BevNET Magazine January/February 2014

January 30, 2014

DOMESTIC

BREWERS A CRASH COURSE IN CRAFT

BEVNET’S BEST OF 2013 AWARD WINNERS

BEVERAGE INDUSTRY CONFERENCE PREVIEW: PREDICTIONS EXPO WEST FOR 2014

IS THE

RELAXATION

CATEGORY

Visit us at the Natural Products Expo West show, Hall E, Booth #5183

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Columns 4 First Drop Vertical Integration 6 Publishers Toast Cost Matters 20 Gerry’s Insights The Importance of Brick and Mortar

Departments 8 Bevscape Explosive Kegs, Explosive Deals 12 New Products Cruising Down Jay Street 18 Channel Check Shaking the Tea 58 Promo Parade

By Fiat, Jones Declares the Winner

Conference Coverage

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Contents • Volume

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12 • No. 1

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Features

Special Section

22 BevNET Live Winter Wrapup Five years in Santa Monica

42 BevNET’s Supplier and Services Guide Everything you need, from ingredients to consultants and more!

26 Brewbound Winter Session Wrapup The Sam and Pete show 32 The New Tier Eight brewers who are the next generation of big domestic 34 Predictions for 2014 Our experts, and theirs 38 BevNET’s Best of 2013 Complete list of the winners

On the Cover 28 Domestic Brewers: A Crach Course in Craft?

Both AnheuserBusch and MillerCoors are battling to stay relevant: we’ve got stories on both.

January 30, 2014

DOMESTIC

BREWERS A CRASH COURSE IN CRAFT

COVER PHOTOS COURTESY OF GOOSE ISLAND BREWERY

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BEVERAGE INDUSTRY CONFERENCE PREVIEW: PREDICTIONS EXPO WEST FOR 2014

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By Jeffrey Klineman

Working on A Building Forgive me if my column reads a little slow today. I’m waterlogged.

Today I walked into the office and looked in our cooler, and there it waited, the Caliwater Cactus Water. At 11 a.m., I took a call from WTRMLN WTR (that’s a watermelon water for those who literally can’t fill in the blanks). All day long, I was trading calls with the founder of Aloe Gloe, which is described as “natural aloe water.” Since the fall, I’ve also sampled two different versions of water derived from maple trees – Happy Tree Maple Water and Vertical Water, and another plant essence water, Blossom Water.

What’s interesting about all of these brands is that, like coconut water, the product class they’re all chasing, and to which they compared themselves, they’re not water – they’re juices. There may be water added, but they’re a drink made out of flavored liquid extracted from a plant, calling themselves “water” rather than juice for the purpose of indicating a lightness of taste, and, presumably, calories. (We can only hope that older beverage brands don’t decide they need to reverse-engineer their own names and start calling themselves “grape water” or, even worse, “cow water.”)

This comparison may have negative echoes for many in the beverage business, who might say that the nomenclature of this glut of insert your plant here waters smacks of the me-too problem that accompanied the last great pre-coconut water vertical, the enhanced water boom.

In that case, vitaminwater’s success begat SoBe Life Water, Speedo Sports Water, Vital Lifestyle Water, Omega Water and Jonest 24C Enhanced Water, among many, many doomed others.

I’m not sure that this is the case for these new insert your plant here waters, as some of them are quite good and they come at a variety of price points and different packaging formats. But it did give me reason to think about what it takes to build a new vertical, and to underscore, once again, the importance of differentiation.

Differences in format aside, a key for the brands in the insert your plant here

water category to succeed will be through their specific ingredient making its own, individual, superfruit-type of argument: that their particular juice source has something that consumers need that is different from what they’re getting from coconut water, which won consumers

4 BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

over for its functionality as an electrolyte source. Thus for Aloe Gloe and for Caliwater, it’s the digestive,skin, and immunity potential associated with the source plant. WTRMLN WTR makes the electrolyte argument, but also touts lycopene and antioxidants. Those points of difference will have to be matched in taste, clever packaging, and smart positioning, as well.

And there’s actually precedent for success here in the juice category itself, (despite the fact that the category has the very label that these products are trying to avoid through their names). After all, we don’t just drink juice, we drink orange juice, pineapple juice, cranberry juice, all for a different set of tastes and benefits. But again, it’s a question of winning consumers over to a brand new taste and product type, not one that’s just like one they already enjoy.

What will kill the brands in these burgeoning insert plant here water categories – or in any other new set of products – is if they, like the products that followed vitaminwater, are interested in simply riding in the wake of what’s gone before.

Moreover, that difference in effect has to be striking: even the “better than” argument is a tough one to win in these largely subjective categories, as there were plenty of products out there with potentially higher efficacious doses than vitaminwater, and there are still mounds of data that indicate that chocolate milk beats both Gatorade and coconut water both in terms of athletic recovery. From a sales and brand-building standpoint, the difference between one and two bananas’ worth of electrolytes will return only a moral victory comparable to Don Beebe running down Leon Lett’s fumble return in Super Bowl XXVII. It looks good, but you’re still way behind.

I don’t bring these up to make the argument that we’re in the middle of another pack of me-toos that will ultimately prove unsuccessful. Some of these may indeed present interesting, novel ideas to consumers. I’d just hope they keep in mind that you can’t build your own vertical by leaning too heavily on another one.

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MAGAZINE

By Barry J. Nathanson

www.bevnet.com/magazine

The Price is Right

Barry J. Nathanson PUBLISHER bnathanson@bevnet.com Jeffrey Klineman EDITOR-IN-CHIEF jklineman@bevnet.com Ray Latif MANAGING EDITOR rlatif@bevnet.com

The endless hours of animated discussion were one of the most enjoyable aspects of our recent BevNET Live conference. The knowledge imparted from the sessions is strong, but the informal banter from the breaks, meals and after-hour cocktail-and-bull sessions provides just as accurate a sense of the industry as what is said on stage.

Change and innovation are two of the constants in the industry. Logistics and efficiencies are keystones to executing the plans. There were so many topics to mull over that the event went by too fast. I want to address one of the most often spoken about in Santa Monica, pricing.

The advent of a new generation of beverages – those employing high pressure processing or other valueadded technologies – has created highpriced offerings and changed the cost structure in the industry. There has always been a high end in beverage marketing. Premium products have been around forever. Obviously, the wine, spirits and beer categories have had great differentials in pricing. Consumers have always been willing to pay for what they perceive the best. The snob factor has always entered into the equation.

That’s been around forever. Particularly as Juice and Water emerged as categories, non-alcoholic products entered into the premium pricing mix. It then rolled into all the other categories.

Now, we have an explosion of brands of NA’s that are trying to redefine the threshold of what the consumer will spend.

Added to the equation is that many of these new brands are attempting to create a regimen for their consumption, creating a constant high investment for imbibing.

I’ve always believed that treating oneself to a special luxury on occasion trumps the practical sense of making fiscal decisions.

Beverages are one of the few treats that one can enjoy without breaking the bank.

I am not sure how widespread the consumer base will be that embraces a price point of $5-$10 for a single serving of an exotic drink.

There will always be a small, pricebe-damned buyer, but can these products achieve the mass success that they are all bravely predicting?

My history of observing consumer spending habits says “no,” but my experience with the ever-increasing pricing I’ve seen over the years says “yes.”

Still, I have seen very bold expectations laid out and strong projections that I don’t think are realistic. I admire these new entries and think that many can make it, if they can capture the niche consumer that can afford their brands. In order to achieve success, however, they must be realistic in their goals, manage their costs, pinpoint their marketing and accept that the double, while not as glamorous as a home run, still keeps you in the game.

Max Rothman REPORTER mrothman@bevnet.com Chris Furnari BREWBOUND EDITOR cfurnari@bevnet.com David Eisenberg BREWBOUND STAFF WRITER deisenberg@bevnet.com

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6 BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

BEVSCAPE

The latest news on the brands you sell

BIG MOVES Coca-Cola Splits North American Operations In an effort to streamline operations and expedite its refranchising to independent bottlers, The Coca-Cola, Co., Inc. restructured its operations into two operating units, Coca-Cola North America (CCNA) and Coca-Cola Refreshments (CCR).

Sandy Douglas will lead CCNA as group president and will continue his role as global chief customer officer, reporting to Muhtar Kent, chairman and CEO. Paul Mulligan, president of CCR, will lead the bottling operations unit of North

to Ahmet Bozer, president of Coca-Cola International.

Coinciding with the division, Steve Cahillane, president of Coca-Cola Americas announced he was leaving the company the company to pursue other, undisclosed opportunities.

Wall Street beverage analysts wondered about Cahillane’s departure, as he had often been mentioned as a possible successor to Kent, but they nonetheless lauded the new organizational division. Bonnie

its business in North America through a combination of company bottlers, independent bottlers and brand marketers.

The adviser is surprised that CCR will become a part of the Bottling Investments Group (BIG) — a move that could decrease efficiency. Neil Kimberley, the founder of beverage consulting and advisory firm Foods, Fluids and Beyond, was also surprised. Yet, he and the investment community have known for several years that this day would arrive. What surprised

America, which will become part of the Bottling Investments Group (BIG). Mulligan will report to Irial Finan, president of BIG. “We are in a position to leverage this flexibility to return to a traditional company and bottling operating model in North America, which will enhance our focus on execution and accelerate the refranchising of our bottling system in our flagship market,” Kent said in a release.

The new structure means that Coke’s North American brands, foodservice, marketing, retail sales, research and development, strategy, franchise leadership and transformation, the Canadian franchise operations and Venturing and Emerging Brands will report to Douglas of CCNA. Meanwhile, CCR Canada, the product supply chain and service, commercial bottlers, customer care and regional sales will report to Mulligan of CCR. As Coca-Cola Americas comes to an end, The Latin America Group will become a part of Coca-Cola International.

Group president Brian Smith will report

Herzog, managing director of beverage, tobacco and convenience store research for Wells Fargo, and Dara Mohsenian, an analyst with Morgan Stanley, both wrote that the news brings Coke closer to refranchising its bottling business and reaping stronger returns.

In April, Coke took its first major step toward refranchising its bottling operations when it announced that it would sell some of its distribution rights to five independent bottlers. The bottling partners include Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated, Coca-Cola Bottling Company United, Inc., Swire Coca-Cola, USA, Coca-Cola Bottling Company High Country and Corinth Coca-Cola Bottling Works, Inc. Industry veterans quickly weighed in with a wide range of opinions following the decision, although there was strong agreement that the shift could present a new set of challenges for Coke and its partners.

One long-term beverage adviser, who has followed Coke for many years, said that the company has focused on growing

Kimberley most was the timing.

Regarding the division, Kimberley expressed opinions similar to those of the adviser. He also weighed in on the potential aftermath regarding Venturing and Emerging Brands (VEB), Coke’s innovation hub.

“It’s going to make a more challenging environment for VEB to operate in because they will now have two masters to please,” Kimberley said.

“The bottlers and distributors always have a big influence on the development of new brands,” Kimberley said. “It’s always been that way and it will continue to be that in the future. They are the guys who execute those businesses.”

Even with his independence from the parent company, John Gould, the executive director and CEO of The Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Association (CCBA), holds another opinion: he expects the two new operating entities to work together effectively.

“I certainly don’t look at the changes with any strong sense of concern for The Association,” Gould said.

8 BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

GROWING CONCERNS

INVESTIGATION UPDATE Brewers Association to Release Report on Keg Safety in 2014 The Brewers Association has revealed that it has been reviewing keg safety for much of the past year and that it will soon release recommendations for keg performance and safety guidelines.

The review comes after numerous reports of explosive failures involving kegs manufactured by Plastic Kegs America (PKA). Those incidents started to come to light following the death of a Redhook Brewery employee in April, 2012; as the year has gone on, complaints about PKA reports have accelerated. The BA said it has received reports from 18 breweries involving 38 kegs that did not “fail safe” and exploded, created dangerous situations for brewery employees. To date, none of the reports involved plastic kegs manufactured by companies other than PKA. In a note posted to the BA Forum on Dec. 12, representatives from the organization informed members of the safety review. In early 2013, the BA said, it hired Bilfinger Industrial Services(BIS) to engage with all manufacturers of kegs and keg components, asking the company to create a set of guidelines detailing safety parameters and performance of two-way and reusable plastic kegs.

While noting that “the law limits the ability of BA to for or require brewers to purchase, or not purchase, specific equipment,” the organization further said that the guidelines will “provide BA brewery members with a basis to make their own educated and enlightened decisions regarding keg safety and performance when sourcing and purchasing kegs.”

PKA founder Simon Wheaton told Brewbound that he, too, is currently working with a third-party keg testing company, Kegspertise, to develop a report showing that its 2013 models have passed a series of performance tests. Wheaton said PKA is also working with BIS to address safety concerns.

“The draft guidelines are due to be published at the end of January of 2014 and so it is premature for us to comment

until all the information is in the public domain,” he wrote in an email.

The maximum working pressure for plastic kegs manufactured by PKA is 61 PSI and the kegs will fail at 90 PSI or above, Wheaton said. (Stainless steel kegs, the leading alternative, have been determined to be capable of withstanding much higher pressures).

Many brewers that Brewbound spoke with said they were concerned that plastic kegs would rupture at pressures much lower than 60 PSI, however.

“If you are putting pressure above 1012 PSI, you should definitely be concerned,” said Joey Redner, the founder of Cigar City Brewing, said that he personally witnessed a keg failure while it was being cleaned at his brewery. Redner had been standing next to a plastic keg when it exploded near his head. He said he stopped purchasing kegs from PKA in July of last year due to safety and financial concerns, and that he is currently in the process of phasing the kegs out of use.

Redner also said that he’s looking forward to seeing the results of the BA’s performance review.

“It needed to be done,” he said. “When you look at their mission statement, it fits right in. If they can prevent things that

10 BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

are bad to the industry from happening, it definitely fits right into the wheelhouse of what their mission statement is.”

Plastic kegs have gained a foothold among brewers because of their lower price compared to steel kegs. PKA claims that it has sold over 500,000 kegs and that its products are 55 percent cheaper than stainless steel kegs.

As the craft beer industry continues evolving at a torrid pace (there are now 2,707 U.S. craft breweries), a large number of the new breweries are fighting a cash crunch as they try to get off the ground.

But craft brewers who are concerned about the safety issues said that startup craft breweries need to consider safety when building a manufacturing facility.

“If you are doing large scale production, there are a number of reasons why they don’t make sense,” said Hayes Humphreys, the COO at Devils Backbone Brewing. “The wear and tear was the biggest thing for us. They get so beat up that you end up buying them more frequently.

In the end, the upfront price might not be as cost-effective as people think.”

“A lot of breweries starting up have facilities that are built by hand and cobbled together,” he added. “The breweries aren’t always put together in a totally professional way. Unless you are 100 percent confident in what you put together, plastic kegs are just another risk factor and you are introducing one more fail point.”

And while many brewers are removing the kegs because of safety and durability concerns, they also aren’t willing to resell them.

“I wouldn’t want to put these out there for anyone else to use,” said Chris Levesque, the general manager of Front Street Brewery in Wilmington, North Carolina. “I just don’t think it would be the right thing to do.”

The BA said it expects to publish the first BIS report detailing performance and safety parameters by the end of Jan., 2014.

LITIGATION Federal Judge Dismisses Monster Lawsuit Against S.F. City Attorney Seven months after Monster Beverage Corp. filed a lawsuit against San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera, one that aimed to block his investigation into the company’s marketing practices and regulate the caffeine content in its energy drinks, a federal judge dismissed the case.

The ruling allowed Herrera’s lawsuit, in which he claims Monster violates California state law by marketing its highly-caffeinated products to children, to proceed.

“Monster Energy’s federal suit was a meritless ploy to stop our state consumer protection case, and I’m grateful to the court for issuing an unequivocal dismissal,” Herrera said in a statement.

“Despite the known dangers highly-caffeinated products pose to young people’s health and safety, Monster deliberately

targets children with its marketing. It’s my hope that Monster Energy will reform its marketing practices before regulators or courts force them to.”

U.S. District Court Judge Virginia A. Phillips ruled that Monster’s litigation would unfairly impact Herrera’s lawsuit against the energy drink giant, which was filed on May 6 in San Francisco Superior Court. In her decision, Phillips wrote that “the state has an important interest in protecting consumers from unfair and deceptive business practices and protecting the health and safety of its residents.”

While Monster claimed that it was singled out as the only energy drink company named in the lawsuit, Phillips noted that aspect of the case does not affect the state’s responsibility to its residents.

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The Powerful Energy Ingredient JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 BEVNET MAGAZINE 11

NEW PRODUCTS

The newest options for cooler and shelf

CSDs

TEA

Caffeinated Club, a lightly flavored soda water with added caffeine, has launched in the Chicago market. The beverage has approximately 34 mg of caffeine per serving and contains no sugar, calories or artificial sweeteners.

Packaged in plastic, recyclable, BPA-free 12 oz. bottles, the product comes in four varieties: Lemon, Raspberry, Orange-Grapefruit, and Clear, which is unflavored. Caffeinated Club is kosher-certified and vegan-friendly.

The drinks have a suggested retail price of $0.99. For more information, please call Caffeinated Club at (800) 975-3047.

Honest Tea has launched its Unsweet Lemon Tea nationally. The company’s first zerocalorie tea option available in 16.9 oz. PET bottles, the product is brewed with USDA organic, Fair Trade Certified tea leaves from India. It is unsweetened and flavored with organic lemon extract. The tea has a suggested retail price of $1.99. For more information, please call Honest Tea at (301) 652-3556.

COFFEE ITO En has launched Jay Street Coffee, a line of iced coffee drinks made with fresh brewed, medium roasted 100% Arabica Coffee beans and milk from dairy herds that have not been treated with rBST. Available in Mocha, Latte and Vanilla varieties, the drinks are packaged in packaged in a 16.9 oz. recyclable PETE 1 bottles. The labels are inspired by the Brooklyn neighborhood where the company is located and depict well-known motifs from the borough, including the famous water tower located atop of ITO EN’s building, a historic brownstone window and an iron wrought gate. Jay Street Coffee is available nationwide in specialty and mainstream markets and has a suggested retail of $2.49. For more information, please call ITO En at (707) 327-6413.

ENERGY DRINKS The Seminole Tribe of Florida, Inc. has launched Hard Rock Energy Drinks in South Florida. Packaged in 16 oz. cans, the drinks come in Original, Paradise Punch and Sugar Free varieties. Hard Rock Energy Original flavor is aqua blue in color and comes in a black can. The Sugar Free version is clear and is packaged in a white can, while the Paradise Punch flavor is light red and comes in a red can. All of the cans are emblazoned with the Hard Rock brand and retro electric guitar graphics. The drinks are available at select restaurants and bars as well as all convenience stores operated by the Seminole Tribe. The price of the drinks will vary based on market and retail channel. For more information, please call Bitner Goodman at (954) 849-9201.

12 BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

Hey Mama is a new line of ready-to-drink herbal teas that are specially formulated for pregnant and nursing mothers. The beverages come in three varieties: Lemon Glow, Minty Morning and Pom Berry Baby. Each contains an herbal blend designed for a specific pre- or postnatal function. The teas are packaged in 12 oz. glass bottles and distributed in specialty retailers in New York City and sold on Amazon.com. Each bottle has a suggested retail price of $3.99. For more information, please call Hey Mama at (347) 416-0776.

Hank’s Gourmet Beverages has introduced a new line of all-natural iced teas. Hank’s Harmony Crafted Teas are available in two flavors: Black Tea with Lemon and Half & Half. The products are sweetened with a blend of agave nectar, stevia and sugar. Each 20 oz. bottle contains 90 calories. The teas are distributed in 40 states across the country and have a suggested retail price of $1.99.

For more information, please call Hank’s at (800) 289-4722.

JUICE Dream Foods International, LLC, a specialist in organic juices from Sicily, Italy, has launched a new line of its Italian Volcano organic juices in 250 mL glass bottles. Flavors include 100% Blood Orange and Tangerine Juices, and Lemonade and Limeade, all of which are certified USDA organic and made without artificial colors or flavors. The suggested retail price of the Blood Orange and Tangerine Juice is $3.29. The Lemonade and Limeade retails for $2.99. The products are distributed n natural and specialty stores across the U.S. For more information, please call Dream Foods at (310) 315-5739.

ENHANCED WATER AriZona Beverages has partnered with former reality TV star, beverage entrepreneur

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and current talk show host Bethanny Frankel on a new line of five-calorie sparkling waters called Skinnygirl Sparklers. The products are made with real fruit juice, vitamins, a proprietary blend of Maqui berry, Acai berry and green tea extracts and contain no artificial flavors or colors. Available in Tangerine Mango, Strawberry Lemonade, Pink Grapefruit and Pineapple Coconut flavors, the waters are artificially sweetened and contain 5 calories per 8 oz. serving. Packaged in slim 17 oz. bottles, Skinnygirl Sparklers have a suggested retail price of $1.29 and are distributed nationally. For more information, please call AriZona at (516) 812-0346.

WAT-AAH! has introduced “WAT-AAH! Party,” a line of waters infused with natural fruit essences that come in five varieties: lemon, lime, grapefruit and raspberry-lime and unflavored. The products contain natural electrolytes, and have no sugar, calories or artificial sweeteners. The waters are available in 16.9 oz. PET/BPA-free bottles in 12-pack cases for a suggested retail price of For more information, please call WATAAH! at (212) 627-2630.

Real Water is now available in a 750 mL glass bottle. Real Water goes through a 7-step filtration process and is treated with its proprietary E2 technology which adds electrons and turns the water into a powerful antioxidant which hydrates the body at the cellular level, according to the company. Real Water is available at select markets through the country. The new glass bottles have a suggested retail price of $3.35 per bottle and $38.50 per case. For more information, please call Affinity Lifestyles at (702) 310-5437.

