• 🆕 This Week’s Hot New Sips
• 📊 Monster: Hold My Beer, It’s Hurting Sales
• ❤️‍🔥 Spirits, Canned Cocktails Chase Spicy
• 🚰 Nestle To Sell Waters
• 🪨 Westrock Posts 'Solid' Results
• 🔵 Pepsi to Coke: This Still Ain’t Over
• 🍋 Behind The Scenes Of A ‘Perfect’ Brand Refresh

This spring’s crop of public company earnings offered a mixed bag of results, as large players struggled, smaller brands soared, and “economic uncertainty” was the phrase of the month. As we close the books on Q1, here’s some of our main takeaways.

Energy Slow, Plant-Based Fast Out the Gate. Energy drink makers reported slow starts to 2025, with both Monster and Celsius posting Q1 revenue declines.

• Monster has been battling supply chain headwinds for multiple months and its core energy drinks – including Bang and Reign – fell during the quarter. 
• Celsius – fresh off its acquisition of Alani Nu – said revenue was down 7% in Q1, including a 10% dive in North America.

The energy category has experienced a multi-year boom since the late 2010s, but the period of consistent double-digit category growth may now be behind us, with Celsius leveling out after an impressive ramp that cemented it as the number three U.S. energy brand.

Pricing action is likely to come, both to push growth and mitigate the effect of tariffs. But even if the category’s leaders plateau (for now), it’s worth remembering energy is still immensely popular with young consumers.

Meanwhile, plant-based brands like Vita Coco and Oatly kicked off the year in shows of strength. Oatly promised it was on track for its first profitable year in 2025, and Vita Coco posted a healthy 17% net sales boost. Others, such as SunOpta and Laird Superfood, had similarly positive results to open the year.

Tariff Troubles. Speaking of tariffs, “global economic uncertainties” loomed heavy over many of the past month’s earnings reports, particularly for brands that are deeply reliant on importing ingredients like Vita Coco and Black Rifle Coffee Company.

• Despite admitted uncertainties, many executives projected confidence that they would be able to manage – well, at least if the policy remains at a 10% flat tariff (and there’s no guarantee).

At the top manufacturers, strategics had differing attitudes to the days ahead… 

• PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta said they’re “actively planning mitigation actions” to deal with spiraling supply chain costs. 
• Coca-Cola was a tad more nonchalant, expecting the coming months to be “choppy” but “manageable.”
• The term “wait and see approach” came up multiple times across calls, though some execs, such as Laird CEO Jason Vieth, said that price increases could be in the pipeline as a last resort.

Dig Deeper into each report rundown on BevNET.

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🍸 Free AF expanded its portfolio of non-alcoholic canned cocktails with three new offerings: Margarita, Chili Margarita and Mango Margarita. The products are now available at Sprouts Farmers Market and Target.

🌊 Ahead of the film’s release, Joyburst is promoting Lilo & Stitch (the 2025 live-action version) with a new Tropical Fruit Punch flavor. Additionally, the hydration brand has released Hydration Stick Packs in Strawberry-Lemonade and Watermelon Varieties. 

💪 C4 launched its “most advanced pre-workout formula yet”: C4 Alpha Bomb. The new product contains 336 mg of caffeine, featuring Deura9 (d9-caffeine), a first-to-market stimulant created by d9 Designs. 

Check out the full gallery on BevNET.

We didn’t think it was possible, but are consumers really giving up their energy drinks? Monster would argue hell no – and yes, the April numbers have picked up – but there’s at least some uneasy chin-stroking this morning as the company’s Q1 earnings report reveals a 2.3% drop in net sales.

🚨 Monster’s core energy drinks business dipped slightly ($1.71 billion, compared to $1.72 billion the year prior) but there were more alarm bells in Alcohol Brands, where sales dropped over 38% from the same period in 2024. Excluding alcohol, currency-adjusted net sales increased 1.9% during the quarter.

🔽 Still, Monster’s performance isn’t an anomaly: this week has seen publicly traded energy drink brands like Celsius and Black Rifle each report soft earnings for Q1.

Read the full story for more on what’s next for Monster’s alcohol brands and its innovation plans.

A heat wave is hitting the liquor shelf as spirit brands and ready-to-drink cocktails aim to spice up sales with new fruit and hot pepper-driven flavors. 

🔍 Just look at the releases that hit in the month leading up to spring break: a tamarind-spicy party shot backed by Spirit of Gallo, a caliente tequila Fireball replacement, and the Captain’s own sweet chili lime rum. 

🌶️ Spicy and hot pepper-inspired spirits is still a small segment, accounting for just 0.3% of total dollar sales for spirits in off-premise channels, but sales for the segment are up 5% for the latest 13-weeks. So where is the growth coming from? 

🔆 Innovation is fueling expansion. New products introduced over the past year account for about 40% of brands that are growing. Tequila and RTDs are also driving the segment, but bartenders are increasingly looking elsewhere to play with more “complex” spice.

Read the full story on BevNET.

Nestle has hired Rothschild as an advisor on the sale of its water segment portfolio this year, per a Reuters report. 

⏪ The report follows a November announcement that the multinational would carve water out into its own standalone business unit, which could be valued at over $5.6 billion. 

🤝 The company noted at the time of the announcement it is open to partnerships or dealmaking and the recent report highlighted it aims to retain a stake in the unit, wherever it lands. 

Westrock Coffee Company brought in a healthy 11.1% net sales boost in Q1, despite a steep fall in gross profits as it got its new Conway, Ark., production facility up and running.

👍 In its Q1 2025 earnings report this week, CEO Scott T. Ford called the results “solid” and reaffirmed prior guidance for both this and next year.

💱 Net sales were $213.8 million, but gross profit fell 22% to $29.1 million as net losses remained high at $27.2 million.

🏭 What he said: “In our Conway, Arkansas extract and ready-to-drink manufacturing facility, we are making great progress as we scale up the sales volume throughput in the facility, and the launch of our second single serve cup facility in Conway has exceeded our expectations.”

As if we needed something else to fight about in 2025, Pepsi is reviving the classic “Pepsi Challenge” to stick it to rivals Coca Cola right in their backyard.

📍 Pepsi has staked out multiple locations across Atlanta through Saturday to host the famous blind-taste test, which this time sees Pepsi Zero Sugar pitted against Coke Zero Sugar. 

• Why now? May 8 was National Have-a-Coke Day, which we assume makes Pepsi shake with rage.

⏪ For history’s sake, recall way back in 1975 – when Pepsi inaugurated the first ‘Challenge’ – the fight for dominance was around two artificially-colored sodas packing around 40 grams of sugar per 12 oz. can. MAHA, indeed.

After a challenging 2024, Lemon Perfect knew it was time for a reset. Founder Yanni Hufnagel led the charge with a reengineered bottle and improved formula, but the brand’s comeback wouldn’t be complete without a revitalized look. Enter Paula Grant and her creative studio Suite9C, tasked with developing a daring visual identity refresh. This is the story of how a brand turned setback into spotlight.

Tune into the episode here. Also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.