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Functionality was definitely on-display at this year’s Newtopia Now food show in Denver.

The trade show skewed toward emerging brands featured a host of new beverage brands leaning deeper into ingestible beauty, adaptogenic mushrooms and ingredient innovation.

🍄 Functional Fungus Foothold: Drink makers continue to bring more mushroom-laced drinks to market, claiming to enhance relaxation, cognition and energy.

• After launching last year, Denver-based Sēkwl displayed its new packaging design that highlights the craft seltzer brand’s USDA Certified Organic label.

• Good Mood Brew is a new entrant into functional drinks launched by fitness and nutrition influencer Autumn Calabrese that covers many need states from energy to beauty to calm.

💅 Speaking of beauty, the use of collagen, biotin and other adaptogenic ingredients supporting healthy skin, nails and hair was also in the spotlight.

• Melting Forest added a third product line to its portfolio: Glow-Up, a four-SKU line containing 15 grams of collagen protein and 5 grams of fiber per 12 oz. slim can.

🥼 Novel ingredients were also presented at the show, bringing more options for weight-loss drinks and clean energy solutions.

• Juci is launching six varieties of fruit juice-flavored energy drinks, using green tea-derived caffeine, L-theanine, magnesium and new ingredient Grains of Paradise, which is believed to stimulate metabolism, helping burn calories and reduce fat.

• Tucson-based Unfog is also going after the clean energy category, positioning around the patented, caffeine-free dietary supplement, NooLVL that increases focus and improves cognitive function.

Read the full story for more Newtopia Now coverage

🚗 Drive-thru coffee chain 7 Brew is turning its attention to RTDs with an ambitious cross-category launch that sees its cafe-inspired canned coffees and (new) energy drinks entering Walmart. Get all the details.

🍋 RYTHM is expanding its THC-infused line with a new late-summer addition: Lifted Lemon, available in 10mg THC + 10mg CBG and 25mg THC + 12.5mg CBG versions (and boosted with 30 mg of caffeine). Read more here.

All functional ingredients are welcome in this week's gallery, featuring new creatine-boosted launches from Sportsballer and Magna, protein drinks from Kate Farms and Super Coffee, and another THC thirst quencher from Magic Cactus.

🆕 Check out the full gallery here

7 Brew is taking its rapid expansion beyond the drive-thru, rolling out canned coffees and energy drinks at Walmart as it looks to translate its growing foodservice following into a broader retail business. Read the story.

Collagen-infused tea maker Pretty Tasty is entering all Target locations nationwide, following rollouts with Sprouts Farmers Market and LifeTime Fitness earlier this year. Plus updates from Real Coco, Luba Libations, Cheribundi, On the Brightside, Ola Mate, KinderFarms and Prime Protein. Read the story.

Gallup’s highly anticipated report on consumers’ drinking habits was released Thursday, and like most years, the survey results’ underlying trends depend on which angle you’re cutting the data. Read the story.

The Q3 2026 Supply Chain Snapshot from Agrowgate finds beverage supply chains in a deceptively stable position. Markets have settled from some of the volatility seen earlier in the year, and overall supply remains functional, but that relative calm is masking persistent cost and availability pressures. Read the story.

Tired of chasing food, beverage, and beer reports across sites? The Nombase Data Hub, powered by BevNET, brings together consumer trends, category shifts, retail data, all in one searchable archive, powered by top research partners.

Insider-only access here.

What does it take for an emerging CPG brand to go from promising to investable? Brian Folmer, offers a behind-the-scenes look at how his “Shark Tank in a box” platform vets hundreds of brands before putting a select group in the hands of nearly 100 investors and how FirstLook Ventures takes that deal flow a step further by funding emerging companies alongside its investor community.

Listen to the full episode now

Also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

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