• 🚚 Spirits Distro: Total Wine Goes Gay, Bluebird Soars to TN
• 🎉 Getting Drunk On The Vibes
• 💧 Juvee Gets Wet
• 🥘 Just Add Bubbles

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Being a trailblazer for Vietnamese specialty coffee and the oft-overlooked robusta variety takes a lot of work but Brooklyn-based Nguyen Coffee Supply has built a following. With awareness and acclaim secured, the company is now looking to turn up velocities with the appointment of Michael “Buck” Williams to lead its national sales strategy.

☕  Buck Williams will serve as the brand’s national sales director, coming to the coffee company with over 18 years of experience building brands like Vitaminwater, Smartwater, Zico Coconut Water and, most recently, leading sales at Richard’s Rainwater for the past three years.

🫰 Nguyen Coffee has seen increased success since expanding into RTDs last year with its 3-SKU line of RTDs now nationally available in Whole Foods, doubling its retail footprint to around 1,000 doors. 

🥳 Founder Sahra Nguyen has herself had a big year in the public eye, gracing the cover of INC. magazine as one of the “Females Founders 200” list as well as receiving accolades from Crain’s New York and USA Today’s “Race in America” special edition issue.

This month in spirits distribution Gay Water hits Total Wine and the West Coast, Inspiro grows its territory, and the first hardwater on the market gains more ground. 

🌈 Gay Water, the canned vodka sodas named for a popular cocktail in queer bars is now in all Total Wine & More locations in NY and NJ, and soon to be in Southern California. The founder planned to originally hit queer-allied on-premise spaces at launch but has since changed strategy. 

🌎 After launching in Illinois in May of 2022 with Breakthru Beverage Group, Inspiro Tequila is breaking into several new states and showing off its new B-Corp status, which founder and CEO Mara Smith says lends credibility to a lot of the transparency work she was already doing. 

🐦 Bluebird Hardwater, an RTD combining premium spirits with non-sparkling water, has expanded into Tennessee, marking the company’s third state since debuting in New York and Florida in February. The flat water cocktail (?) is a quiet trend among bar-goers attempting to avoid hangovers and the effects of carbonation; other brands like Mom Water have tapped into it too. 

Read the full story on BevNET

Dry January is shaping up to be even bigger this year thanks to the Adult Non-Alcoholic Beverage Association (ANBA) hosting a three-day event in Washington D.C. to celebrate sober curious living. ANBA’s Mindful Drinking Fest is a partnership with Maria Bastasch’s “no-and-low” party promotion company Disco Mary and  mixologist, author and NA community leader Derek Brown.

🥴 The event will take place the weekend of January 26 and is expected to be the largest non-alcoholic beverage event to-date featuring tastings, seminars, brand activations and a sober rave hosted by Disco Mary.

🥂 ANBA has been active as of late, launching the first NA Beverage Pavilion at this year’s Expo East; according to NielsenIQ data provided to ANBA, NA beverage will bring in over $510 million in off-premise sales, an over 30% improvement compared to 2022.

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The stallions are out in Las Vegas this week, as the city's annual fine motors show concludes and Formula 1 prepares to take over the streets ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix this weekend. There's already a strong official beverage marketing presence in the form of Liquid Death and Heineken, but even outside the race beverage brands have been eager to rev up their marketing efforts in response. 

🤖 Reviews of its AI-formulated Y3000 flavor have been decidedly mixed, but that hasn't deterred Coca-Cola from going all-in behind the product with a splashy Las Vegas experience featuring the vaunted new Sphere venue. The AI-powered activation, which came to a close yesterday, was designed to transport visitors into a futuristic cityscape, replete with an appearance (via hologram) from the Jonas Brothers as well as an IRL surprise performance from EDM DJ Marshmello. 

🎩 Looking for something slightly more upscale? Head to the Wynn Hotel anytime through November 28 to experience the LOUIS XIII Cognac Boutique Pop-Up. The Magnum Decanter and tHE DROP Collection are just a few of the offerings you'll find at the shop, along with a range of accessories, with brand ambassadors on-hand to assist.

🍾 Drivers traditionally pop Champagne on the winner's podium, but Belvedere, Formula 1's official vodka partner, has something stronger: the Belvedere F1 Las Vegas Edition, which will be available both on and off the track this weekend. You can pick up a 1.75 liter bottle for $89.99 at ReserveBar. 

👟 Or, if you'd like to celebrate in the signature style of Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo, make your way to the Shoey Bar at the Bellagio from starting this Thursday, where you can sip (or chug) your drink of choice out of an MGM Resorts-branded driving shoe -- with waterproof beverage liners, of course.

Call it the PRIME Effect? Whatever the root cause, the path for fitness-lifestyle energy drinks to make the lateral move into the hydration space appears to be wide open. After seeing similarly gamer-focused brands like GHOST and G-FUEL playing in the category, Juvee is the latest brand to make the jump into powder-based hydration products.

🆕 The brand is introducing a powder stick line called Juvee Hydration in 12-pack bags ($19.99) in two flavors: Blue Raspberry and Kiwi Hydration, each of which contain BCAAs, vitmins, minerals and electrolytes. A 30-count variety pack is also available for $36.99.  

🧂 In terms of payload, Juvee Hydration offers around 300 mg sodium, 105 mg of magnesium, 470 mg of potassium and 130 mg calcium.

Sparkling water brand Spindrift is rethinking influencer marketing by launching a cookbook… with its network of influencers. 

Just in time for the holidays, Tastes of Home is a “collection of recipes, reflections  and real ingredients” using the brand’s Drifter Community of chef and mixologist creators to tell stories and use Spindrift’s drinks to make unique drinks and dishes.

📖 The cookbook features block cut illustrations by Heartell Press and is offering the book for free as part of a randomly drawn sweepstakes that includes a copy of the book and a pack of Spindrift sparkling water “because we believe the best things in life are better shared,” Spindrift wrote on its website.

John Martinelli, the brother of Natalie’s Orchid Island Juice founder/CEO Marygrace Sexton and a longtime VP at the cold-pressed juice company, passed away on Saturday in Vero Beach, Florida, the company reported on its Instagram account on Monday. 

Martinelli was hailed as the “man who helped establish the philosophy and foundation of Orchid Island Juice Company. We are humbled and transformed by the impact, devotion and passion you had for people and this company.

“Your presence was magnanimous, and your leadership was life-changing. Thank you from the lives you’ve touched. You will forever be at the heart of the company.”