FUNCTIONAL DRINKS Oceans Omega, a leading supplier of watersoluble Omega-3 EPA and DHA ingredients for food, beverage, nutritional and pet care products, has launched Omega Infusion Shots, a line of Omega-3 fortified liquid health shots. The zero-calorie shots contain 250 mg of Omega-3s (EPA & DHA). Packaged in 2 oz. shot bottles, the line is available in three flavors: Peach Mango, Raspberry Lemon and Pink Grapefruit. Sold at select Rite Aid and Kmart locations, the shots have a suggested retail price of $1.99. For more

14 BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

information, please call Oceans Omega at (855) 366-3423.

Pro Balance, Inc. has launched The Original Protein Shot. Packaged in a 3 oz. shot bottle, the product contains 28 grams of specially formulated hydrolyzed protein using the proprietary HydroMaxx protein blend created by the company. The Protein Shot is gluten-, lactose- and caffeine-free. Available in four flavors -- Tropical Mango, Wild Berry, Berry Frost and Strawberry Banana – the product also comes in natural caffeineadded formulation. The shot is available in Walgreens stores across the U.S. and has a suggested retail price of $2.99 per bottle. For more information, please call Pro Balance at (727) 531-8506.

Splash Beverage Group has launched TapouT Hybrid Performance Drinks. Formulated with a proprietary blend of over 100 vitamins, minerals, electrolytes and cellular nutrients, the functional beverage is made with all-natural flavors, colors and sweeteners. The drinks contain 70 calories per 16 oz. bottle and come in three flavors: Dark Cherry Pomegranate, Berry Citrus, Tropical Blend. For more information, please call Splash Beverage at (954) 745-5815.

Forgiven Bottling Group Inc. has launched Forgiven, a fast-acting liquid formulation of its flagship nutritional supplement. Marketed as the world’s first and only alcohol metabolizer, Forgiven liquid format contain a blend of organic acids, L-Cysteine, L-Glutamine, Rhodiola Rosea extract and Vitamin B1. The product comes in three flavors -- grape, orange and tropical punch -and is available in 2 oz. shot bottles and 750 mL bottles. The company intends to build upon the distribution that it has secured for the capsule version of the product, which has been carried at GNC, CVS, Circle K, Duane Reade, 7- Eleven, Get N Go, Terrible Herbst convenience stores, and other outlets. The shot size has a suggested retail price of $2.99.

For more information, please call Forgiven at (855) 825-3444. healthy mama has introduced Boost It Up!, an all-natural protein energy drink designed for pregnant and nursing women. The prod-

uct is formulated with protein, B-vitamins, ginger, fiber and electrolytes, and marketed as a “pregnancy-safe solution to the lack of energy and nausea that is often experienced by moms-to-be.” The beverage has a suggested retail price of $3.49 for a 12 oz. bottle and is sold at buybuy Baby stores and select Babies-R-Us and Toys-R-Us nationwide. For more information, please call healthy mama at (855) 773-4426.

POWDERS SALADA Tea has launched SALADA Tea Therapy Performance drink mix sticks available at select GNC stores and online at GNC.com. This product line combines SALADA green tea extract with green coffee bean extract and raspberry ketones. The line comes in two varieties. SALADA Tea Therapy Performance – Energy combines green tea extract with green coffee bean extract and also include panax- ginseng, amino acids and a vitamin B complex. SALADA Tea Therapy Performance – Metabolism combines green tea extract and green coffee bean extract with raspberry ketones. The blend is low-calorie, gluten-free and uses no artificial colors, flavors or sweeteners. The product has a suggested retail price of $9.99 for a box of 10 drink mix sticks. For more information, please call Redco Foods at (315) 823-1300.

WINE Truett-Hurst Inc. of Healdsburg, Calif. has released a new line of wines that are packaged in paper bottles. PaperBoy uses a molded outer shell in the shape of a wine bottle that is made from recycled cardboard with a plastic liner. The package is 85 percent lighter than a glass bottle and is easily recyclable, according to the winery. PaperBoy contains appellation–based, superpremium wines sourced from the Mendocino and Paso Robles growing regions and crafted by winemaker Virginia Marie Lambrix. Introductory PaperBoy wines are a 2012 Paso Robles Red Blend, which a suggested retail price of $14.99 and a 2012 Mendocino Chardonnay, which retails for $13.99.The wines are available nationwide in Safeway stores. For more information, please call Truett-Hurst at (707) 433-9545.

VODKA Diageo has launched two new varieties of its Smirnoff vodka line. Smirnoff Wild Honey combines the pure taste of golden honey with a floral fruitiness. Smirnoff Cinna-Sugar Twist is a reminiscent of a flaky cinnamon treat and adds an exciting spike to cocktails when mixed with a range of flavors from grapefruit juice to ginger beer, according to Diageo. The vodkas are distributed at liquor and grocery stores nationwide for a suggested retail price of $15.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

For more information, please call Diageo at (646) 223-2314.

Phillips Distilling Company has launched UV Sriracha Vodka, the first sriracha-flavored vodka to hit the market. UV Sriracha made with a base of the brand’s flagship vodka and infused with a proprietary blend of chili peppers, garlic and vegetables. The spirit has a suggested retail price of $12.99 for a 1 L bottle. For more information, please call Phillips at (612) 362-7500.

Pinnacle Vodka, has partnered with Cinnabon, Inc. to introduce Pinnacle Cinnabon Vodka. The vodka combines flavors of cinnamon, brown sugar and rich cream cheese frosting with hints of caramel to create a taste reminiscent of warm, freshly-baked cinnamon rolls, according to the company.

The 70 proof spirit is available nationwide at a suggested retail price of $12.99 for a 750 mL bottle. For more information, please call Beam Inc. at (847) 444-7073

WHISKEY Yellow Rose has introduced its Double Barrel Bourbon. The 86 proof spirit is a premium bourbon that is finished in Cabernet wine barrels. Named after the legendary firearm and the distillery’s approach of finishing the whiskey in a second barrel, the cabernet barrels used for the spirit mellow out the finish of the whiskey and add hints of chocolate, plum and brown sugar, according to the company. Distributed in nine states, Double Barrel has a suggested retail price of $39.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

For more information, please call Yellow Rose at (281) 886-8757.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 BEVNET MAGAZINE 15

Seattle-based Westland Distillery released the first bottling of its flagship American Single Malt Whiskey. Westland’s American Single Malt Whiskey serves as the core expression of the Distillery’s house style. Made from a grain bill of five different malted barleys and matured for a minimum of two years in heavily charred new American oak casks, the whiskey offers a uniquely American-style single malt to the market. The spirit is packaged in 750 mL bottles, has a suggested retail price of $68 and is distributed in the Pacific Northwest. For more information, please call Westland at (206) 767-7250.

Anchor Distilling has introduced Blue Hanger 7th Limited Release, a United States exclusive from Berry Bros. & Rudd Spirits. Limited to only 3,088 bottles, this new variant is comprised of the following whiskies: one hogshead of Bruichladdich 1992, one butt of Bunnahabhain 1990, four hogsheads of Miltonduff 1997, and two hogsheads of Bunnahabhain Moine (peated) 2006. As with every expression of Blue Hanger, the whisky contains 45.6 percent ABV. Blue Hanger 7 is packaged in a 750 mL bottle and is sold in select retailers for a suggested price of $99.99.

For more information, please call Anchor Distilling at (415) 863-8350.

Glen Garioch has introduced Glen Garioch Virgin Oak Artisanal Small Batch Release. The first Glen Garioch expression ever to be matured solely in virgin North American white oak casks, the whisky is offered at 48 percent ABV and non-chill filtered. An allocation of 1,038 bottles has been distributed in the U.S. with each 750 mL bottle carrying a suggested retail price of $109.99. For more information, please call Savona Communications at (917) 969-1275.

Jim Beam Bourbon has introduced Jim Beam Maple. The spirit is a Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey infused with natural flavors that provides a balance of warm aromas, a hint of charred oak, and with a subtle and smooth caramel finish. The whiskey is 70 proof and available nationwide for a suggested retail price of $15.99 for a 750 mL bottle. For more information please call Beam Inc. at (847) 444-7657.

Collingwood blended premium Canadian whisky announces the release of Collingwood Rye 21-Year-Old, a one-time only 16 BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

bottling of 21-year old Canadian rye whisky available in select markets within the United States and Canada. The spirit has matured for 21 years in seasoned oak barrels and in its finishing step, the whisky rests with toasted Maplewood to complete its smooth character. Collingwood Rye 21-Year-Old is presented at 80 proof with limited quantities available 16 U.S. markets: Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. Packaged in a 750 mL bottle, the whisky has a suggested retail price of $69.99.

For more information, please call BrownForman at (502) 774-6981.

RUM The Indian Ocean Rum Company and Berry Bros. & Rudd Spirits have launched Penny Blue XO Single Estate Mauritian Rum in the United States through importer Anchor Distilling Company. Named after the world’s rarest stamp, the spirit is distilled at the oldest operational distillery on the Island of Mauritius, Medine. Penny Blue features aromas of citrus and orange blossom entwined with hints of espresso, clove and honey. On the palate, the rum offers notes of tropical fruits and nuts with touches of vanilla and a smooth, long finish. The first batch of 5,946 individually numbered bottles will be sold in the United States and Europe with 2,500 bottles currently allocated for the U.S. The suggested retail price for Penny Blue is $79.99. For more information, please call Anchor Distilling at (415) 863-8350.

7 Sirens White Rum is a new super-premium white rum that is made in Trinidad. Produced using with Trinidad-grown red sugar cane, the rum is distilled in column stills and aged in American white oak barrels for two years. Trinidad’s humidity allows for a unique expansion of the barrels and extracts flavor from the wood, according to the company.

The rum is available in Oregon and has a suggested retail price of $28.95. For more information, please call BrandSoul Communications at (206) 605-2976.

OTHER SPIRITS Ilegal Mezcal is made in Oaxaca by a fourthgeneration mezcalero. The spirit is produced with Espadín agave that is baked in earthen pits, stone ground, naturally fermented and

distilled twice in small batches. The mezcal comes in three styles. The unaged Joven has notes of anise, red pepper and light fruit with a smooth, heated finish. The Reposado, aged four months in American Oak barrels, has a more caramelized flavor with notes of chocolate, butterscotch, subtle heat and a longer finish. The Añejo, aged 13 months in American Oak, French Oak and bourbon casks, offers bitter-orange notes with hints of maple and clove. Packaged in individually numbered 750 mL bottles, Illegal is distributed in select liquor stores, bars and restaurants across the country. For more information, please call Cooper Spirits at (212) 560 9600.

Baron Spirits International has launched Baron Tequila, a new platinum tequila.

Handcrafted in small batches, the tequila is made from 100 percent prime agave that is slow-cooked at low heat and triple-distilled.

The spirit contains no additives and is certified gluten-free, as well as kosher. The tequila is packaged in a 750 mL glass bottle created in a “four-touch” process which guides the glass into shape utilizing both human touch and sophisticated machinery to mold the ornate design directly into the glass itself, according to the company. Baron Tequila is available at upscale bars and select retailers in New York City. The spirit has a suggested retail price of $55.00. For more information, please call EM50 Communications at (646) 833-8106.

Beam Inc. has launched JDK&Sons Crave Chocolate Truffle Liqueur. The liqueur features the smooth, rich taste of chocolate truffles complemented with a touch of vanilla and slight hint of caramel, according to the company. The product contains 95 calories per 1.5 oz. serving. The spirit has a suggested retail price of $17.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

For more information, please call Beam at (847) 444-7699.

Ole Smoky Tennessee Moonshine has launched new strawberry and lemon drop varieties. Ole Smoky Strawberry Moonshine and Ole Smoky Lemon Drop Moonshine.

At 40 proof each, the spirits are packaged in the same traditional 750 mL mason jars as other Ole Smoky varieties. The new products have a suggested retail price of $24.99 and are available in national retail stores including Sam’s Club and Walmart as well as local liquor stores nationwide. For more information, please call Ole Smoky at (865) 436-6995.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 BEVNET MAGAZINE 17

CHANNEL CHECK

What’s hot – and what’s not – in stores now

SPOTLIGHT CATEGORY

TEA 52 Weeks through 12/1/2013 SOURCE: Symphony/IRI Total food/drug/c-store/mass.

Lots of shakeup here in the tea category as AriZona and Lipton’s core brands seem to have cooled a bit while Lipton’s PureLeaf is soaking up share. Even the vaunted Arnold Palmer has begun to slow, with small declines registering for the first time. Is it just a seasonal issue? Or are Pepsi’s and Coke’s (FUZE is on fire) value-priced offerings finally starting to make inroads as the category levels off? Value pricing is helping Tradewinds, which continues to grow via NWNA distribution – but one other newcomer to the group is Marley’s Mellow Mood, which is showing $14 million in tracked channels – not bad at all for a brand that does a lot of its work up and down the street.

Could this be the Wal-Mart effect?

Brand

Dollar Sales

AriZona

$660,655,400

-5.04%

Lipton

$337,458,400

-10.07%

Lipton Brisk

$266,178,100

5.96%

Lipton Pureleaf

$212,082,200

41.61%

Snapple

$208,534,400

-0.24%

Diet Snapple

$191,633,300

-2.05%

AriZona Arnold Palmer

$176,186,100

-2.88%

Diet Lipton

$137,552,600

-3.96%

Gold Peak

$134,683,600

14.94%

Peace Tea

$77,970,860

2.91%

Lipton Brisk Tea

$76,115,710

-2.61%

Pure Leaf

$74,580,500

262.26%

FUZE

$64,745,970

598.25%

Private Label

$61,455,280

-12.18%

Arnold Palmer Lite Half & Half

$52,178,580

0.62%

Tradewinds

$44,049,530

11.97%

Honest Tea

$35,026,850

14.24%

Sweet Leaf

$25,257,630

-13.37%

Peace Tea Caddy Shack

$15,791,220

-2.70%

Marley’s Mellow Mood

$14,084,920

11.38%

TOPLINE CATEGORY VOLUME 52 WEEKS THROUGH 12/1/2013

18 BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

Change vs. year earlier

SOURCE: Symphony/IRI Total food/drug/c-store/mass.

BEER

$30,061,090,000

3.03%

BOTTLED JUICES

$6,845,930,000

-3.12%

BOTTLED WATER

$11,640,290,000

1.96%

ENERGY DRINKS

$9,986,154,000

2.83%

DRINK MIXES

$1,190,553,000

-0.64%

TEA/COFFEE

$4,221,193,000

3.01%

WEIGHT CONTROL Brand

HOT! Body Fortress Whey Protein Dollar Sales

Change vs. year earlier

ENERGY DRINKS Brand

HOT! Monster Zero Ultra Dollar Sales

Change vs. year earlier

Ensure

$342,283,500

6.31%

Red Bull

$3,409,014,000

7.10%

Muscle Milk

$288,787,800

9.75%

Monster Energy

$1,217,862,000

1.47%

Pedia Sure

$224,372,700

1.45%

Monster Rehab

$383,029,300

-2.40%

Monster Energy Lo Carb

$316,036,700

-14.97% -4.04%

Privat Label

$207,782,800

-3.54%

Boost

$185,839,900

5.90%

Rockstar

$286,985,500

Ensure Plus

$151,222,800

7.82%

NOS

$286,172,400

8.42%

Java Monster

$280,855,700

12.96%

$268,165,800

1,178.09%

Slim Fast 321 Plan

$144,157,000

-10.90%

Body Fortress Whey Protein

$119,208,900

21.96%

Monster Zero Ultra

Atkins Advantage

$98,614,410

19.54%

Monster Mega

$232,672,800

0.54%

Monster Absolute Zero

$201,771,200

-16.85%

Glucerna

$94,497,920

SOURCE: Symphony/IRI Total food/drug/c-store/mass.

52 Weeks through 12/1/13

STILL WATER Brand

Private Label Dasani

2.67%

NOT! Slim Fast 321 Plan

HOT! Glaceau Smartwater Dollar Sales

Change vs. year earlier

SOURCE: Symphony/IRI Total food/drug/c-store/mass.

52 Weeks through 12/1/13

NOT! Monster Absolute Zero

SPARKLING WATER Brand

HOT! Sparkling Ice Dollar Sales

Change vs. year earlier

$1,850,291,000

11.87%

Sparkling Ice

$295,121,700

110.01%

$915,307,900

2.06%

Private Label

$265,101,400

8.26%

$155,217,200

14.87%

Nestle Pure Life

$909,030,000

-3.08%

Perrier

Aquafina

$848,409,300

-5.01%

San Pellegrino

$131,537,200

15.82%

Poland Spring

$568,794,000

1.62%

La Croix

$71,654,850

24.84%

Glaceau Fruit Water

$40,690,280

N/A

Glaceau Vitaminwater

$563,510,400

-17.53%

Glaceau Smartwater

$545,494,300

13.60%

Topo Chico

$32,016,960

9.47%

Deer Park

$402,680,900

-1.33%

Cascade Ice

$24,308,900

16.81%

Ozarka

$316,668,500

-0.63%

Poland Spring

$23,866,680

-3.57%

5.99 %

Arrowhead

$21,611,540

4.47 %

Fiji

$245,090,100

SOURCE: Symphony/IRI Total food/drug/c-store/mass.

52 Weeks through 12/1/13

NOT! Glaceau Vitaminwater

DOMESTIC BEER

HOT! Michelob Ultra Light

Brand

Dollar Sales

Change vs. year earlier

SOURCE: Symphony/IRI Total food/drug/c-store/mass.

52 Weeks through 12/1/13

NOT! Poland Spring

Import BEER Brand

HOT! Modelo Especial Dollar Sales

Corona Extra

Change vs. year earlier

$1,215,805,000

6.25%

Heineken

$670,123,700

-0.61%

Bud Light

$5,946,638,000

-0.71%

Coors Light

$2,358,093,000

3.14%

Budweiser

$2,110,965,000

-2.99%

Modelo Especial

$566,269,600

24.29%

$232,682,000

22.73%

Miller Lite

$1,871,592,000

-3.16%

Dos Equis XX Lager Especial

Natural Light

$1,124,602,000

-6.68%

Corona Light

$215,990,400

5.03%

Busch Light

$844,162,800

2.09%

Stella Artois Lager

$192,368,800

18.05%

Michelob Ultra Light

$771,534,600

10.43%

Tecate

$155,972,100

-4.24%

Busch

$675,485,600

-4.60%

Labatt Blue

$100,012,500

-2.56%

Keystone Light

$493,730,800

-4.71%

Labatt Blue Light

$97,944,270

-4.72%

-8.53%

Newcastle Brown Ale

$77,458,980

-8.58%

Miller High Life SOURCE: Symphony/IRI Total food/drug/c-store/mass.

52 Weeks through 12/1/13

$479,084,100

NOT! Miller High Life

SOURCE: Symphony/IRI Total food/drug/c-store/mass.

52 Weeks through 12/1/13

NOT! Newcastle Brown Ale

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 BEVNET MAGAZINE 19

By Gerry Khermouch

The Brick and Mortar of Craft Back in the late 1980s, a locally based colleague and I made our way to Chicago’s brand-new Goose Island brewery on a late afternoon to hatch our dinner plans and see what it’s like to drink freshbrewed beer. The offerings were such a revelation, and the pool table so continuously available, that the dinner hour came and went and we stayed until 11 PM, chatting about beer and life, having pleasurable encounters with other patrons and the bar staff, and convincing ourselves that, next rack surely, one of us was due to go on a four-ball run. (If you’re wondering how we could have had a pool table to ourselves for six hours, well, the cue sticks were crooked and a ball was missing.

And no, that run never materialized. But the cue sticks were bent!) This taproom is definitely a keeper, we concluded, and hoped this Goose Island outfit would find a way to stay in business a while.

I thought of that encounter the other day while perusing the list that Paste had released of the 40 best beer bars in America. I feel both proud and a bit sheepish to say I’ve imbibed in at least 15 of them over the past year and a half: Toronado in San Francisco, Meridien Pint in Washington, DC, Brick Store Pub in Decatur, Ga., all characterful places that are exceedingly hard to pull oneself away from, just like Goose Island 25 years ago.

Of course, half the fun with these lists is feigning outrage at the criminal omission of other joints you love. No Maria’s Package Goods & Community Bar in Chicago? How could they? No Sunswick 35/35 in New York? No Whip Inn in Austin? Really, what were they thinking?

Of course, these pubs return the tavern to its role dating back to the colonies as a center of community, a place for beer lovers to “rendezbrew,” a networking platform, in today’s lingo. Not that we’ve lacked for great bars in earlier decades, but there’s something about good-quality beer that makes these places “stickier,” and not in the sense of beer spilled on the

floor. In some cases the community building has been a conscious strategy, though usually it’s just a welcome byproduct of producing great beer in a great space.

John Hickenlooper – now Colorado’s governor – famously opened Wynkoop Brewing as a linchpin of the revival of Denver’s nearly abandoned LoDo area (a key ally was Tattered Cover’s Joyce Meskis, bookstores being another key community-building retail species). Brick Store Pub similarly provided the spark to transform downtown Decatur from a boarded-up wasteland to a thriving, transit-centered restaurant and retail hub.

On my visit there this past fall, proprietor Dave Blanchard recalled how he and his partners systematically stripped away everything they didn’t like about the restaurant business – TVs, macro beers, pitchers, frozen pints – to create a conversational enclave. In Atlanta nearly two decades ago that might have seemed a stretch, but the overwhelming response reflected an underlying thirst for this type of resort. “We became the beer place in Atlanta, only because of what we didn’t carry,” Blanchard told me. These days, besides the main space, it’s got a Belgian beer nook upstairs and a cellar, and is holding its own among proliferating alternatives because of the riches it does carry.

