine and Ginseng to ensure extreme performance.

Ardea Beverage Nutrisoda recently released fi ve of their most popular varieties - including Energize in 12 oz. glass bottles. With Taurine to help recharge, Energize is packed with 10 mg of the nutrient CoQ10 and the amino acids L-Tyrosine and L-Carnitine, herbs such as Ginseng and Guara-na seed extract combined with B-Vitamins, and Magnesium.

Power Trip Beverages, Inc. Power Trip “0” diet energy beverage boasts great taste and no sugar, no HFCS and no carbs.

Wet Planet Beverages Jolt Ultra: Sugar Free is now available in 16 oz. resealable aluminum cap cans.

Ronin, LLC Ronin Positive Liquid Synergy, the sugar free alternative to original Ronin, now enjoys direct store distribution in Wisconsin, Minnesota in Northern Illinois as that company has 350 trucks at its disposal.

Nutrition Resource Services, Inc. Krank’d 7-in-1 Body Fuel will be available in 16.9 oz. plastic bottles with a new look. At 37 calories per serving, Krank’d will initially be available in three fl avors in the plastic, followed with the production of other popular fl avors and a unique new line of teas.

Brain-Twist, Inc. Slap had a heavy summer marketing & promo-tional calendar: we including radio spots during Mets games, and sponsorship and sampling at many NY area concerts; handball tournaments, Summerball basketball tournaments, the LI Balloon Festival and Village Voice Siren Musical festival.


CONVENTION SCRAPBOOK

NACSBY JEFFREY KLINEMAN

Campbell's John Drohan with a

little thing he likes to

call v8.

The Cocio crew.

Hard Nutrition's Richard Pearce

and Kenna Doschler.

The 2008 NACS Show took place at McCormick Place in Chicago from October 4-7, showcasing over 100 beverage compa-nies and their brands. Energy Shots, Enhanced Waters, and a great many supplement/drink hybrids were all well-represented.

BevNET’s intrepid product-spotting team picked up the following new product developments:

All Day Energy; AMP; Alpha Phar-maceuticals; Intocell; Met-RX; Purple Stuff; AriZona; Shotz and NR-GIZE

In Zone and ZizZazz

from Bustelo Cool, iCafe, and Xing Tea

Body Well Nutri-tion, Go Fast, Ole, Redneck Punch and Sex Drive

from Ephrine Plus and Peptime Energy, Guava Rush, and Wake-Up Call

Aloe Juice, Nu South,

H.A.R.D. Nutrition, H7, Labrada, S-250, Sport Wave, and VPX Sports

Cola and Jones Soda

al Waters from Goya Foods, Jana Water, Sparkletts, VBlast and Vitamin + Fiber Water

Give's Ben Lewis and Mark Slepak,

giving their all.

Greg Wilson and Co., representin' for Redline.

Labrada Nutrition, fit as heck!

5-Hour's Brandon Bohland, standing so long he had sore feet.

Muscle Milk: drink it and get m

uscles!


PROMO PARADE

Dos Equis launched “The Most Interesting Show in the World Tour,” an upscale, offbeat variety show and tour inspired by the award-winning The Most Interesting Man in the World campaign. The MISW tour features performers from around the world, including aerial performers, Japanese robotic dancers, acrobats, fi re jugglers, Russian dancers and French burlesque singers, to create a show experience worthy of its name.

The MISW made its fi rst tour stop on Oct. 8 in San Diego and the show’s dazzling array of performers will travel to 14 cities across the country, including Los Angeles, Chicago and Austin. The incomparable Jim Rose, famed emcee of the “The Jim Rose Circus” sideshow and a man well-known for his own eccentricities, will serve as the host.

The MISW is written and produced by Randy Weiner and New York-based Weiner Entertainment Group. Weiner, creator of “The Donkey Show” and “Beacher’s Mad-house,” is a managing partner of The Box, one of New York City’s hottest performance venues. The MISW tour will be supported by nation-al and local print, radio, as well as regional in-market promotions.

Crown Imports’ “Beer Kitchen” program runs in off-premise accounts in September and October 2008, and draws on the popu-lar trend of pairing beer with food.

“Beer Kitchen” features “The Art of Cooking and Pairing Food With Beer” recipe booklet, which offers recipes and beer pair-ing ideas that complement the Crown Im-ports portfolio of premium imported beers.

To supplement to program, the Crown portfolio has teamed up with food partners to offer coupons and encourage incremental grocery sales.

“Beer Kitchen” easel cards with booklet holder are available to attract consumers to Crown Imports Beer displays.

Fans will have their say in choosing the St. Pauli Girl for the fi rst time ever. St. Pauli Girl, the No. 2 selling German beer in the U.S., has partnered with Maxim Magazine to give more access to the St. Pauli Girl selection process, al-lowing fans to vote for the new German barmaid spokesmodel.

Fans will choose from four fi nalists who each bring the St. Pauli Girl bar-maid to life in her own way, online at maxim.com/stpauligirl. This marks the fi rst time in the 31-year history of the

DOS EQUIS LAUNCHES

VARIETY SHOW TOUR

CROWN ENCOURAGES

PAIRING FOOD WITH BEER

FANS TO CHOOSE THE NEXT ST. PAULI GIRL

St. Pauli Girl spokesmodel that the beer has opened the selection process to the public and will let fans actually select the St. Pauli Girl.

