• 🇺🇸 D.C. Tops Nevada In Cocktail Consumption
• 🤝 Climeworks Gives Valser Water Its Fizz
• 🏀 Olipop Goes Deeper In Sports Partnerships
• ✌️ Foxtrot Opens Second Chicago Store

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How serious is Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B) taking the explosion of interest around ‘adult’ non-alcoholic beverages? Serious enough to deploy one of its biggest, Gen Z-friendliest brands for a splashy new release set to hit stores in January 2025. 

Dubbed Michelob Ultra Zero, the new line of alcohol-free beer, announced this morning, will roll out to retail stores across the country in 12 oz. can 12-packs starting at the turn of the year. Six-packs of 12 oz. bottles are expected to follow in March 2025. Each 12 oz. serving contains 29 calories.

“As the non-alcohol beer category continues to grow, there couldn’t be a better time to unveil a superior alcohol-free brew for consumers,” A-B chief commercial officer Kyle Norrington said in a press release. “Complementing Michelob Ultra’s core product offering, which is driving industry growth, Michelob Ultra Zero stands out from the crowd with unique product attributes that fit even more social occasions.”

Of course, A-B’s already sports a robust portfolio of NA beers, but brands in the modern cohort – Budweiser Zero, Busch NA, Stella Artois Liberte and Golden Road Mango Cart NA – have notably each reported dollar sales growth YTD, in contrast to the decline of legacy brands O’Doul’s, St. Pauli Girl and Beck’s. 

So what makes this different? Michelob itself is a valuable label: the brand family is the third largest in off-premise retailers tracked by market research firm Circana. Within that mix, Michelob Ultra’s unique positioning as an athletic-lifestyle-focused super premium beer has given it a strong foothold in the evolving market. The brand is also A-B’s best-selling beer in off-premise retailers YTD, and is the No. 2 beer in multi-outlet and convenience stores in Circana-tracked channels YTD, with more than $2.39 billion in dollar sales YTD (+3.3%) and volume rising 2.9%. 

For more details on this breaking news, read the full story on BevNET.

Talk about stress drinking: Washington, D.C. just topped Nevada for the number one U.S. location for cocktail consumption.

🥥 With the election looming, we can’t say we’re surprised that cocktails in the capital are outperforming 2023 levels across times and days of the week, with the biggest increases recorded on hump day and mid-afternoons. We’re curious about how much of that spike can be attributed to coconut cocktails.

📈 The new data from NIQ’s CGA also shows the margarita continuing to win as top cocktail in nearly all states, although the mojito exceeds it by value in Nevada. 

🏨 On the opposite side of the spectrum: one-in-four hotel guests are now planning to skip bev-alc entirely over the next 12 months, meaning non-alc suppliers should be paying more attention to travel channels – but keep in mind that those guests aren’t spending on premium beverages.

Read the full story on BevNET for a full understanding of the report’s insights.

Swiss direct air capture (DAC) technology company Climeworks will now carbonate The Coca-Cola Company’s Valser sparkling water brand with air-captured CO2, as reported by Food&Drink Digital. 

🌬️ Climeworks uses DAC technology that draws ambient air into collector units using fans specifically designed to capture CO2 molecules. Once the filters have been saturated, they are heated to 100°C (212°F), which releases concentrated CO2 that can be collected and reused. 

⏪ The partnership comes approximately three years after Coke invested in the recycled CO2 technology to reduce its carbon footprint and emissions. 

💭 “We are excited by the chance to collaborate with a beverage industry leader as part of our overarching goal of capturing 1% of global CO2 emissions by 2025,” Jan Wurzbacher, Climeworks co-founder and Co-CEO told Food&Drink Digital.

Olipop is adding the WNBA’s NY Liberty to its series of professional sports partnerships. The move deepens the low-sugar, gut health-supporting brand’s connection to professional women’s basketball where L.A. Sparks star forward Cameron Brink already serves as a brand spokesperson.

⚽ In the last year, the better-for-you soda brand has lined up multi-year deals at the L.A. Clippers new Intuit Stadium and among professional soccer teams such as FC Cincinnati and Kansas City Current.

🚘 The company has also sponsored a number of Nascar race sponsorships with Legacy Motor Club and partnered with pro eSports team FlyQuest.

🥤 Olipop recently introduced a shelf-stable line of its sodas as it eyes additional placements in stores and looks to cast a wider distribution net that has, in turn, helped support the brand’s recent revenue boost.

Foxtrot Café and Market’s resurrection continues with last week’s opening of a second location in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood. The news comes less than three weeks since the next-generation convenience store reopened its first location after its sudden closure in April.

☕ The reopening of the Old Town location last Thursday brought the chain’s revived café-centric theme to the neighborhood which places a greater focus on coffee drinks and prepared foods as well as grocery products.

🧑‍💻 Some Chicagoans are not excited by Foxtrot return. A number of former employees, patrons and vendors have taken to social media to express their unhappiness about unpaid product orders and employee severance not being included in the company’s revival post-bankruptcy.

😠 Audrea Straub, owner of Plantscapes, posted: “Former vendor here and still waiting for my payment from March.”