Guinness was about the only remotely mainstream beer I spotted there.

The truth is, for all the theory about third places and the like, these places exert a magnetic pull on patrons as centers of community, and beers associated with those places garner an outsize advantage in having their authenticity confirmed, having their latest style foray dissected and disseminated by the Twitterati, the local ones viewed by out-of-towners as somehow reflecting something intrinsic about that city’s character. These pubs and brewpubs host, and often collaborate with, local homebrewers, and otherwise extend their roots deep into the brewing culture of the area they serve.

20 BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

Surely this confers a great home-field advantage for craft beers over the specialty beers being conjured up by big brewers. And these influencer bars’ aversion to stocking brands from what they view as soulless corporate entities (and these days, fairly or not, that can extend even to Boston Beer’s Sam Adams) compound the difficulty those brands have in garnering respect and buzz. Frustrated big-beer reps who’ve failed to crack these coveted accounts with Leinie’s or Blue Moon or Kona liken the effort to a bird flying up against a plate-glass window.

That’s another reason why we’re likely to see the big boys continue to acquire craft players who’ve made inroads into these accounts. Then the trick is not to fumble the acquisition. So far, even after having installed its own management team there, A-B seems to have done well by Goose Island at a time that craft enthusiasts have been watching warily for any signs of slippage: as proof, Goose has done OK holding its tap handles in these influencer accounts. (It was on similar grounds that I inveighed in this column a few years ago against A-B’s decision to stop importing Belgium’s Leffe, one of its few brands with the credibility to sustain a presence in these places. It’s since come back.)

One last thought: many bookstores have been relying on coffee shops and knickknack areas to help cover their overhead as they try to withstand the Amazon onslaught. Given craft beer’s ability to sustain community, why not dial that up in the mix? That seems to be working for stores like the bustling Kramerbooks and its attached Afterwords Café in Washington’s Dupont Circle area. If the trend takes off, not only would it defend a treasured institution but it would reinforce, beneath the beer-trivia bluster, how thoughtful and well-read we beer geeks truly are.

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

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Dovetailing Opportunity for Entrepreneurs, Retailers

By Max Rothman With a Midwestern palate, Jeff Church used to make Twinkies and Ho Hos vanish.

“I thought I got my protein from McDonald’s,” he said.

But he doesn’t chuckle at green juice these days. About a year and a half removed from launching Suja, Church, the CEO, has hoisted the juice company into an enviable locus, as a central figure in the high-pressure processing (HPP) movement, with approximately $20 million in revenue in the first year, according to The Wall Street Journal, and finally, the BevNET product of the year, which was announced during BevNET Live in Santa Monica.

The event took place on Dec. 9 and 10, preceded by an earlier edition of Beverage School, all at the Loew’s Santa Monica Beach Hotel.

As Church, a long-time entrepreneur in a variety of businesses, spoke on the morning of the conference’s first day, he considered Suja’s state in the context of the beverage industry. The tailwinds of swift success haven’t fogged his ability to reach pragmatism.

“As easy as it goes up, it goes right back down,” he said.

Speaking later in the day about entrepreneurs, Neil Kimberley, the founder of beverage consulting and advisory firm Foods,

Fluids and Beyond, shared Church’s sentiment by reciting his take on Dickens.

“It’s the best of times and the worst of times,” he said.

Kimberley projects that as carbonated soft drinks continue to lose market share, the next five years will yield about $7 billion worth of opportunities for other cogs of the beverage industry. However, a blend of fickle consumer preferences, executive missteps or any other obstructions could quickly derail a company or a category.

The idea that a beverage company can spike or sink at any time carried over at the conference, indicating that entrepreneurs recognize the often uncontrollable factors at play. Church knows that, even now, Suja could continue to reach new levels of prominence or have about the same shelf life as the juice itself.

However, despite the cautious thinking, Kimberley’s lofty projections weren’t the only encouraging signs for beverage industry startups.

Andrew Black, the founder and CEO of BrandProject, an investment fund and brand development company, said that he’s looking for disruptive beverage ideas and willing to put $500,000 into a business. He believes that this investment, in

22 BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

certain cases, could jolt a startup in the first few months of funding.

When considering prospective investments, Black considers the product, team, target consumer, branding, target markets, distribution arrangements, supply chain, margins, retail partners and financial situation.

“Everybody seems to know the basics of blocking and tackling to make a business successful,” he said.

However, what isn’t as widely known is a state of quality that makes a product immediately ready for the market. Sometimes it’s a lack of resources, other times it’s a shortage of good taste and ancillary opinions.

Black also looks for a company that has a maximum of four to five employees. At an early stage, when fiscal responsibility and risk-taking is of the utmost importance, you don’t want to thinly spread profits among a list of cousins and friends posting on your company’s Twitter account.

Also providing encouraging news on Monday was Terence Fox, the president of M.E. Fox Distributing. The distribution company, which records about 25 percent of its revenue from Red Bull, has a strong focus in Silicon Valley, Calif., with a highprofile list of customers including Google,

Facebook, Apple, Adobe and eBay, to name a few. Black said that these companies have a quick turn rate and search for beverages that can fuel their intense workloads and match their levels of innovation.

The nearly endless streams of wealth in the Bay Area are continuing to support emerging and innovative beverage companies. Fox said that the upscale, high-end consumer is still investing in products that match the proportions of their wallets. As of Dec. 1, in hopes of seizing the important Hispanic market on the West Coast, many beer distributors have taken on Jarritos. Fox

Neil Kimberley, Founder, Foods, Fluids and Beyond

said that the combination of a healthy upscale market and the introduction of Jarritos will help drop the dominoes. He said that these distributors aren’t going to consider just one non-alcoholic beverage brand.

“If it’s a profitable brand, a distributor will get behind it,” he said.

The numbers fortify these claims. Kimberley said that in the past 12 years, the beverage industry has jumped from $78.9 billion in sales to $117.4 billion. As the sales of carbonated soft drinks continue to wane, he said that Amazon estimates a 60 percent increase in beverage sales this year. While not fully immersed in the innovative side of the beverage category, Walmart and Target are making progress.

All of this, along with Kimberley’s $7

billion projection, could leave significant opportunities for ideas that establish and polish beverage trends.

Bonnie Herzog, a beverage analyst and managing director at Wells Fargo, said that cola giants often look at smaller beverage companies for ideas. Those segments that haven’t yet compromised bold decisions in favor of national availability continues to offer the next stages of the industry.

“I see a lack of innovation on their part, which I think is an opportunity here,” Herzog said.

So what has this opportunity influenced? The New Beverage Showdown, which offers startups a chance to present their product and business model to a panel of judges, indicates that whether or not these beverages will make it big, Herzog’s take is an accurate one.

The 20 presentations featured skin products, water from trees, drinks that are supposed to make you look younger and bottles with QR codes. The eventual winner, Health Ade Kombucha, was announced on the afternoon of the second day, chosen from the six finalists — vTrue Radiance, a liquid supplement for healthy skin, Happy Tree Maple Water, Health Ade, Lumi Juice, a cold-pressed, HPP juice, Chimp Food, a blend of fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds that includes the peel and pulp, and Lyft, a caffeinated stir stick.

Matthew Mitchell, a judge of the competition and the director of business development with Venturing & Emerging Brands (VEB), said that he was impressed with the professionalism, story-telling and authenticity of the finalists.

And just as Church and others in the beverage industry understand the reality of a fast fall, the participants of the New Beverage Showdown and its judges recognize the potential of avenues not trampled.

“I would encourage people to keep pushing the envelope,” Mitchell said.

Thoughout the event, retailers restated the theme: they understand the potential for emerging brands and they’re looking for partnerships. Representatives from 7-Eleven, Costco and Life Time Fitness, Inc. were on hand to discuss their interest in identifying the next wave of innovation and stocking their shelves with the buzzworthy brands of the next few years.

It’s been going on since the announcement of Kroger’s Taste of Tomorrow program in March, and the supermarket chain

24 BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

has steadily added up-and-coming brands — Just Chill, AquaBall, Reed’s Culture Club Kombucha and AQUAhydrate, among several others. In September, Inko’s founder and president Andrew Schamisso announced a distribution agreement with Walmart and mentioned the mass-retailer’s maturing identity, which will include more health-focused options. Target continues to assess the results of its four-wave test of emerging beverages, which includes brands such as Chia\Vie, Bai, Oatworks and Karma Wellness Water.

On stage, Julie Whittle, category manager for soft drinks and energy/nutritional beverages for 7-Eleven, envisioned results that could put a real dent in the beverage industry. She’s not talking trade-offs.

“We’re not interested in just shifting the share from one brand to another,” she said.

One new 7-Eleven store opens approximately every two hours. There are more than 50,000 7-Eleven stores in the world.

The company projects that number to reach 80,000 by 2020. And Whittle and her colleagues who make the decisions for this massive network realize that consumers are eating less, but more frequently.

This trend could lead to direct benefits for the beverage industry, especially for meal replacement beverages.

“We believe that beverages can very much play a role in that snacking occasion,” Whittle said.

As she searches for compatible partners, Whittle said that she’s looking for beverage brands with a regional niche and the potential to work in another market. Aside from the typical interest for quality products with a point of differentiation and packing that’s ready for the marketplace, she also wants brands that have the production capabilities and the distribution arrangements necessary for a bond of this proportion.

Whittle also mentioned that interested brands should pitch her during the spring and summer. However, if necessary, she’s willing to be flexible.

“We’re open to working with smaller companies and new concepts,” she said.

While she’s looking for more of an immediate return (six to 18 months after placement), 7-Eleven has also created 7-Ventures, a venture capitalist arm that could have the patience to cradle the right brands for three to four years.

Raja Doddala, the vice president of portfolio investment for 7-Ventures, said

Doddala wants to learn about these products before the market does.

He said that he’s still unsure of the cold-pressed juice category. Whittle said that she’s interested in the next phase of energy, beyond energy drinks, such as coffee, juices and protein drinks.

Julie Whittle, Category Manager,7-Eleven

that the branch was founded in part because much of the beverage industry’s innovation derives from smaller brands.

Costco Calls the Shots Costco has also entered the fray; John Eagan, the vice president and senior general merchandiser for Costco Wholesale, and Danny Stepper, the CEO and co-founder of L.A. Libations, sat down with BevNET editor-in-chief Jeffrey Klineman and explained the need for malleable brands.

Costco, the second-largest mass retailer in the U.S., designs the store to do the shopping for its consumers — a unique business model that requires elasticity.

“You have to be open minded and listen to the Costco buyer,” said Stepper, who has worked with Costco for many years and played a key role in securing distribution there for Chia\Vie and Aloe Gloe.

The threshold for a beverage in Costco is $1,000 per week, per store. Such quick

turns result from lower pricing structures, which shrink margins but increase volume.

Stepper said that the store’s buyers will tell you what it takes to survive in their stores, from the packaging to the pricing to the delivery plans. Costco wants an acquisition value and rewards the brands that play their way.

Beverage brands regularly mentioned as emerging category leaders have already succeeded in Costco. Eagan and Stepper mentioned Zico, which sold more than 1 million cases in Costco last year, Naked Juice, Sambazon, Evolution Fresh and Bolthouse Farms.

However, despite Costco’s heavy influence in the brands that it stocks, Eagan said that he doesn’t want his store to be the only place where a certain product sells. If Costco grows to about 25 percent of a product’s revenue, he encourages other streams of distribution. If the percentage grows to 30 percent, he gets antsy.

“I don’t want to own that company and I don’t want to dictate to them how to run their business,” Eagan said. “It’s not healthy.”

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 BEVNET MAGAZINE 25

Brewbound Session: Voices from the Oldest Craft Companies to the Newest

By David Eisenberg

For a craft brewery to succeed today, it must produce high quality, consistent and well-differentiated beers, according to Sam Calagione, founder of Dogfish Head, who gave the keynote address during December’s Brewbound Session in San Diego, CA. It’s the same idea that Calagione operated under when he started in 1995. Calagione said he knew Dogfish couldn’t compete with the bigger brands in the industry by trotting out typical offerings, so by building a foundation around those three fundamentals he took a different approach by trying to “create niches.”

“Don’t just do what everybody else does. Try to find something really, really unique,” he said.

He said his brewery, in the early days of business, earned good marks for using high-quality ingredients and offering well-differentiated beers, but the middle piece – consistency – lagged behind.

Today, due to “off the charts” beer IQ among consumers, he said not having all three characteristics from launch could debilitate an upstart brewery.

“What I could get away with when I opened Dogfish in the late 90s, you can’t get away with now,” he said. “The consumers expect the highest quality and the highest consistency.”

Pete Slosberg, founder of Pete’s Brewing Co., echoed those sentiments during his talk, in which he reflected on three decades in the beer industry.

“The quality of the beer has to be number one,” he said, mirroring Dogfish’s philosophy. “If it isn’t world class, don’t do it until it is.”

Excelling in all three categories, Calagione added, will “give you the legs to stand out in a crowded market.”

“That should help the cream rise to the top.”

The market wasn’t always as crowded, of course. Now, there’s a new brewery opening every day, but Slosberg’s decision to enter the beer industry was a bit different than Calagione’s. At the time, 26 BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

Sam Calagione, Founder of Dogfish Head

he was influenced, in part, by his desire to work on the ground floor of a new industry. In essence, he wanted to avoid the crowds.

One of Pete’s biggest hurdles at the beginning was figuring out how to build a business with no money. For that, the brewery employed a tier system.

“Let’s not think of the concept of raising all the money at once. For X amount of money, let’s think about what we can deliver,” he said. “So when we need money, investors can see we do what we say we’re going to do.”

Both Calagione and Slosberg emphasized the importance of further differentiation as the market becomes more oversaturated.

There’s value in creating a specific niche, Slosberg said, and “If you want to be all things to all people, you’re Bud, Miller, Coors.”

“You’ve got to be different, stick your neck out a little bit,” he added.

That extends beyond beer, into entrepreneurialism. As Calagione explained, during the making of his brewery’s “Bitches Brew,” an imperial stout honoring Miles Davis’ triumphant 1970 jazz album of the same name, he said he asked the famed trumpeter’s nephew what his uncle’s secret was in creating such unique music.

“He said, ‘Don’t play what’s there. Play what’s not there.’”

That entrepreneurial attitude extended to Saint Archer Brewery, which used professional skater Mikey Taylor as its face onstage. Taylor, spoke in the same mellow, Californian tone that ripples through the personality of Saint Archer.

He didn’t talk IBUs or cooperage. He spent no time discussing mash tuns or sweating and mixing and brewing into the twilight.

Taylor cares about the beer and its quality, but that’s not his primary role. Along with Josh Landan, also a co-founder of Saint Archer, Taylor has helped to elevate the six-month old operation into a pillar of craft beer marketing — an exemplary model of a lifestyle brewery.

“Everybody wants to be a part of California, the beach, the life,” Landan said.

Previously, they just wanted to be brewers.

But craft beer geeks with a sink or a bathtub have figured how to emulate their favorite IPAs and stouts. Many of them have even started their own breweries. According to the Brewers Association, there are 2,707 brewing facilities. That number includes 1,728 in the planning stage, 1,201 brewpubs, 24 large brewers, 120 regional brewers and 1,362 micro-brewers. These numbers will continue to rise.

While innovation of beer styles has proven to be an effective method of differentiation (just ask Wynkoop), the intentions and business models shared at the Brewbound Session affirmed that brewery executives with large-scale ambitions recognize their roles as not just liquid vendors, but also as message diplomats and entertainment hubs.

Meanwhile, other entrepreneurial brewers were waiting in the wings, trying to find out if they could win the Startup Brewery Challenge.

Sponsored by Craft Brew Alliance, the first installment of this event gave ten companies the opportunity to showcase their brands and business plans in front of a judging panel of expert brewers and industry veterans, as well as an audience of 170 brewing industry professionals.

Seth Weatherly, the founder of 5 Stones Craft Brewing Co., beat out nine other participants with his seasonal release business model and a 6.4 percent ABV ‘Aloha Pina’ golden ale, brewed with fresh pineapple and roasted jalapeno.

Pete Slosberg, Founder of Pete’s Brewing Co.

Judging the competition were Pete Slosberg, the founder of Pete’s Wicked Ale; Doug Rehberg, the director of brewing operations for CBA; Brady Walen, the Widmer Brothers brand manager; Tom Nickel, the owner of O’Brien’s Pub and Chris Furnari, the editor of Brewbound.com.

Weatherly won an all-expenses-paid trip to Portland, Ore. to become Widmer Brothers’ “Brother for a Day.” There, he’ll be able to craft a new collaboration beer with Widmer Brothers, take an extensive tour of the company’s pilot and production breweries, participate in CBA’s daily taste panel and learn from the company’s sales, marketing, graphics, quality assurance and packaging departments.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 BEVNET MAGAZINE 27

A B T THE IMPERFECT CRAFT OF ANHEUSER-BUSCH

by Max Rothman

To meld within the craft beer space, Anheuser-Busch (AB) has to wiggle some.

You have to if you’re a giant square peg facing a board filled with 1,700 tiny holes.

That’s just how it goes for a company — arguably the antithesis of craft — that boasts the Budweiser and Busch families, Natty Ice and not one but three beers inspired by Jimmy Buffett.

Yet, despite its role as the domestic juggernaut and, some say, a primal force stacked against the craft beer industry’s gaining market share and consumer awareness, AB continues to fiddle with craft-like products, assembling a portfolio of more mature styles via internal innovation and external acquisitions. No, we’re not going to delve into the craft vs. crafty debate over ownership being akin to treason. That’s drawn enough ink, warranted or not. And no, AB isn’t amid an identity crisis, like some schlub in his mid-50s juddering anxiously at the local Lexus dealer.

Rather, the suds giant is maintaining its core belief: that most beer drinkers aren’t like those craft worshippers debating the merits of Amarillo, Fuggle and Vanguard hops. With a portfolio that bows somewhat to changing tastes, AB is nevertheless

banking that, at this time, despite the rapid ascent of the craft beer industry, most beer drinkers either don’t know that they own the rights to its highfalutin’ (well, higherthan-usual-falutin’) Goose Island, Shock Top and Stella Artois families, as well as a 32 percent stake and distribution interest in the Craft Brew Alliance (CBA) brand family. And their central argument might just be the implication that even if they are aware of the ownership issues, most beer drinkers don’t yet care.

That’s not to say that AB doesn’t recognize the potential and the trendiness of the craft beer market. It understands that it must also play a part in the segment without mortgaging its base persona and portfolio. It just hasn’t gotten its vaunted marketing department aligned, something that the company acknowledges.

“A lot of beer drinkers don’t know and that is our fault,” said Paul Chibe, AB’s outgoing vice president of U.S. marketing (Chibe is leaving the company in February). “We need to address it and start communicating that story.”

Still, as a global conglomerate, when that craft portfolio is assembled, it’s not a compromise, it’s an extension. It’s not

28 BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

capitulation, it’s proactivity. Bud’s size and scope is what gives it most of its relevance, not its snob appeal.

“I think they’re still a strong player when it comes to having deep pockets, long arms and some great talent,” said Bump Williams, a beer industry expert who once accumulated and analyzed syndicated research data for AB with Nielsen and IRI. Maybe so strong that they’re musclebound.

Williams touted AB’s ability to manage shelf space, analyze market variables and preserve strong leadership.

Yet despite the brewery’s near-infinite resources, AB’s barrel volume has dropped from about 107 million barrels in 2008 to about 99 million barrels in 2012, according to Beer Marketer’s Insights. How does the company square that? Certainly, resources and a deep bench are all well and good, but things are still in decline, which could have dire effects as things erode further.

“What we used to call a mainstream beer drinker is now choosing craft selections through various occasions,” said Tim Schoen, a former AB marketing executive and the founder of Brew Hub, a contract brewing network.

The switch goes beyond just getting something different to drink. The evolution of the craft beer industry bears a cultural shift, especially with younger people who have any interest in knowing what’s what.

“If you’re a 26-year-old guy and know nothing about craft beer,” Schoen said, “that’s like saying you don’t know anything about technology.”

So how does AB need to adapt? Distributors, for one, see the potholes in the road. While Clements said that managing AB has gotten easier in time, she unloaded a laundry list of areas that, to put it lightly, need improvement.

For example, both Williams and Kimberly Clements, the president at Golden Eagle Distributors, Inc., in Tucson, Ariz., praised the talent of Goose Island CEO Andy Goeler, who has held various sales and marketing positions with AB since 1980.

Clements respects not just Goeler, but also the beer and heritage of Goose Island. Since AB acquired the brand in March 2011, she said that the quality hasn’t been marginalized and the staff has mostly remained intact, aside from former CEO John Hall stepping down. But that

doesn’t get the beer distributed or magically create a route to market. This, she said, is a national issue with the brand.

On a local level, for example, she cites the company’s inability to get Goose Island’s most valued offering, Bourbon County Stout, during its highly anticipated annual national rollout.

“There’s no Goose Island plan really,” she said. “There’s lofty volume goals, but there’s really no plan from AB on how to execute those goals.”

Still, AB is trying, Clements acknowledges. She’s read about the brewery’s national marketing plans for Goose Island.

A scheduled print and ad campaign, by Chicago-based VSA partners, features images of Chicago mixed with images of beer ingredients.

For his part, Goeler said that Goose Island has done its best to gradually disrupt markets across the country. Sure, you can find the beers in the country’s metropolitan craft hubs, but you can also find it in Santa Fe, N.M., Boise, Idaho, and Raleigh, N.C. “Chicago obviously is our home market and an important market to us, but we’re well beyond just Chicago,” Goeler said.

“It’s kind of a national challenge.”