Each of the fi nalists participated in a preliminary photo shoot and fans will judge each fi nalist on her test shots and how well each represents the spirit of St. Pauli Girl as the next spokesmodel. Voting will run through November 10, 2008 and the new St. Pauli Girl spokes-model will be announced in January 2009.

Beverage Spectrum covers new beverage products, as well as the marketing, packaging, and ingredient innovation trends behind those products. From the largest beverage marketers to regional distributors to the smallest corner stores, the beverage business is at its core about selling drinks. Beverage Spectrum is the guide for those who both sell them and create them.

Subscribe now and get 8 issues of the most comprehensive product focused magazine available!

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ENERGY DRINK

COMPLETE LISTINGS FOR

OVER 200 BRANDS2008 GUIDE

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ALSO THIS ISSUE:FMI REVIEW BRANDS IN TRANSITION

J U LY – A U G U S T 2 0 0 8

2008 WATER GUIDE ENCLOSED

BIG CHANGECOMES TO

BIG TEA

ALSO THIS ISSUE:NACS Show PreviewExpo East PreviewSports DrinksImport BeerCrunchy Beverages

SEPTEMBER 22 , 2008

BREAKINGOUTMuscle Milk leaps from the supplement aisle to the corner store

Welcome to the New Beverage Spectrum

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PROMO PARADE

GRANDE ABSENTE Grande Absente, Absinthe Originale, is available in a unique holiday gift pack. The holiday gift pack includes a 750 ml bottle of Grande Absente, a signature hand crafted and painted cocktail glass and a one-of-a-kind absinthe spoon. Each glass is painted with the green fairy amongst the wormwood plant from which Grande Absente is made.

Grande Absente, Absinthe Originale is now available nationwide for the retail price of $70.

LUCID Viridian Spirits LLC, the owners and importers of Lucid Absinthe Su-périeure, released a limited edition Holiday Gift Set. The set includes one 750 ml bottle of Lucid, two vin-tage style absinthe glasses and one vintage style absinthe spoon.

The holiday gift set will be available at high end liquor stores nationwide for a suggested retail price of $59.99.

Beam Global Spirits & Wine, Inc. of-fers consumers gift ideas and recipes this upcoming holiday season with off-premise programming that includes holiday-themed packaging and point-of-sale displays. Festive holiday packaging, recipes and point-of-sale materials help make the holiday entertaining and gifting season easier for legal purchase age consumers. COURVOISIER COGNAC is offering a Cour-voisier XO Imperial gift set, which includes a 750 ml bottle with a backgammon set enclosed in a collector’s wooden box. 750 ml bottles of Courvoisier VS comes with two stem-less Courvoisier-branded glasses and recipes on the back of the gift set. Finally 750 ml bottles of Courvoisier VSOP come packaged with a Courvoisier-branded shaker. JIM BEAM offers consumers a holiday gift carton with the purchase of a 750 ml bottle. KNOB CREEK BOURBON will have a custom label available during special in-store promo-tions. Consumers can have a customized message printed onto this holiday-themed label. HORNITOS TEQUILA commemorates the holidays with a gift pack that includes a 750 ml bottle of Hornitos Reposado Tequila ac-companied by a fl ask and recipes. Hornitos is also utilizing holiday-themed danglers, case cards, table tents and napkins. CANADIAN CLUB treats consumers to a holi-day gift carton along with a “Damn Right Your Dad Drank It” 2009 calendar mail-in offer, pole topper and display. MAKER’S MARK BOURBON offers consumers Maker’s Mark in a holiday-themed gift box. Point-of-sale displays, including pole top-pers, case cards and shelf talkers, round out holiday programming for the brand. STARBUCKS LIQUEURS will help consumers warm up this winter with a 750 ml bottle of either Starbucks Coffee Liqueur or Starbucks Cream Liqueur and a Starbucks branded coffee mug.

Amstel Light announced a new Thanksgiving program called “Your Holiday, Your Twist” that offers consumers and retailers solutions and opportunities around the festive holiday.

The brand is offering a tiered Mail-in Rebate (MIR) (where legal) to consumers at grocery, drug and retail outlets during the month of November as consumers are stocking up for Thanksgiving. Consum-ers will be offered a MIR with the purchase of fl owers and/or turkey and 12-packs of Amstel Light. MIR tear pads will be available on in-section and out-of-section displays and will include instructions along with recipes including fried turkey, couscous stuffi ng and praline pumpkin pie to help consumers put a personal twist on the standard holiday fare. Amstel Light fl ower wrap bags will also be available to help consumers dress up their fl oral gifts.

To help support the execution of the Amstel Light “Your Twist, Your Holiday” Thanksgiving program, Amstel Light is providing a range of POS and display materials that will make it easy for retailers to merchandise the program. Mega-display units, case cards, base wrap, dual-function tuck-ins and decals will be available to get shop-pers attention while they peruse the beer aisle, butcher section or pass through the fl oral department.

ABSINTHE-MINDED HOLIDAY

BEAM GIFTS

AMSTEL LIGHT (AND TURKEYS) HOLIDAY PROMOTIONS

Keep beer drinkers trading up to craft with

Drives more trade up to craft than any other brand.(2)

7 beer styles ranked in the top 50 craft sku’s.(1)

(1) IRI, Total US, Food(2) BBC Usage & Attitude Study

© 2008 THE BOSTON BEER COMPANY, BOSTON MA.

Drove 30% of all craft growth in the past year. (1)

The best selling craft beer style variety

®

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