However, the coordination of the portfolio extends beyond the borders of Goose Island. Despite AB’s stake in Craft Brew Alliance, she said, AB doesn’t mention the group in meetings.

Instead, at this time, Clements said, rather than CBA, the interest is focused on Shock Top, which she said receives the most attention of AB’s craft-like beers because of its consistent, double-digit growth. In the past few years, AB has released a host of Shock Top styles. And while Shock Top and its six beers may only represent a bridge to cross from the world of light lagers to the forest of craft beers, AB’s strategy continues to assume that the majority of beer drinkers are still moving along that bridge anyway. If it’s true that beer drinkers won’t return to

Shock Top once they’ve learned about the complexities of craft, as Williams believes, it’s AB’s commercial assertion that they’re not there yet.

This stage of the craft beer industry’s life-cycle explains why AB believes that Stella – which it positions as craft, even as an imported product – can compete with other Belgian-style beers, such as Allagash White, despite distinct stylistic differences and its true identity as an import. Williams said that while most beer drinkers know that Stella is owned by AB, it’s not affecting their purchase decisions. Having the leverage to snag thousands of tap handles for the product helps there.

Even with the marketing plans for Goose Island, the focus on Shock Top and the flexibility of Stella, Clements said that AB’s attention will always be on the core brands: Budweiser and, especially, Bud Light. No matter what you’re trying to sell from the craft side, when it comes to AB and the two flagships, it’s always a package deal.

“They can’t afford to take their eye off of the Budweiser brand,” Williams agreed.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 BEVNET MAGAZINE 29

INVITE, EXPLORE, EXPERIMENT. MillerCoors 3-Step Plan for Craft Consumers

By David Eisenberg

When Google chews over the search term “Blue Moon beer,” it spits back more than 46 million results. Serve it Coors Light, and the yield is a little more than 5 million. While those are links enough to turn anyone into Christendom’s foremost Silver Bullet scholar, in the grand scheme of the search engine universe, Blue Moon is a constellation, while Coors Light is merely a star.

But never mind the cloud. Here in the real world, Coors Light is MillerCoors’ flagship, making it one of the most recognized beer brands in the country, outselling Blue Moon Brewing Co.’s darling Belgian White by almost $2 billion.

Blue Moon Brewing Co. is still more a tower than a slouch though, as it carries the flame for MC’s craft and import division Tenth and Blake (T&B). The brewery was already in the midst of a massive growth curve when T&B was founded in 2010 in response to the “constantly evolving and changing” landscape of the craft revolution, according to T&B CEO Tom Cardella. The brand has only continued to grow.

In 2013 the Belgian White raked in $197 million, according to IRI’s multi-outlet retail and convenience channel data (MULC), which is comprised of sales in grocery, drug, club, and other key off-premise sales. That represents 13.6 percent growth in sales against a year ago, accounting for roughly 38 percent of T&B’s overall sales in the category.

Blue Moon’s omnipresence makes it the perfect flagship for MC’s craft strategy, a three-tiered system of its own known as the “beer journey.” The first tier is “invitational.” It has broad appeal and accessibility. It’s the ever-sessionable Belgian Whites, Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandies and Crispin Ciders.

Progressing from there, it delves into “exploration” and onto “experimentation,” where consumers will be faced with bigger, bolder, and badder libations.

“We are the largest player in invitational craft,” said Cardella.

The primary focus of T&B, he said, has been building out those invitational Brands, which in turn will raise interest in the latter phases, a process traceable in the evolution of Blue Moon 30 BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

from its Belgian flagship to the Vintage Ales, Expressionist Collection and on up to its edgier Graffiti line.

In terms of brands, then, T&B’s imports Worthington and St. Stefanus can be found in the “exploration” spectrum. Blue Moon’s siblings in the Graffiti Collection – Pine in the Neck and Tongue Thai-ed – which boast challenging IBUs and higher percentages of ABV than standard domestic offerings, fall under the guise of “experimentation.”

“We’ve done the same thing with Jacob Leinenkugel,” Cardella said of the venerable T&B holding. Leine’s juicy Shandy Seasonal pulled in nearly $76 million in off-premise MULC in 2013, an uptick of more than 2,000 percent versus the year prior as the company expanded the seasonal to the rest of the country, making it another benchmark of the company’s invitational offerings.

Following Blue Moon’s trajectory, Leinenkugel’s Big Eddy series lies in the “experimental” slice of the journey flow. Anchored by the Russian Imperial Stout, the series also includes the Ryewine Ale, Baltic Porter, Wee Heavy Scotch Ale and others.

“Right now we’re primarily in the invitational space,” he added. “Then we sort of make this big leap over to the Big Eddy series. They’re really big, robust beers.”

So how does this positioning jibe with the industry down the ladder? Depends who you ask.

One view is that being “invitational” doesn’t necessarily rub T&B’s back alone. Matt Schulman, co-founder of the newly launched Sarene Craft Beer Distributors in New York, said that new drinkers might start with a MC craft option they see because it’s so familiar and use it as “kind of a steppingstone toward others,” which is good for the industry at large.

“People out there are asking for those specific styles of beer now, that they’d have no idea [about otherwise],” he said. It’s an opinion that has been echoed throughout the industry, including by craft godfather Jim Koch, the founder of Boston Beer.

Yet still, Schulman said Sarene doesn’t plan to carry MillerCoors products, instead opting to focus on more independent enterprises.

But if some see T&B’s portfolio as a steppingstone into craft, detractors hardly view the relationship as symbiotic. They don’t see a school of minnows swimming happily alongside a whale, rather they view T&B as Jaws trying to fit in by wearing a guppy’s propeller hat.

Perhaps the most oft-criticized aspect of T&B’s approach to craft is the rollout of products absent the MillerCoors name.

“I find that there’s a stigma attached to Blue Moon when people find out that it’s MillerCoors,” said Suzanne Schalow, co-owner of Craft Beer Cellar, a craft retailer with multiple locations throughout the east coast. “They work their asses off to keep people from knowing its them.”

Schalow said the company could gain credibility within the craft community with a bit more candor.

“The society we live in is a knowing society,” she said, adding that more and more people care and want to know exactly who brews their beer.

Cardella said this is something that has been discussed within the company quite a bit.

“The way I look at it, consumers, drinkers, basically can get on our websites and everything gets linked together. But at the end of the day, we’ve got assets that have been around a lot longer than most of the industry.”

“In our mind, yeah, there’s a debate. But I’m not really sure if the debate needs to be as robust as everybody allows it to be,” he added.

Whether it’s by cold calculation or comforting consideration, the importance of nomenclature and definition for craft fans hasn’t been lost on the company. Tenth and Blake’s own moniker derives from the 10th Street Brewery in Milwaukee where Leinenkugel is brewed, while Blake refers to Blake Street in Denver, home of The Sandlot, where Blue Moon was born.

Meanwhile, as the company makes investments, T&B has been cognizant of the rules of the craft game. For example, when the company bought up a stake in Terrapin Beer Co. in Athens, GA. in 2011, the sale was for less than 25 percent of the company – so it could remain an independent brewery in accordance with the Brewers Association guidelines.

Whether investments down the road will follow a similar path remains to be seen. In 2012, it was reported that T&B was also showing interest in investing in Boulevard Brewing Co., which has since been purchased by Duvel Moortgat of Belgium. Terrapin founder John Cochran told Brewbound at the time of the reports that T&B had expressed to him “that they are interested in partnering with other craft breweries around the country.”

When pressed for further elaboration of T&B’s process of investing in or purchasing other craft breweries, a spokesman said it wasn’t something the company would be able to discuss, though in a Brewbound story from November of 2012, Cardella said, “We get a lot of phone calls from smaller guys that see us as an opportunity.”

“If it is a model that we think makes sense, we will create partnerships,” he said at the time.

The whole model has seemed to make sense so far. Taken as a

whole, in 2013, T&B enjoyed a 16 percent bump in MULC, bringing in $515 million, up $70 million from the year before. And that’s not even counting on-premise, where Blue Moon has become a massive presence. Meanwhile, as Coors Light celebrated comparatively modest (2.9 percent) growth in the same MULC channels, sales for Miller Lite, Keystone Light and Miller High Life all declined by 3.6, 4.5, and 9 percent, respectively.

The disparity in fortunes for its parent company could eventually drag with it a tightrope for T&B to navigate. The company will continue to pump its craft champions, but should it overreach and be perceived as commonplace the way a Coors Light is, for instance, it could possibly lose some of its luster with its target demographic, who continue to style-hop with abandon.

“There’s always that issue when you reach a certain size,” said Cardella. “You become a bit more ubiquitous.”

Ubiquity, of all things, has been the one characteristic that craft drinkers try to avoid, and that has affected business already.

There are accounts in some major markets that won’t list Blue Moon’s Belgian White as craft, Cardella said, because “they feel it’s too mainstream.”

“It’s a pretty fine line that you sort of have to balance on,” he said.

“At the end of the day, it’s just sort of the way the world works.”

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 BEVNET MAGAZINE 31

BIG BEER, RESTRUCTURED: There’s a shift in the U.S. beer landscape and a new tier of large domestic breweries has emerged.

While America’s beer industry is still largely dominated by Anheuser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors – two international brewing conglomerates that collectively owned about 74 percent of the U.S. volume share in 2012 – a group of six craft breweries and a pair of strengthening premium players are poised to form a new tier of high-volume beer companies.

The continued declines for the “big two” are five years in the making. Beer volumes reached a peak in 2008, when domestic suppliers collectively shipped more than 184 million barrels. By 2012, the number had dipped to 180 million and, through last November, industry-wide shipment volumes were down another 2.6 million barrels.

But a rapidly evolving craft beer category continues to capture additional market share: off-premise sales are up 19 percent, according to IRI, a Chicago-based supplier of brand sales insights.

As those sales have grown, a fast-growing group of “new domestic” breweries that focuses their efforts in the craft segment is continuing to soak up a new generation of beer drinkers. Meanwhile, Pabst and D.G. Yuengling & Son, a pair of brands with deep domestic roots, have also been riding a hot streak through the decade, fueled by the trend among some drinkers to look anywhere but at the big two for their source of libation.

“80 percent of the beer in this country being sold by two companies is a bubble, not the other way around,” said Lagunitas founder Tony Magee. “A market of 250 million requires more than just two suppliers for just about any product.”

So say hello to a selection of eight breweries that BevNET Magazine has identified as the new tier: not as big as Bud or MillerCoors, but plenty potent nonetheless. In addition to Pabst and Yuengling, there’s a sixer of craft brewers, including Boston Beer Company, The Gambrinus Company, Sierra Nevada Brewing, New Belgium Brewing, Craft Brew Alliance, and Lagunitas Brewing on the menu.

What do they have in common? A belief that the shift to craft and the thirst for change in beer consumers hasn’t yet played out – but that they’ve built the resources and market share to be significant entities for the long term. But even if they’ve got our confidence, the road’s not an easy one.

“Some of us would describe our situation as being caught between bigger brewers who have very large budgets and the ear of the distribution channels and very small brewers who are able to play that local card very skillfully,” said Kim Jordan, the cofounder of New Belgium. “The local movement has changed the face of the on-premise landscape pretty significantly.”

32 BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

A Middle Tier of “New Domestic” Brewers Takes Shape

By Chris Furnari

Jordan provided a glimpse into her vision for the future of the group, which, yes, might include some consolidation.

“I would imagine there will be at least a couple that are either part of a larger organization or will have aggregated some breweries underneath of them,” she said. “I would guess that there will be some who have done an amazing job of continuing to be relevant and will be significantly bigger than they are today. And, perhaps one out of them will not be the brand it used to be, but that is the law of the bell curve, right?”

The Gambrinus Company – San Antonio, Tex. Off-premise volumes for Gambrinus were up 9 percent last year thanks to increasing sales and expanded distribution of the company’s lead brand, Shiner Bock – dollar sales for which approached $75 million.

While Gambrinus has a strong lead horse in Shiner – the fourth best-selling craft brand in the country – it also offers retailers a well-differentiated portfolio of brands, including Bridgeport Brewing, Trumer Pils and Italy’s Tappeto Volante. And, if history proves to be an accurate measuring stick, Gambrinus could be on the lookout for potential acquisitions.

Gambrinus purchased the Spoetzl Brewery (makers of Shiner) in 1989, Bridgeport in 1995 and the now defunct Pete’s Brewing Company in 1998.

Boston Beer Company – Boston, Mass.

Boston Beer volumes grew upwards of 20 percent in 2013 thanks to strong performances from the company’s Samuel Adams, Angry Orchard and Twisted Tea brands. Through the first nine months of the year, the company had sold nearly 2.5 million barrels with full-year projections slated to surpass 3 million barrels.

The company’s 2014 capital spending is estimated to be between $140 and $180 million, most of which will continue to address improvements and capacity additions at its brewing facilities in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

While the Samuel Adams flagship, Boston Lager, enjoyed a healthy 11 percent dollar sales growth in MULC last year, Boston Beer will look to expand its presence in an India Pale Ale category that outsold every other craft style in 2013, according to IRI. The company began rolling out its Rebel IPA in January and plans to make selling efforts on the new beer a “primary focus” in 2014.

D.G. Yuengling & Son – Pottsville, Penn.

Despite production volume actually declining 68,000 barrels in 2013, to about 2.7 million barrels, Yuengling is still one of America’s largest breweries

with plenty of room to grow. Its beers are currently only sold in 14 states and the company will enter Massachusetts this March, an important test case in its ability to take new territory.

Yuengling COO Dave Casinnelli said the brewery has plans to capture at least a five share of the Bay State’s beer market during its first nine months of distribution.

“Not since Coors or Corona has a brand come along that will have as much impact as Yuengling will in Massachusetts,” he said. “If we were below a five share, I would tell you that we’d be very disappointed and didn’t do a good enough job of executing our rollout.”

If Yuengling does execute a successful rollout in Mass., Casinnelli said the company will look to expand into other New England territories within the next three years. But Yuengling – which was founded in 1829 – isn’t eager to broaden its reach into all 50 states quite yet.

“The timing is not right to take that risk from our perspective,” he said. “We are okay with what we control but it’s what we can’t control that makes those types of decisions very risky.

Beer volumes are not growing; there is consolidation in the middle tier and a ton of new breweries continue to enter the marketplace. We need to see how things shake out.”

Sierra Nevada Brewing – Chico, Calif.

Sierra Nevada is one of the craft breweries soaking up some of ABI and MillerCoors’ lost barrels. Since 2008, Sierra has added more than 300,000 barrels and a second production facility, in North Carolina, could be functional before the end of the quarter.

As Sierra has matured – it now has more than 600 employees – so have its business habits. Founder Ken Grossman said the company continues to put additional focus into supporting its industry partners.

“We are always looking at our business practices and getting outside groups to pay attention to our brands throughout the whole supply and distribution chain,” he said.

Grossman is bullish on craft’s growth. He envisions the country’s more than 2,700 craft brewers capturing upwards of 20 percent market share in the next five years. And while he admitted that breweries in the group of six stand to benefit the most from A-B InBev and MillerCoors losses, he was quick to point out that collectively, they are still smaller than one of ABI’s production facilities.

New Belgium Brewing – Fort Collins, Colo.

Like Grossman, New Belgium’s Kim Jordan is also bullish on craft beer’s potential to continue capturing additional market share.

“The one thing that I feel pretty certain of is that craft and variety as a mindset that is here to stay,” she said.

With 14 states left untapped, New Belgium certainly has room to grow, but there are challenges. One of Jordan’s worries is her ability to compete against smaller, local operations that are capturing the attention of many bar and restaurant owners. But not all of those companies will stay in business.

“I suspect there will be a rationalizing at some point,” she said.

“For us bigger brewers, we have enough infrastructure, practice wisdom and size to be able to weather some amount of uncertainty.”

Pabst Brewing Co. – Los Angeles, Calif.

The Pabst revival continues, with the brand selling nearly $500 million off-premise last year and a steady presence in bars. After a few hiccups under new owner Dean Metropoulos, who bought the brewery from a nonprofit trust in 2010, PBR sales grew about 10 percent last year, the fifth year in a row that its sales growth has far outpaced the core brands of the big two.

Yes, the brand is brewed under contract with MillerCoors – but with High Life, Lite, and Natural Light all in sharp decline, having a solid contract customer probably isn’t a bad business move for the big guys. And with a deep bench of legacy brands under license – including Old Style, Olympia, Schlitz and Rainier – the company has the potential to make what’s old new again, over and over.

Craft Brew Alliance – Portland, Ore. One company that has benefited from a surge in demand for craft beer is Craft Brew Alliance (CBA), which is actually 32.2 percent owned by A-B InBev and has access to its national distribution network.

CBA – which makes and markets the Widmer Brothers, Kona, and Redhook primarily – rolled out 724,000 barrels in 2012 and, through the third quarter of 2013, depletions were up 11 percent. Andy Thomas, the company’s CEO, believes CBA’s occasion-based approach to the segment has helped it capture the attention of many crossover drinkers.

But in order for CBA to capture more occasions and take additional share, Thomas said it will need to continue to improve its customer service.

“If we are trying to compete with them (ABI and MillerCoors) for their space, we have to be able to call on accounts with as much professionalism and success as they can,” he said. “We restructured our management team to make sure we are suited for any potential market change. We are going to try to make sure that our marketing is as good as it can be and that that our supply chain and brewing footprint gets more efficient.”

Lagunitas Brewing – Petaluma, Calif.

Lagunitas is hot: Production volumes grew by 70 percent in 2014, to over 400,000 barrels, with more than half of that volume cames from the brewery’s flagship IPA. While a flood of new category entrants – many of whom produce their own versions of the popular hop-forward IPA style – threaten to erode Lagunitas’ dominance in the category, Tony Magee is trying his best to allow the brand to ride its hot hand: Lagunitas will produce the first batch of beer at its secondary brewing facility in Chicago later this month, in a 300,000 sq. ft., $20-million space that will eventually be capable of producing more than 1 million barrels of its own.

To Magee, it’s a glimpse of the future. He envisions a category with more evenly distributed market share and “maybe a dozen” craft breweries each be producing more than a million barrels annually. Hey, that leaves room for four more.

“The train has left the station,” he said. “It is far to early to predict, but the people that seem to be in the catbird seat are the ones driving the industry forward.”

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 BEVNET MAGAZINE 33

It starts in November and for all we know it’s still going on – the annual “Airing of the Predictions.”

We thought we’d share some of the best ones we’ve gotten – and some of the best ones we’ve solicited from our own team. Ready? There’s probably enough to get you through 2014 – and on to 2024.

From Our Experts Jack Brennan, GBS Growth Partners After a few slow years in the beverage industry, M&A Activity and Innovation will start to pick up again in 2014. Several brands/companies have had to go it on their own (and they’re better off for it) and have been successful hurdling critical growth milestones last couple of years. Consumer Confidence is improving and a bit more predictable. Re. Innovations…look for new brands utilizing new sweeteners; effective anti – aging beverages. All good news for Bevnet and GBS as there will be an increase in new product launches.

Greg Steltenpohl, Califia Farms There’s not much to predict except the continued ‘Balkanization/

34 BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

Craftification’ of the field. Capital is coming in faster now, so will drive the innovation even faster, but that also mean less patience for concepts that don’t take off.

Also, certain key products that were ‘innovative commodity concepts’ are now becoming base ingredients at a faster clip (like Tangerine Juice and Almond Milk for us) but also Coconut Water, Cold Brewed Teas, Cold Brewed Coffee, etc.

Jim Tonkin, Healthy Brand Builders “Distribution (DSD) will continue to tighten and make it more difficult for small/medium brands to develop meaningful penetration at retail, forcing a more Direct-to-Store pathway, also stretching the capabilities of the retailer internal fulfillment options”

From the Flavor Houses Fermenich has declared it the year of the BLACKBERRY, calling it the “flavor of the year” for its mix of antioxidants and nutrients and a flavor profile that includes jamminess, ripeness, sweetness, acidity, juiciness, spice and seediness.

Meanwhile, Sensient sent us a Dozen…

• Balsamic Fig – A harmonious blend of full-flavored figs and aged dark balsamic vinegar. Neither too sweet nor too tart,

it is a mellow combination that elevates the sensory experience when added to a variety of other flavors and works well in myriad formats.(Key micro-tend: Taste Plus*) • Burnt Calamansi – A hybrid of a kumquat and mandarin orange, Burnt Calamansi is the next generation of citrus flavors. A unique citrus profile similar to a sour orange or a slightly sweeter lime with caramelized notes, with a fragrance to match.

(Key micro-tend: Sophistication) • Fernet – An aromatic spirit or bitter containing myrrh, chamomile, cardamom, aloe and saffron. A difestif popular in Italy, Fernet is flavored with lengthy, and often secret, lists of spices, roots and herbs. (Key micro-tend: Regional) • Ginger Plum – A juicy, sweet and tart plum with a touch of spice from ginger that delivers multiple sensory experiences.

(Key micro-tend: Taste Plus) • Gochujang – Described as “the new Siracha sauce,” Gochujang is a savory and pungent fermented Korean condiment made from red chili, rice, fermented soybeans and salt. (Key micro-tend: Bragging Rights) • Green Coconut – Green (young) coconut gained its initial recognition in the U.S. from the rise of popularity of coconut water, which stemmed from the claim of its superiority over traditional sports drinks. (Key micro-tend: Lifestyle Management) • Guasaca – A Venezuelan avocado sauce, many have likened it to guacamole, but with a refreshing difference in flavor profile due to the addition of bright, fresh parsley notes.

(Key micro-tend: Regional) • Juniper Berries – Consumers long for the decadence of an expertly mixed cocktail in its proper type of glass. Gin, primarily flavored with Juniper berries, invokes a feeling of that elegant past era. (Key micro-tend: Nostalgic) • Rhubarb – With antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, rhubarb helps boost the immune system and fight off disease. (Key micro-tend: Lifestyle Management) • Ros el Hanout – Its name in Arabic means “top of the shop,” or the best spices the merchant had to offer. Typically including cardamom, clove, cinnamon, chili peppers, coriander, cumin, peppercorn, paprika, fenugreek and turmeric, Ros el Hanout brings the flavors and culture of Morocco to consumers’ doorsteps. (Key micro-tend: Regional) • Tayberry – A cross between a blackberry and a red raspberry, tayberries are rich in vitamins and antioxidants and are a welcome addition for the health-conscious consumer. (Key micro-tend: Lifestyle Management) • Willamette Hop – Used primarily as a flavoring and stability agent, hops impart a bitter, tangy flavor in beer, and increasingly, in confections and other unexpected food products. (Key micro-tend: Bragging Rights)

From the Dietitians These folks who fight weight gain weighed in with 14 trends, but the keys for the beverage business are the following: • Ancient Grains • Kale, coconut, and chia seeds • “Health” as a top priority • Celebrity Influence – can’t beat the TV doctors • Healthy by Comparison – consumers look to friends and family • Reliance on nutrition and health bloggers • More Fruits and Vegetables

From the Spirit World Meanwhile, Hanna Lee Communications came up with a cocktails and spirits forecast – our prediction is that it annoyed the dietitians a lot – by hiring spirits expert Noah Rothbaum.

Here’s what he offered: • Locavore Tippling • Vodka, influenced by the Sochi Olympics • Cachaca, influenced by the World Cup in Brazil • Festivals devoted to cocktails • High-Tech elements like liquid nitrogen or lasers in professional bartending • Bourbon and Rye • More “To-Go” or RTD Cocktails • A larger push for flavored spirits • Whiskeys that are “Scotch-Like” but don’t come from Scotland • Vintage Spirits that are bought at auction or from collectors • Simpler, classic cocktails rather than multi-ingredient craziness • Overproof spirits • Sipping Rum and Tequila • Price Hikes for cocktails and liquor, but some bargains at the clear spirits end

From inside the Box (Or Bottle) Finally, on the packaging front, Evergreen Packaging has come up with some key insight for attracting “Eco-Aware Moms” – a growing constituency.

For this important group – which represents nearly $2 trillion in purchasing power, according to Evergreen, these are the keys: • They will switch brands based on packaging alone • Packaging influences Brand Reputations for eco-friendliness • They see a strong correlation between personal and environmental health • They like to see eco-aware messages on the package.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 BEVNET MAGAZINE 35

TRADESHOW PREVIEW

WHAT Natural Products Expo West

NATURAL PRODUCTS EXPO WEST · ANAHEIM, CA

WHERE Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, CA

WHEN March 6 – 9 Floor Hours Friday, March 7 10:00 am – 6:00 pm Saturday, March 8 10:00 am – 6:00 pm Sunday, March 9 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

WHO Over 60,000 industry professionals and 3,000 exhibits

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS Dr. Andrew Weil Walter Robb, Co-CEO Whole Foods Market Friday, March 7 Raj Patel Food Policy Expert, Journalist and Author Saturday, March 8

ALPHABETICAL ATTENDEE LIST COMPANY

BOOTH

COMPANY

BOOTH

1907 New Zealand Artesian Water

5492

Blue Monkey

AbaFoods Srl Isola Bio Organic Drink

4374

Acai Roots

5964

Activate Drinks

4579

Agavella LLC

5952

Aiya America

517

Cal Naturale

3033, 4156

Aiya America

2596

Califia Farms

Allen Flavors Inc.

207

California Hi Lites Inc.

ALO Drink by SPI West Port, Inc.

4571

Caliwater

Aloecorp, Inc.

626

Alpha Packaging

217

Amax NutraSource, Inc. American Fruits & Flavors Amerilab Technologies, Inc.

COMPANY

BOOTH

3890

Epicurex LLC

7002

Blue Pacific Flavors

656

Erie Foods International, Inc.

Brands Within Reach LLC

5322

Evolution Fresh

4832, 4831

Bruce Cost Ginger Ale

2799A

Fair Trade USA

2781

Bucha Live Kombucha

5236

Fairlife, LLC

6109

FaVe Juice Company

5234

5683

FitPro Real Milk Protein

5281

5184

Florida Food Products, Inc.

242

4488

Food For Health International

282

Cargill

334

Fresh Matters, LLC

5572

Castle Rock Water

5018

Ganeden Biotech, Inc.

450

213

Century Foods International

1568

GELITA

230

2277

Cepham Inc.

248

Glanbia Nutritionals

641

735

Ceres Fruit Juice

4154

GLG Life Tech Corporation

283

AQUAhydrate

4570

Chemi Nutra

456

Global Organics, Ltd.

2420

Argo Tea

4679

Cheribundi

4811

GMP Laboratories of America, Inc.

329

Avafina Commodities Inc.

2706

Chia\Vie

5767

GNT USA, Inc.

464

Avitae Caffeinated Water

8212

Ciranda, Inc.

343

Golazo

5333

Coco Libre

5689

Good Karma Beverage, Inc.

5443

3481

Good Karma Foods

5456

GoodBelly by NextFoods

3974

165

Bai Brands, LLC

2898A

Balance Water

5253

ColorMaker, Inc

Bhakti Chai

5135

Crystal Vision Packaging

2598A

Bio-K Plus International Inc.

1262

Dairy Farmers of America

1790

Green Shoots

4725

Bioenergy Life Science, Inc.

317

DMA

655

Guayaki Yerba Mate

2527

Bionaturae/ Jovial Foods

2616

Dr. Smoothie Brands

1396

GURU Energy

2135

BioNeutra Inc.

349

Dream Water

5717

Hain Celestial Group, The

2536

BioVittoria USA

224

drinkme Beverage Co.

5428

Hansen’s Natural

2250

Black Bear Energy, LLC

1279

DSM Nutritional Products

320

Harmless Harvest Inc.

5457

Blk Beverages

4470

Eden Foods

2342

Hawaiian Springs Natural Artesian Water

1985

Blue California Co.

520

Elite Naturel/Organic Juice USA

2479

Healthee Organic Turmeric Drink

2274

Blue Diamond Growers

3568

Engredea

136

Healthy Brands Collective

3790

36 BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

TRADESHOW PREVIEW COMPANY

BOOTH

COMPANY

BOOTH

COMPANY

BOOTH

Herbal Water/Ayala’s Herbal Water

2231

Nutragenesis

354

Third Street, Inc.

4178

Hiball

4810

NUUN & U Natural Hydration

1266

Thirsty Buddha Coconut Water

5192

High Country Kombucha

4716

Oat Tech, Inc.

556

True Toniqs or Brain Toniq

5366

Hilmar Ingredients

256

Oatworks

5198

Uncle Matt’s Organic, Inc.

2315

Hint, Inc

1679

Odwalla, Inc.

3638

Vegetable Juices, Inc.

105

Horner International

629

OJO Fortified Eye Care Nectar

2298

Veri Soda Company

5348

Improve USA, Inc.

558

OMG Blends

6202

Vita Coco

2546

Ingredion Incorporated

204

Orgain, Inc.

2909

VOSS of Norway ASA (VOSS WATER)

5451

InnoVactiv Inc.

393

Penta Water LLC

2288

Wai Koko Coconut Water

5294

Innovative Flexpak

1960

PHYTOCHEM INTERNATIONAL, INC.

551

WhiteWave Foods

3438

it Tastes RAAW Juices

5388

PL Thomas & Co., Inc.

350

WILD Flavors, Inc.

3988

ITO EN (North America), Inc.

3874

POM Wonderful

3981

Xing Tea-Aspen Pure

5139

Jel Sert Company

1591

Powder Pure

489

Xiomega3, LLC

5362

Jiaherb, Inc

606

ProSweetz Ingredients

183

Yakult USA

4578

JK Sucralose Inc.

144

Pulse Beverage Corporation

7202

Zend

682

Johanna Foods/Beverage

7322

Pyure Brands LLC

5283

Zenify

5598

Kaeng Raeng

775

Q Drinks

5670

Zevia LLC

4168

Zola

2414

Karma Wellness Water

6413, 8117

Rob’s Really Good

8112

Kate Farms

4837

Rooibee Red Tea

2719, 7209

Kefiplant

455

Runa LLC

1905

Rushmore Superfoods

1273

Sabinsa Corporation

310

Sambazon

2504

Scheckter’s Organic Beverages INC

5551

Sensient Flavors & Fragrances Group

388

KeVita Sparkling Probiotic Superdrink Kombucha Wonder Drink KSM-66 Rejuvenation & Stress-Relief Center

5447 2824 504

Kyowa Hakko USA

126

Silk

3438

La Croix Sparkling Water

5417

Simply Orange

2944

Lakewood Organic Juice Company

2232

Smart Juices LLC

2418

Layn USA

525

Sneaky Pete’s Beverage

5006

LiquaDry

179

Sneakz Organic

6212

LycoRed Corp.

156

Sonoma Cider

5553

Malt Products Corporation

646

Spindrift Beverages

8530

Mamma Chia

1912

Steaz

2312

Marley Beverage Company

5183

Stiebs

1986

Maui and Sons Coconut Water

6616

Suan Farma Inc.

380

MetaBrand Corp LLC

5279

Suja Juice

5534

Milne Fruit Products, Inc.

476

SunOpta Inc.

2350

Mountain Valley Spring Co.

8413

SVZ-USA, Inc

274

Naked Juice

3956, 4056

Sweet Leaf Tea

1380

Natreon, Inc.

194

SweetLeaf Stevia Sweetener

2721

Naturex Inc.

438

Taiyo International

288

NEO

812

Taste Nirvana Int’l Inc.

5111

Nika Water

5252

Tate & Lyle

363

NP Nutra

201

TEAloe by Gourmetti Brands

5433

NSF International

538

Techno Food Ingredients Co. Ltd

386

Numi Organic Tea

2426

The Ginger People

4821

BEVNET COVERAGE OF NATURAL PRODUCTS EXPO WEST SPONSORED BY:

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 BEVNET MAGAZINE 37

Whereas added functionality -- often in the form of energy or health and wellness benefits -- has been a key driver of innovation over the past decade, 2013 represented a turning point for the beverage industry in which the most dynamic new brands highlighted natural functionality and flavors.

And for the 16 winners of BevNET’s Best of 2013 awards, it wasn’t so much about what was added, it was about presenting beverages in their most natural form, particularly as consumers pay greater attention to total calories, and grow more wary of artificial ingredients, sweeteners.

From BevNET’s perspective, the majority of significant and disruptive innovation came from natural beverage categories, with cold-pressed juices, coconut water and kombucha drinks representing many of the most visible new product introductions that we saw in 2013. And while the beverage industry saw a boom in the number of Sparkling ICE-style product launches, there was little true or sustainable innovation in the market for zero-calorie, artificially sweetened, carbonated waters.

With a spate of innovative, polished and well-executed products launching in 2013, judging this year’s BevNET’s Best of was perhaps the toughest task we’ve had in the 11 years of awards. Nevertheless, we are pleased to present what we believe are the top new brands in the beverage industry, and on a path to lead their respective categories for years to come.

Person of the Year Kevin Klock, CEO, Talking Rain

positioned to maintain its growth in new channels. The temptation with a fastgrowing brand can be to get cocky, but Klock has been humble about the company’s past mistakes and has let the brand realize its potential without overthrowing its coverage. Rather than focus on the philosophical and psychographic reasons consumers want the brand, he’s been working hard at making sure it’s easily within reach, with a new set of flavors to try when they grab for it.

Product of the Year Suja

There’s a time to innovate and a time to execute, and there’s also a time when you can combine the two. In the midst of Sparkling ICE’s third year of enormous year-over-year growth, Talking Rain CEO Kevin Klock, BevNET’s Person of the Year for 2013, has managed to do both. On the execution side, his sales team pushed the brand to realize its full potential in the supermarket channel, creating a set of focused goals that allowed the company to grow without creating extra distraction. In the meantime, the focused sales effort at the front allowed the brand to strategize on the back end, not just shipping product to its energized distributors, but bringing those into the discussion of how Sparkling ICE can be

38 BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

2013 was a big year for Suja. Establishing itself as the independent “flavor” of the HPP juice set, Suja forged a middle path between the cleanse focus of some brands and the more traditional juice orientation of others. More than any other product, Suja has redefined the RTD juice concept as beyond fruit or vegetable agnosticism, creating a next generation mix that incorporates on trend spices and extracts. With flavors that pop rather than meld, Suja has paved the runway to bring consumers into the next generation of natural functionality. As a company, Suja has run like crazy to support the brand in its core channel while building the sales, marketing and production infrastructure that can allow it to follow through. Congratulations to Suja, BevNET’s Product of the Year for 2013.

Best Functional Beverage Health-Ade

with tasteless Australian flower essences, seamlessly melds refreshment, purity and functionality. Packaged in cleanly designed PET bottles, the brand has positioned itself for wide consumer appeal and one that could easily fit into a range of retail channels.

Best Energy Drink of Shot Monster Zero Ultra

Health-Ade is the winner of BevNET’s award for the Best Functional Beverage of 2013. Launched in 2012, the small-batch kombucha drinks, which are marketed as “bubbly probiotic teas,” are, in our opinion, some of the best-executed kombucha products on the market. Packaged in amber-colored, apothecary-style bottles, the beverages are made from green and black tea, cold-pressed, naturally fermented fruit, and organic cane sugar. With game-changing potential in flavor and packaging, Health-Ade could open the door for a seismic shift in what consumers expect from the kombucha category.

Best Enhanced Water Balance Water

In a year that saw a dramatic increase in demand for zero-calorie energy drinks, Monster Zero Ultra leaned on a wellconceived formulation and striking branding to distinguish itself from a range of competing products, catapulting it to the award of BevNET’s Best Energy Drink or Shot of 2013. Formulated with Monster’s bevy of energy ingredients and sweetened with erythritol and sucralose, the product is packaged in a sleek-looking white can with textured graphics, each of which helped Zero Ultra stand out on store shelves, and, ultimately, launch a new line of standout beverages for the company.

Best Smoothie or Meal Replacement

Suja Elements

Best Tea or Tea Based Harmless Harvest 100% Raw Tea There were a number of impressive entries in the ready-to-drink tea category this year; however, nothing shined quite as bright as Harmless Harvest’s 100% Raw Tea, the winner of BevNET’s Best of 2013 award for Best Tea or Tea-Based beverage. First put on display at the Natural Products Expo West show in March, the three-SKU line of drinks defines true innovation: organic tea leaves from Japan are flash-frozen upon harvest and then pulverized and cold-brewed. The beverage is filled into 10 oz. plastic bottle and, like Harmless Harvest’s coconut water products, high pressure processed in order to keep the liquid in a “raw” state without the use of added heat. The result is a product that is bold, dynamic and exceptional, a description just as apt for the company itself.

Best Non-Carbonated Beverage Califia Farms Almond Milk In the ever-evolving and often muddled category of enhanced waters, Balance Water has emerged as a brand that offers clarity, focus and easily understood functional benefits. As BevNET’s winner of the Best Enhanced Water of 2013, Balance, a line of water products infused

Formulated with non-GMO ingredients, the dairy- and soy-free line of almond drinks comes with branding that feels fresh and unique. Packaged in a proprietary and beautifully-designed 48 oz. carafe-style bottle that is both extremely polished and appealing, Califia’s wellexecuted approach brought new -- and much needed -- life into both the dairy and dairy alternative categories.

In a year in which almond milk has enjoyed dynamic and sustained growth among competing dairy-alternative beverages, Califia Farms Almond Milk is the stand-out brand within the emerging category, and the winner of BevNET’s Best Non-Carbonated Beverage of 2013.

Suja Elements is the winner of BevNET’s award for the Best Smoothie or Meal Replacement beverage of 2013. Suja’s secondary line of cold-pressed juices provided a look at what retailers and suppliers can do when they focus on what an innovation is and where they want to build a market behind it. With national distribution coming quickly in Whole Foods, there was a limited amount of time for the brand to extend its platform to incorporate a lowerpriced product line into its DNA. With Elements, Suja has declared that the momentum and consumer interest in its most expensive product lines will be enough to energize two groups of consumers: those standing at the threshold of its high-end line, looking for an introduction in a simpler format, and those who are looking to step up from the older, more established brands that once defined the high end of the juice category. By inserting another point of separation that pushes its original product line two tiers above that old high end, Suja has extended both its reach and its ability to get consumer feedback from an extra product line – at a time when other juice companies are still trying to get to the starting blocks.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 BEVNET MAGAZINE 39

Best Coffee or Coffee-Based Coco Café For the second year in a row, Coco Cafe is the winner of BevNET’s award for the Best Coffee or Coffee-based beverage.

Already revered for its exceptional blend of coconut water, espresso and milk, the Vita Coco-owned brand added Vanilla and Mocha varieties earlier this year. The new flavors are even tastier than the original product, with formulations that stand out as memorable and unique against any competing coffee drinks. And with Coco Cafe’s 11.1 oz. Tetra Pak getting a Dreamcap top (and some spiffy new graphics), you’ve got some of the best RTD coffee beverages that we’ve ever come across.

Best Packaging Design FOUND Beverages

Formulated with matcha (powdered green tea), agave, honey, lemon juice and apple cider vinegar, the company’s approach to a green tea beverage is both innovative and refreshing. Packaged in a 12 oz. green glass bottle with sleek, striking branding, Motto’s first year has already established a long runway for growth.

Best Carbonated Beverage Motto BevNET’s Best of 2013 award for the best carbonated beverage goes to Motto.

A first-of-its-kind sparkling matcha drink, Motto earned considerable praise and recognition this year as the winner of BevNET’s New Beverage Showdown 5.

Best Juice or Juice-Based Project Fresh

Best Mix, Concentrate or Powder Chameleon Cold Brew In a Best of category with a wide range of potential winners, Chameleon Cold Brew’s line of cold-brewed coffee concentrates emerged as the top brand, buoyed by an extremely high level of quality and brand execution among competing mix-to drink products. This year, the company launched two new flavors that, like its flagship product, use organic and Fair Trade certified beans. Along with the primary product, the new varieties, each made with Indonesian-sourced coffee beans, have developed a following -- particularly among coffee aficionados -- like few bottled coffee products we have seen. Moreover, Chameleon introduced a level of quality and flavor previously unseen by past and current generations of coffee consumers.

Best Product Revamp Live Kombucha Soda

The Australian brand of juices and sparkling waters made its U.S. debut this year and gained immediate attention for its sleek, proprietary glass bottle. Attractive and chic, the 11.2 oz. package is polished to the point where it’s the most compelling part of the product -- and one that easily stands out on a shelf set. Additionally, the “FOUND” brand feels modern and hip, a critical point of differentiation within a cluttered market for juice and water.

design than a traditional drink box, Vita Coco has been able to create a package that is clean, uncluttered and appealing to both children and parents.

Formerly known as Live Soda, the line of fizzy kombucha drinks underwent a significant rebranding this year. The new look, which includes a updated logo, label and crown, gives the line a brighter and more polished look than the previous iteration, resulting in a overall design with much broader appeal. Moreover, adding the word “kombucha” to the brand name gives it greater visibility and awareness among natural consumers, and will undoubtedly benefit growth of the products within health and wellness retailers.

Best Packaging Innovation Vita Coco Kids The first product in North America to use Tetra Pak’s Tetra Wedge Aseptic carton, Vita Coco Kids is the winner of BevNET’s award for the Best Packaging Innovation of 2013. The 6 oz. wedgeshaped package is attractive, functional and, in our opinion, represents a significant upgrade over juice boxes and pouches. And with more room for visual

40 BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

In a breakout year for cold-pressed (and, more recently, high pressure processed) RTD juices, Project Fresh stood out among dozens of new entrants into the emerging segment. The New Haven, Conn.-based brand “micro-mills” and cold-presses whole, raw, organic fruits and vegetables into a well-executed blend of juice and pulp that offers significant and welcome differentiation from competing brands. Moreover, the 15.2 oz. proprietary bottle is unique-looking and is certainly a new and refreshing look from the oftenused standard and stock PET containers.

And despite being marketed as “craft cleanses,” for us, Project Fresh has miles of runway as a juice brand with anytime, nutritious and thirst-quenching appeal.

Best Marketing Campaign “Drink Up” It’s always exciting when government and industry are able to pull together for a good cause and this one is hard to argue with: a charismatic First Lady, a product category that continues to grow, and a simple, non-critical message made for an exceptionally crisp campaign.

While it’s not going to win much favor from some corners of the industry, the fact that there’s a message geared toward consumption rather than reduction, and one that elevated the profile of so many entrepreneurial companies, should be considered a big win all the way around.

With VeeV you can create ®

an all-natural

twist

on old classics, exotic concoctions and new meaning to the phrase

“

“shaken not stirred.

The original a�aí aí spirit. ®

all-natural. açaí. 60 calories. amazing taste.

VeeV® mixes like a vodka but with a smoother finish. Made with all-natural, premium ingredients, the refreshing taste of VeeV® enhances any of your classic cocktails and mixes perfectly with fresh fruits to elevate your cocktail menu.

Discover what has made VeeV® a best-selling cocktail on menus around the country at abetterwaytodrink.com.

DRINK BETTER. DRINK RESPONSIBLY.

©2013 VEEV® 30% ACL/VOL (60 PROOF). PRODUCED & BOTTLED FOR VEEV SPIRITS, LOS ANGELES, CA

A. Holliday & Company Inc.

CATEGORIES: Ingredients ATTRIBUTES: Fair Trade, Kosher, Organic For over 38 years, we have been supplying various bulk teas (extracts & leaf), coffees (extracts), antioxidants, herbal & superfruit extracts, certified organic products, natural caffeine from tea or coffee, polyphenols, EGCG, Rooibos and our newest product, Coconut Water Powder.

Affinity Creative Group

Allen Flavors, Inc.

CATEGORIES: Flavors, Ingredients, Laboratory Allen Flavors, Inc. is a family owned company supplying beverage formulation services, flavors, tea and coffee (and their extracts) to hundreds of beverage brands, dairies, bottlers and coffee roasters all over the world since 1991. Our concept to marketplace service is unsurpassed.

CATEGORIES: Accounting With a diverse staff of approximately 350, Anchin is an accounting and advisory firm with a dedicated practice to the beverage industry. We provide advisory services tailored to your needs, including tax planning and compliance; tax credits and incentives; and, management and succession.

Ampac

Arcadia Farms, Inc.

CATEGORIES: Graphics & Design We are a strategic full-service design, packaging, logo development and branding agency specializing in beverage category.

The marketplace is crowded, and the competition is unrelenting. You get one chance to make the right impression with a new package. Let us help you make the right choice!

CATEGORIES: Packaging & labels ATTRIBUTES: Private label available Ampac drives packaging transformation and performance by strategically creating packages that are more innovative, progressive and dynamic. Our comprehensive approach to packaging is a balance of rigorous, technologydriven thinking and exceptional creativity.

AIDP, Inc.

Aptar Food + Beverage

CATEGORIES: Ingredients AIDP Inc. is a leader in functional ingredients with access to the newest solutions for healthy aging and formulation challenges. AIDP is the exclusive supplier of Magtein™ for cognitive health, and enVantec vitamins provide superior stability and solubility. Other ingredients include a high quality rice protein and beverage grade collagen.

Anchin, Block & Anchin LLP

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning, Product Development ATTRIBUTES: Kosher, Private label available, Woman owned Arcadia Farms is a bottler of branded, licensed, and private label beverages. Beverages include 100% juices, blended juices, RTD Teas, lemonades, hydration drinks, fruit flavored punches/drinks. All beverages are packaged in plastic bottles (HDPE, PET). Single serve, multi-pack, multi-serve sizes.

CATEGORIES: Caps/Closures Today’s world is fast, mobile, and constantly changing. To keep pace with the change, product packaging must progress just as quickly. At Aptar food + beverage we believe that packaging must go far beyond fulfilling basic needs.

ALeco Container LLC

Packaging should improve consumers’ lives by creating pleasure, delivering functionality, and reinforcing safety. Our innovative products deliver these beliefs.

Artiste

CATEGORIES: Ingredients ATTRIBUTES: Kosher, Organic Artiste is a supplier of natural flavor ingredients including citrus products, mint oils, extracts and distillates (tea, coffee, cocoa, chocolate, vanilla), FTNF fruit flavors, natural aroma chemicals and a select group of botanical extracts. We also offer a wide range of liquid and powdered flavors

Aseptic Solutions USA

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning We offer uncompromised quality. Our full service facility offers flavor chemistry, product development, ingredient sourcing, & aseptic manufacturing technology that retain the natural nutrients, taste and color of your product while extending its shelf life, preservative free.

Avure Technologies Incorporated - HPP

CATEGORIES: Manufacturing Equipment Produce safe, clean label, higherquality foods and beverages with Avure HPP systems. High Pressure Processing (HPP) enables you to cold pasteurize your products (no heat or chemicals) making a better product for your customers. Follow us on: twitter.com/avureHPP Barrington Nutritionals

Our company possesses over a half century of experience in different market fields to solve dispensing challenges that allow everyday life to be easier for people around the globe.

CATEGORIES: Packaging & labels Evolution ALUMINUM Bottles - Sleek meets Sustainable! Get noticed on shelf with lightweight, digitally printed, ~80% recycled aluminum bottles, designed to run on glass fillers. 1 pallet minimum. Proudly made in Colorado, USA by ALeco Container, a craft manufacturer designed around craft brewers.

Operating from 50 facilities, in 19 countries, our dedicated employees can provide proprietary knowledge, technical expertise, and a broad product range of dispensing solutions.

44 BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

CATEGORIES: Ingredients Barrington Nutritionals has been a trusted ingredient supplier to the beverage industry for over 20 years because of our commitment to quality & service. We recruit the finest talent, partner with superior manufacturers in the industry & accept only top of the line ingredients.

AZPACK Bottling & Canning

BevNET Food & Beverage University

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning FULLY AUTOMATED BOTTLING & CANNING LINES

CATEGORIES: Education & Training

STATE-OF-THE-ART 240,000 SQF FACILITY

BevNET FBU is an on-demand, video-based learning tool designed for entrepreneurs and newcomers to the food and beverage industry. Featuring a lineup of resources and media geared towards early-stage professionals, BevNET FBU covers a wide range of vital and relevant topics, including flavors, packaging, financing strategies and investment, legal considerations, and marketing and branding. Users will be able to get rapidly immersed in everything they’ll need to know about the food and beverage industry.

400,000-BOTTLE DAILY CAPACITY SHELF-STABLE, HIGH-ACID BEVERAGES 1 MILLION CAN DAILY CAPACITY TUNNEL PASTEURIZED HOT FILL OR COLD FILL PRESERVED SIZES 5.5 oz., 7.5 oz., 8 oz., 8.4 oz., 12 oz., 12 oz. SLEEK & 16 oz.

Bedford ElastiTag

CATEGORIES: Packaging & labels, POS; POP; & Merchandising ElastiTag creates shelf impact by engaging the consumer. This ultimate hang tag has an elastomer loop that stays in place during shipping, grips products, and is a versatile promotional tool. Used for enhancing brand identity, coupons, cross-merchandising, and product launches.

Berlin Packaging

CATEGORIES: Caps/Closures, Packaging & labels Premier supplier of plastic, glass, and metal containers and closures.

We supply billions of items annually along with package design, financing, consulting, warehousing, and logistics services for customers in the beverage industry and beyond.

Beverage Business Institute, Colorado State University

CATEGORIES: Education & Training The Beverage Business Institute (BBI) provides education/training and research in all of the business subdisciplines relevant to the operations of breweries and distributorships.

Participants can earn a Certificate in Beverage Business Management by attending the quarterly workshops.

Beverage House

CATEGORIES: Ingredients, Product Development ATTRIBUTES: Fair Trade, Kosher, Organic, Private label available Beverage House has pioneered the development and production of authentic tea concentrates since 1984.

We produce a wide range of premium beverage concentrates under private label. We offer turn-key solutions from ideation through production and are an FDA approved processor and GFSI certified.

BevNET FBU includes access hundreds of unique videos spanning dozens of hours of footage. The ever-growing library of content will consist of interviews with over 40 industry experts, as well as complete footage from BevNET’s live conferences and events, as well as a new series of live events buttressing the information on the video platform. Subscribers to BevNET FBU will be able to access the video library as frequently as they wish, as long as their subscriptions remain current. Monthly plans will start at $49 per user, with no contracts required.

Blue Beverage Group

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning ATTRIBUTES: Diversity owned, Export ready, Fair Trade, Kosher, Private label available Blue Beverage Group is a private label and co-pack manufacturer of postclosure, retort processed products. The company has garnered critical acclaim by specializing in dairy-based beverages, low-acid sauces, bottling and retort applications, and product evaluation. Boasting a reputation as one of the few full-service plants in North America utilizing modern retort technology, Blue Beverage Group can easily accommodate needs of clients seeking shelf-stable products and multiple bottling options.

Our 280,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility is capable of filling up to 400 glass, aluminum or plastic containers per minute. Blue Beverage Group has the capacity to handle manufacturing, storage, and distribution from its headquarters situated in the lower Hudson Valley.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 BEVNET MAGAZINE 45

BevForce

Bob Brown's Sales Systems Development

Celanese Food Ingredients

Closure Systems International

CATEGORIES: Staffing and Recruiting BevForce is a boutique recruiting agency that specializes in hiring strategies and organizational design for beverage companies. Services include: executive recruiting, interim executive level placement, board of director assembly and a specialized beverage industry job board.

CATEGORIES: Consulting & Marketing, Education & Training We have trained over 10,000 sales personnel. Programs available include Building Brands through Distributors, Professional Selling & Merchandising, Managing & Developing People, Selling Key Accounts, and Negotiation Skills

CATEGORIES: Ingredients Celanese’s Food Ingredient business is a global sweetening and preservative leader. We offer Sunett brand acesulfame potassium sweetener and the Qorus sweetener system and potassium sorbates and sorbic acid preservatives. We provides the quality, reliability and protection assurance you demand.

CATEGORIES: Caps/Closures CSI is recognized as a global leader in closure design, manufacturing, and high speed application systems.

In addition to closures and equipment, CSI provides technical services globally.

Biothera, the Immune Health Company

Cask Brewing Sytems Inc.

Chemi Nutra

Corbion

CATEGORIES: Ingredients ATTRIBUTES: Export ready, Kosher Wellmune WGP is a natural immune health ingredient. Derived from baker’s yeast it is clinically proven to safely boost immune cells to help keep the body healthy. For immune enhancement, stress management, sports nutrition and healthy aging.

Patented, Kosher, Halal, non-allergenic and GMO-free. Broad regulatory approval. Product of Biothera.

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning Cask Brewing Systems invented micro-canning. We supply affordable, compact canning systems to craft brewers and packagers worldwide. We have installed over 300 canning lines in 20 countries. We are the official supplier of Ball Corporation for the supply of printed aluminum cans.

Captiva Containers

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning, Packaging & labels ATTRIBUTES: Diversity owned, Export ready, Private label available Captiva’s product portfolio consist of varied, functional & attractive containers; with standard lines of bottle designs in-stock and custom lines available.

CATEGORIES: Ingredients ATTRIBUTES: Kosher Chemi Nutra manufactures ingredients for human performance. Our cutting edge ingredient, AlphaSize Alpha-Glyceryl Phosphoryl Choline (A-GPC), boosts mental and physical performance without contributing flavor or texture to your beverage.

CATEGORIES: Ingredients Corbion is the global market leader in lactic acid, lactic acid derivatives and lactides, and a leading company in functional blends containing enzymes, emulsifiers, minerals and vitamins.

Corbion provides a broad range of solutions to meet the needs of food and beverage manufacturers.

Christie Communications

CORPORATE PACKAGING INC.

CATEGORIES: Graphics & Design, Market data & reports, PR & Ad Agency, Consulting & Marketing ATTRIBUTES: Woman owned A full-service strategic branding and communications agency dedicated to helping companies broaden their impact. With more than 20 years of experience in the beverage industry, we help maximize brand equity.

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning ATTRIBUTES: Woman owned Established in 1989 Corporate Packaging, Inc. is a woman owned re packager that has built a solid reputation providing both quality and service in a large selection of Contract Packaging and Promotional Services.

Climax Packaging Machinery

Creekside Springs, LLC

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning, Manufacturing Equipment We design & build packaging equipment – specializing in vertical Case & Tray Packers (Drop Pack, Soft Pack, Pick & Place), Uncasers, and Lane Dividers.

We also build a small Multipacker for energy drinks. Recently we built a small packer (Strate-Line) to help craft brewers get out of hand packing.

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning ATTRIBUTES: Kosher, Private label available Full-line supplier of bottled water for co-pack/private label brands. Spring, purified & enhanced products in 10 oz. to 1.5 Liter unit sizes. PA & OH facilities certified SQF Level 3. Co-pack purified, spring & enhanced waters for retail/specialty brands.

Captiva’s integrated design, prototyping, and testing make for shorter production lead times.

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Dairy Farmers of America

Emerson Industrial Automation

Flavor Producers

Fort Dearborn Company

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning ATTRIBUTES: Diversity owned Dairy Farmers of America's Contract Manufacturing division works closely with some of the nation’s most recognizable brands to develop, test and produce a broad range of shelf-stable products in packaging such as steel, aluminum and glass.

CATEGORIES: Manufacturing Equipment ATTRIBUTES: Export ready To help beverage manufacturers achieve sustainability initiatives, we offer heavy-duty Sealmaster mounted bearings and System PlastTM conveying components with innovative dry-running capabilities. Both help reduce water and energy consumption, noise levels, and improve overall system efficiency.

CATEGORIES: Flavors Flavor Producers is a leading manufacturer of premium quality conventional and certified organic flavors along with our NEW line of essences, extracts and natural emulsions. Your partner in flavor development.

CATEGORIES: Packaging & labels Decorative label solutions…we’ve got you covered. Create impactful shelf appeal for your beverage products with Fort Dearborn’s innovative label solutions. We offer a variety of label, printing and material options to effectively decorate any size and shape container. Contact us today.

DME Brewing Solutions

Extracts & Ingredients Ltd

Flavorman

Forte Creative Media PR

DME Brewing Solutions is the preferred manufacturer of brewing equipment to craft brewing industry around the world. 5 BBL to 100BBL breweries, DME prides itself in being a customer’s best resource for planning, design, fabrication, management, and successful execution of each unique brewery project

CATEGORIES: Ingredients E&I Ltd, supplier of unique ingredients, uses patented Vortex milling to supply micronized powders such as TCP, DCP, Mag Phosphate, Citrates and Phytosterols. We also supply MgCl2, KCl, non-GMO Citric Acid, water soluble Vitamin D, Oregano Extract as a natural antioxidant and botanical extracts.

CATEGORIES: Product Development ATTRIBUTES: Kosher Leading the industry in custom beverage development for every category, alcohol and non-alcohol. We have the expertise and technology to make superior drinks and the outstanding service to support you every step of the way.

On-site beverage lab, QC, blending operation, bottling line and distillery.

CATEGORIES: PR & Ad Agency ATTRIBUTES: Woman owned Forte Creative Media PR creates public relations, social media and brand positioning strategies for clients in health, fitness and active lifestyle markets.

Media relations, product launches, events and brand partnerships, our success in beverage includes leaders like Essentia Water and XYIENCE.

DreamPak

Farbest Brands

Fluid Forms LLC,

Franke Beverage Systems

CATEGORIES: Ingredients Farbest Brands has supplied ingredients to the food, beverage, and nutrtional products industries for 59 years. Our ingredients include dairy, soy and pea proteins, vitamins, carotenoids, specialty sweeteners & carbohydrates, and gum acacia.

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning ATTRIBUTES: Fair Trade Fluid Forms is a state-of-the-art injection and blow molding manufacture specializing in PET beverage bottles. With 50 years of industry experience, our team will provide you with the confidence, trust and quality assurance to help you excel with your beverage bottle products.

CATEGORIES: Packaging & labels Franke kegs made of stainless steel for the visible difference with best quality for beer, wine or other beverages. With your inscription or specific labelling, the stainless steel kegs are adapted to your brand identity. Franke kegs are safe, efficient and sustainable.

FBC Industries, Inc.

FOOD FORMULATION SUPPORT

Glanbia Nutritionals (NA), Inc.

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning ATTRIBUTES: Private label available DreamPak is a leading innovator and turnkey contract manufacturer of liquid concentrates in convenient single and multi-serve packaging.

The innovative line of drink mixes includes all-natural water enhancers, real coffee & tea concentrates, dairy creamers, chocolate syrup and liquid dietary supplements.

DWS Printing Associates

CATEGORIES: Graphics & Design, Packaging & labels DWS is a complete label and packaging printer, for all your label branding needs, including an award winning in-house graphic design team.

Family owned and operated for 4 generations, DWS provides personal service, outstanding quality and unique product diversity.

CATEGORIES: Ingredients ATTRIBUTES: Kosher FBC Industries, Inc. is a manufacturer of liquid additives and preservatives.

Our products are all Kosher and BRC certified: Benzoates, Citrates, Phosphates, Sorbates and Custom Blends.

CATEGORIES: Product Development ATTRIBUTES: Private label available Beverage Formulation Consultant – Beverage Formulation Expert • Beverage formulation. Mineral water, vitamin water, Soft drinks, Energy drinks, Infant vitamin, Prenatal, Beverages • Powder Beverages: Protein shakes - soy, Whey protein isolate , Energy shake, Meal replacement, weight control shakes, Amino fuel • Functional Drinks, Probiotics, Enzymes.

CATEGORIES: Ingredients ATTRIBUTES: Kosher Glanbia Nutritionals has built a reputation on service and quality in the nutritional ingredient and custom micronutrient premix businesses. We provide formulation and ingredient expertise in combination with the quality and consistency of finished blends that our customer’s count on.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 BEVNET MAGAZINE 47

GLG Life Tech Corporation

Gotham Brand Managers

Hope Fresh

Imbibe

CATEGORIES: Brokers & Agents, Consulting & Marketing Gotham Brand Managers is located in the NY Metro region, the toughest and most rewarding region in the world for developing snack and beverage brands.

Gotham, unlike typical consultants and brokers, actually provides ongoing sales, merchandising and sampling support for a few select brands.

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning ATTRIBUTES: Kosher, Organic, Private label available Hope Fresh, based in Louisville, Colorado is the first and only HPP toll processor in the Rocky Mountain Region. Hope Fresh is designed to accommodate customers looking to grow, scale, and add capacity to their businesses.

CATEGORIES: Flavors, Product Development ATTRIBUTES: Kosher, Private label available Imbibe creates products in every beverage category & application. Imbibe’s customers include retailers, distributors, brand owners & entrepreneurs who need formulation, branding, packaging, manufacturing & quality assurance.

Global Essence Inc

Hammer Packaging

Idaho Milk Products

Ingredion Incorporated

CATEGORIES: Flavors, Ingredients, Product Development Global Essence supplies essential oils, aroma chemicals, absolutes, citrus & organics. Sourcing partnerships allow our NJ headquarters, UK & Asian affiliates an uninterrupted supply of quality materials at competitive prices. We are a proud WBENC woman owned business and a BRC certified supplier.

CATEGORIES: Packaging & labels Established in 1912, a privately-held packaging printer with expertise in sheet-fed offset, web offset and flexography. Core products include cut & stack labels, in-mold labels, shrink sleeve labels, roll-fed labels and pressure sensitive labels. Learn more today!

CATEGORIES: Ingredients ATTRIBUTES: Export ready, Kosher We believe the freshest, most consistent milk product ingredients lead to the best tasting end products. Our dedication to freshness results in better tasting, better performing dairy ingredients. Contact us today to find out how IdaPro Milk Proteins and Milk Permeate can boost your formula.

CATEGORIES: Ingredients Ingredion has a complete portfolio of texturizing solutions, nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners, nutritional ingredients and unparalleled technical expertise to help manufacturers improve and differentiate products and reduce costs.

Glover Capital, Inc.

HealthyBrandBuilders

IFP, inc. (Innovative Food Processors)

Instant Win Innovations

CATEGORIES: Financial Services, Consulting & Marketing Glover Capital, Inc., negotiates the purchase, sale, merger or restructuring of industry-specific assignments that are national and international in scope. The company also advises owners and senior management on a wide spectrum of corporate financial issues.

CATEGORIES: Consulting & Marketing James S. Tonkin consults on building & the design of national infrastructures for food/ beverage clients. HBB has created & implemented business/ financial strategies for domestic and international players on production, branding, marketing sales & distribution, & the all important “exit strategy”!

GNT USA, Inc.

Hidell International

CATEGORIES: Ingredients ATTRIBUTES: Export ready, Kosher GLG Life Tech is a vertically integrated producer of high-grade stevia extract founded in 1997. We provide tailormade natural sweetener solutions for the global food and beverage market and offer consistency, tracability and quality second to none in the industry.

CATEGORIES: Ingredients ATTRIBUTES: Export ready, Kosher, Organic, Private label available GNT makes EXBERRY natural colors and Nutrifood fruit & vegetable concentrates. GNT products are made from edible fruits, vegetables & plants that are processed gently with water. EXBERRY natural colors are an ideal clean-label color solution, proving vibrant color.

CATEGORIES: Product Development, Consulting & Marketing Innovative nutritional product development; bottling plant design/ equipment specification/plant start-up; marketing plans/business development; M&A; business/resource valuation; regulatory guidance; expert witness; strategic financial management; hydrogeological investigations and evaluations.

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CATEGORIES: Product Development IFP, Inc. develops & manufactures innovative powder products. We specialize in functional beverages sports/nutrition supplements & medical foods containing high value ingredients like fibers & prebiotics, proteins, antioxidants, probiotics, natural sweeteners, vitamins, minerals & amino acids.

CATEGORIES: Promotional items Innovative In-Pack promos: IWI’s interactive devices and electronic media are hidden in branded bottles & cans to make them shake, talk, sing, flash pictures inside or pop out actual prizes the instant they are opened.

Winning packages are undetectable from non-winners and can be sold as singles.

ILS - Innovative Labeling Solutions

International Beverage Management

CATEGORIES: Packaging & labels ILS is a digital label and packaging specialist for consumer-based companies. We utilize HP Indigo presses as well as finishing equipment for hot stamping, embossing, flexible packaging and shrink sleeves. We are an international leader for turn-key digital printed packaging solutions.

CATEGORIES: Product Development A custom beverage development company. We focus on technical development of all types: CSD, flavored waters, teas, juices, sports and functional drinks & shots; alcoholic RTD and mixers.

I.B.M. will partner with you to create a unique, quality formulation based on your requirements.

iTi tropicals, Inc.

CATEGORIES: Ingredients iTi is an importer that believes in more than shipping tropical fruit juices to the food manufacturing industry. For 25 years, we have been introducing the food world to new and exciting fruits: most recently to a ground breaking coconut water concentrate.

Kerry

Langlade Springs LLC

Monarch Custom Beverages

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning ATTRIBUTES: Private label available

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning ATTRIBUTES: Private label available We are a private label beverage developer, manufacturer and turn key solution provider to retailers and beverage brand developers. We specialize in, energy drinks, teas, sparkling juices, sparkling water, beer and flavored malt beverages. We can fill glass bottles and aluminum cans.

Your one-stop source for the highest quality private label specialty bottled water and beverages. Centrally located in northern Wisconsin, we manufacture and bottle right at the source to ensure ease of shipping across the U.S. and also ship internationally. Significant investments in our facility, equipment and processes allow us to custom mix, cold-fill, label, palletize and ship from one location. We offer your choice of PET, RPET and ENSO biodegradable bottles.

Our Natural Alkaline Mineral Spring Water offers a refreshing taste with one of the highest natural 7.8+ pH levels available.

CATEGORIES: Flavors, Ingredients The world’s leading supplier of taste & nutrition solutions for the global food & beverage industry. By connecting with & understanding today’s consumers & combining those insights with our applications & culinary expertise, we are able to help our customers deliver consumer-preferred products.

Kids Healthy Foods, LLC.

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning, Flavors, Ingredients, Consulting & Marketing ATTRIBUTES: Export ready, Kosher, Organic, Private label available, Woman owned We provide healthier alternatives in the children's beverage industry with innovative packaging. We also offer private labeled beverages as well as our Mickies Slices brand nationwide.

Martin Bauer Inc.

CATEGORIES: Ingredients The Martin Bauer Group is the leading supplier of botanical ingredients for the food, beverage, dietary supplement and pharmaceutical industries. Leaf teas, herbal raw materials, extracts and flavors. Martin Bauer Inc. offers you the combined expertise of Martin Bauer, Plantextrakt, & Finzelberg.

Competitive prices, customer-friendly minimums, expert in-house graphic design, quick turnaround and personalized service make it easy for you to do business with us.

Monvera Glass Décor

Monvera Glass Décor specializes in screen printing on glass bottles with the ability to print up to 6 colors at a time using a vast array of ceramic and precious metal inks. Screen printing gives graphic designers unique and interesting ways to create new labels that are not possible with paper labe

McLean Design, Inc.

Metarom Neotech

Mother Murphy's Laboratories

CATEGORIES: Graphics & Design, Packaging & labels, POS; POP; & Merchandising, Consulting & Marketing McLean Design is a strategic branding and packaging design agency in the San Francisco Bay Area. Specializing in brand strategy, brand identity and packaging design, we create invincible brands that help shape the beverage and wine & spirits industries.

CATEGORIES: Flavors, Ingredients ATTRIBUTES: Kosher, Organic Flavor Solutions for all your beverage requirements. We guarantee a highly skilled Technical Team with a fast project turnaround. Metarom’s key expertise are in FUNCTIONAL FLAVORS and Masking agent, Caramel, Vanilla, Chocolate, Coffee, Citrus, Berries, Tropical, Spirits and Dairy Flavors.

CATEGORIES: Flavors, Product Development ATTRIBUTES: Export ready, Kosher Large enough to meet the flavor and development needs of global players and small enough to be responsive to each and every one of our customers.

Contact the new leader in flavor and beverage development today!

METABRAND CORP

MobileCanningSystems

Mountain Valley Spring Company

CATEGORIES: Consulting & Marketing MetaBrand is the premium flavor development, formulation lab and ingredient distributor in the Natural Products Industry. Combining cutting edge, state of the art manufacturing with years of real market experiences to create the highest quality products for the beverage and supplement industries.

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning MobileCanningSystems' innovative packaging solution brings a canning line to the brewery when the beer is ready. Brewers can focus on making great craft beer while MobileCanningSystems' professional affiliates deliver fast, reliable production canning and packaging supplies in convenient quantities.

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning ATTRIBUTES: Kosher, Private label available Mountain Valley Spring Company has bottled natural spring water just outside of Hot Springs, AR since 1871.

Now we are expanding our co-packing and private label business; natural, flavored and enhanced waters; sparkling or still; in glass or PET.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 BEVNET MAGAZINE 49

Multi-Color Corporation

CATEGORIES: Packaging & labels MCC is a leading global supplier to the beverage industry; providing labeling solutions in Shrink Sleeve, Cut & Stack, Pressure Sensitive, InMold and Heat Transfer. Print offerings include Digital, Flexographic, Offset, Gravure and Screen/Combination.

Nantze Springs, Inc.

Naturex

NVE Pharmaceuticals/ Stacker2

CATEGORIES: Ingredients ATTRIBUTES: Kosher, Organic Naturex is the global leader in specialty plant-based natural ingredients. Our natural ingredients add value to finished beverage products by improving organoleptic characteristics (color, flavor, taste, and texture), while adding functional and nutritional properties, and extending shelf life.

Nor Cal Beverage Company Inc.

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning ATTRIBUTES: Export ready, Kosher, Organic Beverage Contract Manufacturer CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning ATTRIBUTES: Private label available Southeast US Contract Bottling, Private Label, Product Develpment.

Contract Manufacturing for Bottled Water, Enhanced Water, & Flavored Water products. Nitrogen drip and flash pasturization available.

Natreon Inc

CATEGORIES: Ingredients ATTRIBUTES: Kosher, Organic Natreon Inc is an innovative functional ingredient company offering Capros Cardiovascular Superfruit, PrimaVie fulvic acid shilajit, Crominex 3+ chromium for glucose control, and Sensoril ashwagandha for stress relief.

Nature's Way Purewater

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning Ideally located in NE PA to service entire East Coast. Specializing in Functional Beverages, we offer a diverse array of packaging options.

Bottle sizes range from 12oz to 1.5 Liter with still and carbonated beverage options. Flavored, vitamin and mineral enhanced and high pH additives available.

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning, Filling & Bottling Equipment, Ingredients, Laboratory, Product Development ATTRIBUTES: Export ready, Kosher, Private label available Private label manufacturers.

In-house blends, custom blends.

Supplements in effervescent, powder form, liquid in 8.4 oz carbonated cans and 1.5oz to 20oz PET bottles.

Our technology converts top-selling dietary solid-dose supplements into liquids, protein powders & suspensions.

Custom blown bottles in all unique shapes and sizes.

NutraGenesis

CATEGORIES: Ingredients ATTRIBUTES: Kosher, Woman owned NutraGenesis provides marketers with a diverse portfolio of GRAS-affirmed, patented, scientifically validated nutraceutical ingredients for functional beverages. Our clinically tested, efficacious ingredients deliver nutritional solutions that provide your beverage products with a competitive edge.

OPTIMA Machinery Corporation

CATEGORIES: Filling & Bottling Equipment, Manufacturing Equipment Optima offers everything to make dosing, filling and packaging easier, safer and more efficient. We build machines to suit each requirement – from budget-priced start-up lines to complex machines with integrated automation technology for linkage to production processes.

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Overnight Labels, Inc.

Packagingarts, Inc.

CATEGORIES: Packaging & labels Overnight Labels is a nationally recognized, award-winning US based flexographic printer. We manufacture labels, shrink sleeves, flexible packaging, neck bands, sample packaging, gusseted bags, sachets, snack bags and more.

In-line rotary silk screen and cold foil as well as green options available.

CATEGORIES: Packaging & labels, POS; POP; & Merchandising, Promotional items, Racks & Coolers Packagingarts provides extensive experience in managing your packaging requirements for PS, glue applied, shrink or ACL decorating processes. Our global business model offers state of the art production equipment with established, ISO certified factories in global markets.

Owens-Illinois

Phoenix Packaging

CATEGORIES: Packaging & labels Owens-Illinois (O-I) is the world’s largest glass container manufacturer and preferred partner for many of the world’s leading food and beverage brands. With 79 plants in 21 countries, O-I delivers safe, sustainable, pure, iconic, brand-building glass packaging to a growing global marketplace.

CATEGORIES: Caps/Closures, Packaging & labels Phoenix specializes in unique and customized packaging solutions.

We supply bottles in Glass, Plastic, Aluminum and Ceramic for all types of beverages. Caps, closures, crowns and corks can all be tailored to your needs.

PHARMACHEM

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning, Flavors, Ingredients, Product Development PHARMACHEM is a family of companies that manufactures a variety of ingredients and consumer beverage products. We supply soluble premix and fortification systems. We copack turnkey RTD beverages and instantized powder drink mixes.

Priority Consultants Inc

SafePac Pasteurization LLC

CATEGORIES: Product Development, Consulting & Marketing Bring us your concept, we'll build your solution! Custom beverage formulation, formula enhancement, or formula cost reduction. Custom package design or stock package. Co-packer linkage and management. Services offered: Product, Market and New Business Development, Merger & Acquisition Support.

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/ Canning, Logistics & warehousing, Product Development Contact SafePac Pasteurization for all your East coast HIGH PRESSURE PASTEURIZATION toll processing needs.

FRESHER, SAFER FOODS. The Industry leader in HPP Toll Processing.

PromoCentric

Saxco International, LLC

CATEGORIES: Graphics & Design, Promotional items ATTRIBUTES: Private label available PromoCentric exists to develop, source & sell custom-branded merchandise. We are here to protect your brand, maximize the return & effectiveness of your marketing budget & provide creative consultation with complete project management to help you achieve results.

CATEGORIES: Caps/Closures, Packing/ Bottling/Canning, Logistics & warehousing, Packaging & labels, Product Development Saxco International is the largest glass container distributor in North America serving premium brands in the Beverage, Food, Craft Beer, Wine and Sprits industries. We are also a leading supplier of PET & HDPE.

Precision Press Inc

Primera Technology, Inc.

Quality Beverage Packing, Inc.

Sensient Colors LLC

CATEGORIES: Packaging & labels Precision Press is an ISO-driven company with a reputation of exceptional precision and quality. Precision Press offers lots of packaging options including Roll Fed Labels, Cut & Stack Labels, In-mold Labels, Flexible Packaging, Shrink Sleeve Labels, and Pressure Sensitive Labels.

CATEGORIES: Packaging & labels Primera Technology, Inc. is the world's leading developer and manufacturer of specialty printing equipment including the LX-Series Label Printers, AP-Series Label Applicators, and CX1200 Color Label Press and FX1200 Digital Finishing System.

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning, Product Development ATTRIBUTES: Kosher, Private label available A private label supplier to some of the nation’s leading food and beverage companies. Products include FCB, slush, tea sweeteners, lemonades, juice bases, syrups, sauces and more. Packaging includes BIB, Plastic Containers, Pails.

CATEGORIES: Ingredients ATTRIBUTES: Kosher Sensient brings life to products, adding color & visual enjoyment to beverage applications worldwide.

Offering the industry’s widest portfolio of natural & certified color solutions, Sensient innovation continues to close the gap between natural color science and certified color technology.

Presence Marketing / Dynamic Presence

Prinova

Rexam

Sensient Flavors

CATEGORIES: Flavors, Ingredients, Laboratory Prinova offers high-quality ingredients and flavors for beverage manufacturers, including liquid vitamin premixes from our state-of-the-art blending facility. With expert flavor technicians, BRC Certification, and R&D Application Laboratory, Prinova guides you in all stages of beverage formulation.

CATEGORIES: Packaging & labels Delivering exceptional customer value.

Rexam offers the right features to help brands stand out on retail shelves.

Aluminum can sizes available range from a number of Rexam Sleek sizes, to standard 12oz to 16oz to 24oz and re-sealable Rexam Cap Can options.

We also offer a range of ends and tabs.

CATEGORIES: Flavors Sensient Flavors LLC is a unit of Sensient Technologies Corporation and is one of the world’s leading flavor companies, operating in 30 countries.

Sensient Flavors’ innovative technologies offer the optimal choice for complete flavor system development.

CATEGORIES: Brokers & Agents We are a natural products broker, born from a desire to work in an environmentally conscious industry. We are highly selective about the products we represent, dedicated to the principles of the natural products industry and committed to sustainable business.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 BEVNET MAGAZINE 51

Sharpe & Associates

Taiyo International, Inc.

Steviva Ingredients

CATEGORIES: Consulting & Marketing ATTRIBUTES: Diversity owned Over 60 years in the beverage business.with ownership of Breweries in Canada Introduction of successful brands in both Canada and the USA. Business plans,and network of key contacts in the distribution business Our Associates are well qualified to assist business owners with brand development.

CATEGORIES: Ingredients ATTRIBUTES: Export ready, Fair Trade, Kosher, Private label available Steviva Ingredients, Inc. is a global ingredient supplier with a focus on all-natural high-intensity sweeteners and customer sweetening solutions for SouthEast Beverage and Bottling manufacturers.

Steviva Ingredients sweeteners and bulk ingredients are all natural, GMO free, soy free, corn free and allergen free.

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning ATTRIBUTES: Kosher, Organic, Private label available SouthEast Beverage & Bottling is a tolling & turnkey manu. of beverages.Our 3 lines can many. 2oz-96oz hot fill or cold fill process.We moved into a new 76,000 sf state of the art facility with more capacity, capabilities, top notch mgmt & GMP Cert.

Call us for DE or East coast distribution.

SpinLabel Technologies, Inc.

SunOpta Inc.

CATEGORIES: Packaging & labels SpinLabel Technolgies, Inc. is dedicated to building and licensing its unique labeling technology that builds brand value by engaging current and prospective customers in the shopping corridor and at home.

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning, Ingredients ATTRIBUTES: Organic SunOpta specializes in the sourcing, processing and packaging of natural and organic foods and beverages. SunOpta is both a leader in aseptic beverage manufacturing and also offers a portfolio of value added ingredients focused on fibers, grains and fruits.

Stiebs

Synergy Flavors

CATEGORIES: Ingredients Stiebs is a manufacturer and importer of high quality fruit juice purees, concentrates, powders and extracts.

CATEGORIES: Flavors ATTRIBUTES: Fair Trade, Kosher, Organic Synergy Flavors is a leading international supplier of flavors, extracts & essences for the global food and beverage industry. Synergy distinguishes itself by being passionate about the flavors and ingredients it creates, while continually striving to exceed customer expectations.

52 BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

CATEGORIES: Ingredients Taiyo is a leading manufacturer of functional ingredients. Products include Suntheanine (L-theanine), Sunphenon (green tea extracts), SunActive (Iron, Zinc, CoQ10), SunAmla (Indian Gooseberry extract), Sunfiber (soluble dietary fiber) and AWA-Break (non-silicon anti-foaming agent).

TAP PRODUCTIONS

CATEGORIES: POS; POP; & Merchandising We know beverages! Over 24 years of beverage experience, specializing in merchandising and collateral.

We'll handle all aspects of providing your custom print labels, displays, wearables and premium items.

Taphandles, LLC

CATEGORIES: POS; POP; & Merchandising, Promotional items You make great beer‌ We make it STAND OUT. From custom tap handles to promotional items and more, we continue to set the industry standard for product design and manufacturing that helps you SELL.MORE.BEER.

Techno Food Ingredients Inc.

TRIPACK

The Drink Factory

CATEGORIES: Packaging & labels ATTRIBUTES: Export ready TRIPACK is a family owned, U.S. manufacturer of shrink sleeve application systems, designed for full full body shrink labeling, tamper evident neck banding, and/or multi-packs. Speed capabilities up to 700/min, zero down time film changeovers, and caustic wash-down designs when needed.

CATEGORIES: Flavors, Ingredients ATTRIBUTES: Kosher, Woman owned Techno Food Ingredients, is one of the leading sucralose manufacturers in China.We have been providing sucralose to North America for more than eight years. Our patented production process enables us to produce the highest quality sucralose approved and chosen by the top global brands worldwide.

The Drink Factory is a premier supplier in beverage development and manufacturing to the beverage industry.

The Wright Group

Whether you are looking to start a beverage company, formulate a first of its kind new beverage concept or adding another beverage to your line; The Drink Factory will enable you to turn your beverage concepts into shelf ready products.

TruGrit Concepts

We offer turnkey beverage solutions to save time & money as well as offering full beverage production management solutions.

CATEGORIES: Ingredients ATTRIBUTES: Kosher, Organic The Wright Group is an industry leader in the development of custom nutrient premixes and microencapsulation of vitamins and minerals for the beverage industry. Wright's high-volume blending capacity and customized delivery options provide the balanced solutions needed to increase profitability.

Our goal is to allow our clients to lessen their risk and capitalize on their potential by leading them through beverage development and manufacturing.

Our team consists of experts in the fields of formulation, development, manufacturing and sales.

Please contact us to get started today!

NO CONTRACTS - LOW MINIMUMS

CATEGORIES: Brokers & Agents, Graphics & Design, Product Development, Consulting & Marketing TruGrit Concepts is a full-service brand development, design, marketing & sales company. We offer innovative services in alcohol beverage formulation, branding, graphic design, packaging design, manufacturing solutions, alcohol beverage sales/brokering & marketing.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 BEVNET MAGAZINE 53

Urban Contracting, Inc.

Varnish Studio, Inc.

Whitlock Packaging Corporation

CATEGORIES: Consulting & Marketing Urban Contracting's service to the distillery and brewery industry includes consulting, ProForma business planning, permit assistance, preconstruction consulting, construction and implementation of production and process equipment.

CATEGORIES: Graphics & Design Varnish Studio Inc, 2013 winner of BevStar’s Most Innovative Product Collection - for the Lost Abbey Ultimate Box Set - is a full-service branding, design and web development shop.

Based in Denver, Varnish has years of art direction experience across the music, video game and restaurant industries, and is expanding with a gusto into the craft beer world. Winners of a Grammy Award in 2006, for the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Stadium Arcadium box set, we’re enthusiastic beer connoisseurs with vast design experience and chops.

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning ATTRIBUTES: Kosher, Organic Whitlock is one of the country's leading supplier of hot-fill and aseptic contract manufacturing services for the leading brand owners of teas, juices, isotonics, energy drinks and functional beverages.

United Beverage

Varni Bros. / 7up Modesto

Vegetable Juices, Inc.

WILD Flavors, GmbH

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning ATTRIBUTES: Fair Trade, Kosher, Private label available United Beverage is an industry leading water and beverage company that operates a 163,000 sq.ft. solar powered facility. United Beverage's management team has more than 100 years of experience in the consumer water and flavored beverage bottling industry.

CATEGORIES: Packing/Bottling/Canning CO-PACK: 2 can lines (187ml, 8oz, 8.4oz, 12oz, 12oz Sleek, 16oz, 24oz) 2 bottle lines (glass, PET, Aluminum) Wine (Still and CO2), Soft Drinks, Bottled Water. B.I.B. Family Owned 7up bottler since 1936. SQF Certified.

Multiple secondary packaging options.

Versatile.

CATEGORIES: Ingredients For 80 years, manufacturers have trusted Vegetable Juices, Inc. to enhance their products with our wide range of vegetable juices, concentrates, and purees. Our strategic sourcing network, leading technical expertise, and vast processing capabilities help deliver endless possibilities, naturally.

CATEGORIES: Flavors, Ingredients Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, WILD Flavors GmbH is one of the leading natural ingredients company’s servicing the global food and beverage industry. It uniquely combines an 80-year heritage and knowledge in natural flavors, colors, ingredients and flavor systems.

U.S. Beverage Manufacturing

CATEGORIES: Product Development, Consulting & Marketing U.S. Beverage Manufacturing is a turnkey provider of custom and private label beverage development services.

We take care of everything for you from the flavoring, formulation, packaging, label design, test runs, manufacturing and bottling of your beverage to distribution, sales & marketing.

Virginia Dare

CATEGORIES: Flavors, Ingredients ATTRIBUTES: Fair Trade, Kosher, Organic Virginia Dare, a long established flavor company, provides high quality, cost effective innovative flavors for every beverage application, keeping in mind the importance of speed-tomarket product development.

VIRUN

With over 34 patents/patentspending, Virun enables difficult-todissolve ingredients such as EPA DHA Omega-3, Resveratrol and CoQ10 into clear drinks, stick-packs etc…

OmegaH2O, AstaXH2O, PQQwaterc CoenzymeClear are available in powder and liquid bulk. Development & co-packing are available.

54 BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

COMPANY CONTACT INFORMATION COMPANY

CONTACT NAME

ADDRESS

CITY

STATE

ZIP

PHONE NUMBER

WEB SITE

A. Holliday & Company Inc.

Christine Renken

4141 Yonge Street

Toronto

ON

M2P 2A8

416-225-2217

teacoff.com

Affinity Creative Group

Ed Rice

1125 Walnut Ave

Mare Island

CA

94592

707-558-0744

affinitycreative.com

AIDP, Inc.

Kathy Lund

19535 E. Walnut Dr. South

City of Industry

CA

91748

303-734-0860

aidp.com

ALeco Container LLC

Scott Coors

5545 W. 56th Ave Unit F

Arvada

CO

80002

720-432-6754

evolutionbottles.com

Allen Flavors, Inc.

Joe Moran

23 Progress St.

Edison

NJ

08820

908-561-5995

allenflavors.com

Ampac

Sal Pellingra

12025 Tricon Road

Cincinnati

OH

45246

513-671-1777

ampaconline.com

Anchin, Block & Anchin LLP

Greg Wank, CPA

1375 Broadway

New York

NY

10018

212-840-3456

anchin.com

Aptar Food + Beverage

Florent Gras

475 W. Terra Cotta Avenue

Crystal Lake

IL

60014

262-363-7191

aptar.com

Arcadia Farms, Inc.

Ryan Collins

34 Arcadia Farms Rd

Arden

NC

28704

479-464-0701

arcadiafarms.com

Artiste

Joe Raimondo

139 Harristown Road

Glen Rock

NJ

07542

201-447-1311

artiste.us.com

Aseptic Solutions USA

Sean Ross

575 Alcoa Circle

Corona

CA

92880

951-736-9230

asepticusa.com

Avure Technologies Inc. - HPP

Kristi Browning

210 Gothic Court

Franklin

TN

37067

614-255-6633

avure.com/HPP

AZPACK Bottling & Canning

AZPACK Bottling & Canning

7303 S Kyrene Rd

Tempe

AZ

85283

480-449-7770

azpack.com

500 Mamaroneck Avenue

Harrison

NY

10528

800-684-CHEM

barringtonnutritionals.com

Barrington Nutritionals Bedford ElastiTag

Belinda Heidebrink

1659 Rowe Avenue

Worthington

MN

56187

507-376-4136

elastitag.com

Berlin Packaging

Carole Branchetti

525 West Monroe Street

Chicago

IL

60661

312-876-9292

BerlinPackaging.com

Beverage Business Institute, Colorado State University

Jim Francis

213 North Rockwell

Fort Collins

CO

80523

970-491-6265

csuBBI.com

Beverage House

Debbie Glick

400 High Point Road

Cartersville

GA

30120

770-387-0451

beveragehouse.com

BevForce

Sean Conner

6 Harrison Street

New York

NY

10013

212-966-2417

bevforce.com

BevNET FBU

Jon Landis

44 Pleasant Street

Watertown

MA

02472

617-231-8834

bevnetfbu.com

Biothera, the Immune Health Company

Steve Meredith

3388 Mike Collins Drive

Eagan

MN

55121

877-699-5100

wellmune.com

Blue Beverage Group

Peter Murgia

152 Broadway

Haverstraw

NY

10927

845-947-9500

bluebeverage.com

Bob Brown’s Sales Systems Development

Bob Brown

Two Worlds Center, Ste 71

Mountain View,

CA

94040

650-691-9622

salessystems.net

Captiva Containers

Captiva Containers, LLC

75 NE 179th Street,

Miami

FL

33162

786-420-3060

captivacontainers.com

Cask Brewing Sytems Inc.

Bill Rose

Bay 60, 5100-64 Ave SE

Calgary

AB

T2C4V3

604-761-7276

cask.com

Celanese Food Ingredients

Simon Kay

222 W. Las Colinas Blvd

Irving

TX

75039

862-203-0646

celanese.com/food-ingredients

Chemi Nutra

Chase Hagerman

4463 White Bear Pkwy., Suite 105

White Bear Lake

MN

55110

651-407-0400

cheminutra.com

Christie Communications

Gillian Christie

800 Garden Street, Suite B

Santa Barbara

CA

93101

805-969-3744

christiecomm.com

Climax Packaging Machinery

Jack Bunce

25 Standen Drive

Hamilton

OH

45015

513-874-1233

climaxpackaging.com

Closure Systems International

Jane Haywood-Rollins

7702 Woodland Drive

Indianapolis

IN

46278

317-390-5000

csiclosures.com

Corbion

Thomas Douglass

7905 Quivira Road

Lenexa

KS

66215

800-669-4092

corbion.com

Corporate Packaging Inc.

Craig Johnson

14113 183rd Street

Cerritos

CA

90703

714-522-2333

corporatepackaginginc.com

Creekside Springs, LLC

Dave Carlson

667 Merchant Street

Ambridge

PA

15003

724-266-9000

creeksidesprings.com

Dairy Farmers of America

Darold Sauber

10220 N. Ambassador Drive

Kansas City

MO

64153

417-829-2510

dfamilk.com

DME Brewing Solutions

Marc de Jong

54 Hillstrom Avenue

Charlottetown

PE

C1E 2C6

902-628-6900

dmebrewing.ca

DreamPak

Tarick Gamay

4717 B Eisenhower Ave

Alexandria

VA

22304

703-751-3511

dreampak.com

DWS Printing Associates

Andy Staib

89 North Industry Court

Deer Park

NY

11729

631-667-6666

dwsprinting.com

Emerson Industrial Automation

Jackie Catalano

7120 New Buffington Road

Florence

KY

41042

859-342-7900

emersonindustrial.com

Extracts & Ingredients Ltd

David Fondots

One Gary Road

Union

NJ

07083

908-688-9009

morretec.com

Farbest Brands

Lorna Samgour

160 Summit Ave.

Montvale

NJ

07645

201-573-4900

farbest.com

FBC Industries, Inc.

Gina Peart

1933 N. Meacham Rd.

Schaumburg

IL

60173

847-839-0880

fbcindustries.com

Flavor Producers

Janet Guzman

28350 W. Witherspoon Pkwy

Valencia

CA

91355

661-257-3400

flavorproducers.com

Flavorman

Kate Ratliff

809 South 8th Street

Louisville

KY

40203

502-266-7377

flavorman.com

Fluid Forms LLC,

Robert Mauricio

1601 Steel Rd.

Colton

CA

92324

951-340-4400

FluidForms.com

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 BEVNET MAGAZINE 55

COMPANY CONTACT INFORMATION COMPANY

CONTACT NAME

ADDRESS

CITY

STATE

ZIP

PHONE NUMBER

WEB SITE

Food Formulation Support

Food Formulation Support

531-213-7154

foodformulationsupport.com

Fort Dearborn Company

Gwen Chapdelaine

1530 Morse Avenue

Elk Grove

IL

Forte Creative Media PR

Stephanie Forte

511 S. 7th Street

Las Vegas

NV

60007

847-427-5405

fortdearborn.com

89101

702-898-2547

Franke Beverage Systems

Mark Carpenter

166 Jefferson Pike

LaVergne

TN

fortecreativemedia.com

37086

615-462-4334

bc.franke.com

Glanbia Nutritionals (NA), Inc.

Michael Cornell

2840 Loker Ave East

Carlsbad

CA

92010

760-438-0089

glanbianutritionals.com

GLG Life Tech Corporation

Shaun Richmond

2168-1050 West Pender

Vancouver

BC

V6E 3S7

604-669-2602

glglifetech.com

Global Essence Inc

Jeanna Johnson

301 Commerce Drive

Freehold

NJ

07728

732-677-1100

globalessence.com

Glover Capital, Inc.

Marion B. Glover

229 Peachtree St., NE

Atlanta

GA

30303

404-523-2921

GNT USA, Inc.

Kelly Newsome

660 White Plains Road

Tarrytown

NY

10591

914-524-0600

gnt-group.com

Gotham Brand Managers

Trent Moffat

Westchester Ave

White Plains

NY

10601

877-931-3030

gothambrands.com

Hammer Packaging

Tom Mason

200 Lucius Gordon Drive

Rochester

NY

14692

585-424-3880

hammerpackaging.com

HealthyBrandBuilders

James S Tonkin

7559 E. Woodshire Cove

Scottsdale

AZ

85258

480-596-6360

healthybrandbuilders.com

Hidell International

Henry Hidell

195 Whiting St.

Hingham

MA

02043

781-749-8040

hidellinternational.com

Hope Fresh

Morgan

1850 Dogwood St.

Louisville

CO

80027

720-263-7402

hopefresh.com

Idaho Milk Products

Jessica Henry

2249 S Tiger Dr

Jerome

ID

83338

855-375-6455

idahomilkproducts.com

IFP, inc.

(Innovative Food Processors)

Becky Johnson

2125 Airport Drive

Faribault

MN

55021

800-997-4437

ifpinc.biz

NY

ILS - Innovative Labeling Solutions

Eric Knop

4000 Hamilton-Middletown Road

Hamilton

OH

45011

513-860-2457

ilslabels.com

Imbibe

Laura Klibanow

7350 N Croname Rd

Niles

IL

60714

847-324-4411

imbibeinc.com

Ingredion Incorporated

Customer Service

5 Westbrook Corporate Circle

Westchester

IL

60154

866-961-6285

ingredion.com

Instant Win Innovations

Geoff Geils

116 Gillotti Rd

New Fairfield

CT

06812

203-648-4499

instantwininnovations.com

International Beverage Management

Dianne Hustus

44 Beach Street

Woburn

MA

01801

781-935-1800

internationalbeverage management.com

iTi tropicals, Inc.

Philippe Aubry

30 Gordon Ave.

Lawrenceville

NJ

08648

609-987-0550

ititropicals.com

Kerry

Teresa Polli

3400 Millington Road

Beloit

WI

53511

608-363-3716

kerry.com

Kids Healthy Foods, LLC.

Jeff McClelland

6107 S.W. Murray Blvd suite 168

Beaverton

OR

97008

949-680-8006

kidshealthyfoods.com

Langlade Springs LLC

Brad Wendt

W6933 State Hwy 64

Polar

WI

54418

920-915-4813

langladesprings.com

Martin Bauer Inc.

Gary Vorsheim

300 Harmon Meadow Blvd.

Secaucus

NJ

07094

201-659-3100

martin-bauer-group.us

McLean Design, Inc.

Rifle Hughes

1401 N. Broadway, Suite 220

Walnut Creek

CA

94596

925-944-9500

mclean-design.com

METABRAND CORP

Eric Schnell

3775 Park Avenue, Suite 1

Edison

NJ

08820

888-611-5573

metabrandcorp.com

Metarom Neotech

Christophe Dugas

4343 Viewridge Avenue

San Diego

CA

92123

858-268-4000

metaromneotech.com

MobileCanningSystems

Pat Hartman

1850 Lefthand Circle

Longmont

CO

80501

303-999-1864

mobilecanningsystems.com

Monarch Custom Beverages

Larry Williams

2205 Riverstone Blvd

Canton

GA

30114

678-493-7000

monarchcustombeverages.com

Monvera Glass Décor

Caitriona Anderson

1414 Harbour Way S., suite 1400

Richmond

CA

94804

510-444-9463

monvera.com

Mother Murphy’s Laboratories

David Wilhoit

2826 South Elm-Eugene Street

Greensboro

NC

27406

800-849-1277

mothermurphys.com

Mountain Valley Spring Company

Speed Stodghill

283 Mountain Valley Water Place

Hot Springs

AR

71909

501-779-1320

mvpls.com

Multi-Color Corporation

Grey Moore

4053 Clough Woods Drive

Batavia

OH

45103

513-688-2646

mcclabel.com

Nantze Springs, Inc.

Malone Garrett

PO Box 1273

Dothan

AL

36302

334-794-4218

nantzesprings.com

Natreon Inc

Sanni Raju, Ph.D., R.Ph.

2-D Janine Place

New Brunswick

NJ

08901

732-296-1080

natreoninc.com

Nature’s Way Purewater

David Nagle

164 Commerce Road

Pittston

PA

18640

570-655-7755

natureswaywater.net

Naturex

Samuel Menard

375 Huyler Street

South Hackensack

NJ

07606

201-440-5000

naturex.com

Nor Cal Beverage Company Inc.

Pete Grego

2150 Stone Blvd.

West Sacramento

CA

95691

916-372-0600

ncbev.com

NutraGenesis

Tiea Zehnbauer

167 Main Street

Brattleboro

VT

05301

802-257-5345

nutragenesis.com

NVE Pharmaceuticals/ Stacker2

Walter Orcutt

15 Whaithall Road

Andover

NJ

07821

973-601-8484

NVEUSA.com

OPTIMA Machinery Corporation

Peter Delain

1330 Contract Drive

Green Bay

WI

54304

920-983-3142

optima-usa.com

Overnight Labels, Inc.

Carrie Houghton

151-15 West Industry Ct

Deer Park

NY

11729

631-242-4240

overnightlabels.com

56 BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

COMPANY

CONTACT NAME

ADDRESS

CITY

STATE

ZIP

PHONE NUMBER

WEB SITE

Owens-Illinois

Owens-Illinois

One Michael Owens Way

Perrysburg

OH

43551

567-336-5000

o-i.com

Packagingarts, Inc.

Dave Miller

PHARMACHEM

Gregory Drew

700 Walnut Ave

Mare Island

CA

94592

707-562-2787

packagingarts.com

265 Harrison Turnpike

Kearny

NJ

07032

201-719-7405

Phoenix Packaging

pharmachemlabs.com

Greg Illson

2530 Lapierre

Montreal

QC

H8N 2W9

514-487-6660

phoenixpackaging.com

Precision Press Inc

Tim Goserud

2020 Lookout Drive

North Mankato

MN

56003

800-736-0671

precisionpressinc.com

Presence Marketing / Dynamic Presence

Christine Tzumas

12 Executive Ct.

South Barrington

IL

60010

847-277-9500

pmidpi.com

Primera Technology, Inc.

Carla Schoenberg

Two Carlson Pkwy N

Plymouth

MN

55447

800-797-2772

primeralabel.com

Prinova

Claire Peters

285 E. Fullerton Avenue

Carol Stream

IL

60188

630-868-0395

prinovausa.com

Priority Consultants Inc

Barry Horne

40W320 LaFox Rd

St Charles

IL

60175

708-870-7076

priorityconsultantsinc.com

PromoCentric

Jon Waintroob

102 Tide Mill Rd.

Hampton

NH

03842

603-758-7212

promocentric.net

Quality Beverage Packing, Inc.

Brad Earwood

82 Yorkville Park Square

Columbus

MS

39702

662-329-5976

qualitybeveragepacking.com

Rexam

Carol Huston

8770 W Bryn Mawr, 8th Floor

Chicago

IL

60631

773-399-3365

rexam.com

SafePac Pasteurization LLC

Cara Giordano

2712 Grays Ferry Avenue

Philadelphia

PA

19146

267-324-5631

safepac.biz

Saxco International, LLC

Dan Brewer

155 98th Avenue

Oakland

CA

94603

800-326-8971

saxco.com

Sensient Colors LLC

Customer Service

2515 N Jefferson Ave

St. Louis

MO

63106

800-325-8110

sensientfoodcolors.com

Sensient Flavors

Teresa Olah

5115 Sedge Blvd.

Hoffman Estates

IL

60192

847-755-5300

SensientFlavors.com

Sharpe & Associates

Jean Thomas

1026 Code Road

Perth

ON

K7h-3c8

905-928-7975

SouthEast Beverage and Bottling

Jayne Sebastian

15304 Citrus Country Lane

Dade City

FL

33523

352-567-2200

tampabaycopack.com

SpinLabel Technologies, Inc.

Barry Simons

7700 Congress Avenue

Boca Raton

FL

33487

561-429-6886

spinlabels.com

Stapleton-Spence Packing Company

Brad Stapleton

1900 Hwy. 99

Gridley

CA

95948

408-297-8815

californiacopackers.com

Steviva Ingredients

Thom King

725 NW Flanders St., Suite 402

Portland

OR

97209

310-455-9876

stevivaingredients.com

Stiebs

Brad Miller

11767 Road 27 1/2

Madera

CA

93637

559-661-0031

stiebs.com

SunOpta Inc.

Kristi Inveen

7301 Ohms Lane

Edina

MN

55439

952-939-3949

sunopta.com

Suttle-Straus, Inc.

Jeff Shufelt

1000 Uniek Drive

Waunakee

WI

53597

888-788-8537

suttle-straus.com

Synergy Flavors

Amanda Meersman

1500 Synergy Drive

Wauconda

IL

60084

847-487-1011

synergytaste.com

Taiyo International, Inc.

Paul Coffey

5960 Golden Hills Drive

Minneapolis

MN

55416

763-398-3003

taiyointernational.com

TAP PRODUCTIONS

Terry Peterson

83-19 116th Street, 1A

Richmond Hill

NY

11418

718-441-0382

tapproductions.net

Taphandles, LLC

Sales Team

1424 4th Avenue

Seattle

WA

98101

206-462-6800

taphandles.com

Techno Food Ingredients Inc.

Peter Zou

108 N Ynez St, #200

Monterey Park

CA

91754

626-288-8478

techno-fi.com

The Drink Factory

Chris Stone

1181 Grier Dr Ste A

Las Vegas

NV

89119

888-454-3466

thedrinkfactory.net

The Wright Group

Chris Hebert

6428 Airport Road

Crowley

LA

70526

800-201-3096

thewrightroup.net

TRIPACK

Nick Linz

7930 Kentucky Drive

Florence

KY

41042

513-304-5899

tripack.net

TruGrit Concepts

Molly Pearson

603 Main Street

Genoa

OH

43430

419-855-6104

trugritconcepts.com

U.S. Beverage Manufacturing

Zach Mosesian

7065 West Ann Road

Las Vegas

NV

89130

702-476-1021

usbeveragemanufacturing.com

United Beverage

Michael Dunn

1601 Steel Rd.

Colton

CA

92324

951-340-4400

Unitedbeverage.com

Urban Contracting, Inc.

William Camacho

3612 Ocean Ranch Blvd.

Oceanside

CA

92056

877-958-7226

urbancontracting.com

Varni Bros. / 7up Modesto

Tony J. Varni

400 Hosmer Avenue

Modesto

CA

95351

209-521-177

noahswater.com

Varnish Studio, Inc.

Matt Taylor

3457 Ringsby Court

Denver

CO

80216

310-280-9111

varnishstudio.com

Vegetable Juices, Inc.

Anne Vlahos

7400 S. Narragansett Ave.

Bedford Park

IL

60638

802-496-6214

vegetablejuices.com

Virginia Dare

Anton Angelich

882 Third Ave.

Brooklyn

NY

11232

718-788-1776

virginiadare.com

VIRUN

Philip

21118 Commerce Pointe Dr.

Walnut

CA.

91789

909-839-0629

virun.com

Whitlock Packaging Corporation

Michael Guidry

6655 South Lewis, Suite 105

Tulsa

OK

74136

918-932-3544

whitlockpkg.com

WILD Flavors, GmbH

Donna Hansee

1261 Pacific Avenue

Erlanger

KY

41018

859-342-3600

wildflavors.com

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 BEVNET MAGAZINE 57

PROMO PARADE

Promotions, events and specials for the industry

Jones Soda Co. Announces Winner of “Jonesin’ for a Fiat 500e” Photo Contest Jones Soda Co., a premium beverage company known for its customer-designed packaging, today announced the Grand Prize Winner of its “Jonesin’ for a Fiat 500e” summer photo contest as Jamie Moore from San Francisco, Calif. Mr. Moore won a brand new all-electric Fiat 500e, surf lessons with Jones-sponsored professional surfer Brianna Cope and will also have his winning photo featured on bottles of Natural Jones Soda in 2014.

The contest was part of a larger integrated marketing campaign for Jones Soda and

the FIAT brand to celebrate the companies’ new products, Natural Jones Soda and the all-electric Fiat 500e, which both launched exclusively in California last summer.

The 21-week photo contest required contestants to submit photos of the Fiat 500 model with the goal to raise awareness of each of FIAT’s and Jones’ new product lines. During the course of the contest, over 10,000 entries were submitted from throughout the United States and Canada. The winner was chosen by a panel of judges at Jones Soda and the FIAT brand.

Bolthouse Farms Introduces Social Engagement Program for Instagram Bolthouse Farms has launched a new social media engagement program across the Instagram platform. The Juice Recognition campaign is an innovative new program that scans photos and visuals from public Instagram posts and verifies imagery of branded content, recognizing not only keyword and hashtag use but also photo use.

To develop the program, Bolthouse Farms partnered with industry-leading partners, including positive change advertising agency Tiny Rebellion, digital technology agency Wildlife, and RevTrax, a marketing technology company that drives in-store sales through digital coupons.

This is one of the first brand promotions of its kind on the Instagram platform.

Diageo and the NBA Announce Multiyear Marketing Partnership Diageo, a global supplier of premium alcoholic beverages, and the National Basketball Association (NBA) have announced a new multiyear marketing partnership that will make Diageo the exclusive spirits partner of the league. Diageo brands Ciroc and Crown Royal will be integrated into marketing initiatives across the NBA and NBA Development League (NBA D-League), with Diageo conducting activities under the Baileys brand with the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).

As part of this partnership, Crown Royal will further drive its “Reign On” campaign, now in its second year, by providing fans access to players through unique video content on digital and broadcast channels. A multi-part video series titled “On Point” will debut on TNT and feature television personality Terrence J exploring gamechanging NBA moments and unique aspects of the NBA lifestyle.

Fans will also be able to watch the most exciting moments during the season

through a new digital series, “Reigning Moments of the Week presented

by Crown Royal,” that will air on NBA Game Time on NBA TV and NBA.com.

This weekly series will culminate with two “Reigning Moments” specials that will air during the season on NBA TV. Crown Royal will also extend this series and introduce a “Crown Royal Reigning Moments” digital series for the NBA D-League.

Additionally, Ciroc will have a strong presence at NBA All-Star 2014, a global celebration of basketball in New Orleans in February.

At NBA All-Star, Ciroc will be hosting a Ciroc-branded lounge and will serve as the presenting partner of Club éne-béa, an official party and celebration, that features live musical performances by renowned Latin artists.

For the WNBA, Baileys will showcase inspiring stories from around the league on WNBA.com and will also serve as a Gold level partner of the WNBA Inspiring Women Luncheon.

58 BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

#carrotfarmers #gotcoupon Community members are encouraged to “Snap it, Tag It and Get It” in order to participate in the campaign, posting imagery of Bolthouse Farms product, advertisements, website visuals, logos, etc., plus the hashtags #carrotfarmers and #gotcoupon. Once the program verifies the visuals, the user is automatically sent a link to download a coupon, which can then be redeemed in-store at participating retail locations.

The new program is a key element to Bolthouse Farms’ current marketing initiative, which takes a non-traditional approach to marketing by driving the brand’s farm fresh message of ‘making the healthy choice the easy choice.’ For more information on Bolthouse Farms and its current marketing initiatives please visit www.bolthouse.com.

© Owens-Illinois, Inc.

“At Left Hand Brewing Company, we choose glass because it allows us to be beer makers and it preserves the way our beer tastes.

Glass is the cradle that holds the baby.”

– Joe Schiraldi

Vice President of Brewing Operations, Left Hand Brewing Company

glassislife.com #glassislife