• 🆕 This Week’s New Products
• 🤝 Döhler Buys Premier Juices
• 🥤 A Drink With…Tilray Brands
• ⚾ Health-Ade Re-Signs Dodgers
• ⏪ ICYMI: Ultraprocessed Talk
• 🏭 Kerry Opens Co-Creation Center
• 🎨 A Surprising Salvo On Artificial Colors. Plus, Ben Stiller... Pop?

U.S. adult non-alc (ANA) sales may be closing in on the $1 billion mark, but many bars – including some of the country’s upper echelon – aren’t on board yet with slanging zero-proof cocktails.

“A lot of bartenders treat non-alcoholic drinks the way chefs treated having a vegetarian option on the menu 20 years ago,” said Alex Jump, co-founder of Focus on Health, which advocates for the wellbeing of on-premise workers, and provides no/low consulting.

We last checked in with Jump in 2023, when the Forbes “30 under 30 Food and Drink” alumni was fresh off her company’s cross-country multi-brand sponsored no/low cocktail tour, now in its third year. The number of adult non-alc options for bars has shot up since then, many now backed by big spirits company distribution, but that doesn’t mean access is always a breeze. It’s part of why busy cocktail bars are still slow to hop on the trend, according to Jump.

Many ANA brands will gladly ship their products to bars and many distributors carry adult non-alc spirits now, but Jump hears that often distributors don’t keep those products in stock. So giving precious menu placement to one of those brands is a risk, and for a busy bar manager, just the one added step of ordering from elsewhere is enough of a deterrent. 

It’s also still challenging to innovate a thoughtful, non-alcoholic cocktail, added Jump, requiring more understanding of balance and flavor. Even direct replacement products, like a non-alc tequila, have preservatives or added sugar that could throw off a margarita recipe.

Education, of course, is key for ANA brand owners to help push through that challenge, including making sure ambassadors are tasting bartenders on NA spirits the right way (in a cocktail or soda water) versus straight. But that’s also not enough anymore because, well, we’re still in the early era of ANA… but past the Tofurky stage. 

“It's making bartenders want to use a product that they can wax poetically about to a guest,” Jump added. 

That may bode better for newer NA spirit innovations that have a sense of place or take a craft approach. Just like with spirits, cocktail bartenders want to tell a story about how something was made, what it was made with and why they chose it.

Go Deeper: Five Emerging No/Low Alc Opportunities

Co-branded collabs dominated this week’s new beverage launches, from Starbucks and Nespresso to Bang, VMI Sports and more. Here’s a preview of some of the hottest new items from this week:

🍊 Content creation collective Any Means Possible has aligned with Bang Energy for a new 16 oz. “Any Means Orange” co-branded flavor. 

🍬 Licensed candy flavors aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. VMI Sports is introducing a new line of PEZ flavored RTD beverages as part of the first tranche of a multi-year brand deal.

🫧 It’s not all co-branding! Hint is getting functional with its new sparkling water with electrolytes line, launching in four flavors in 12 oz. slim cans in Sprouts this month.

Check out the full gallery on BevNET.

We’ve got some juicy news: Natural ingredient provider Döhler North America announced today it has acquired Premier Juices to grow its offerings in fruit-based products and solutions. 

🍊 Premier Juice’s blending, packaging and quality control solutions expand Döhler’s capabilities with tailored formats for the food, beverage and life science and nutrition industries, as well as foodservice and private label business, per the announcement. 

🏭 The transaction includes Premier Juice’s facility in Delaware, which Döhler called a “key logistics hub” that will improve its supply chain efficiencies. 

When Tilray, Canada’s biggest cannabis company and one of the largest U.S. craft beer conglomerates, announced it would enter the intoxicating hemp beverage category, one of the main questions many asked was: why did it take so long?

📝 North America president Ty Gilmore spoke with BevNET recently about Tilray’s launch strategy for the new division: Alternative Beverages.

🌿 Tilray has already introduced three drinks in the segment with another two expected later this spring, all catering to slightly different use occasions and day-parts.

🚚 Although one brand – Happy Flower – will be operated through Tilray’s Wellness division, the rest of the drinks will be distributed by beer DSDs, leveraging Tilray’s relationships in craft beer.

🧑‍⚖️ Regulation will continue to be a concern for any hemp-derived THC drink maker as states press on legislation that inhibits the types of products permitted for sale and where they can be sold.

Check out the full interview on BevNET

Major League Baseball celebrated opening day yesterday, and Health-Ade celebrated the expansion of its partnership with reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers via a new co-branded canned kombucha available at the slugger’s Stadium and online.

🤝 Health-Ade first partnered with the Dodgers in 2023 (the brand’s first major sports partnership) and the company said it doubled in-stadium sales last year.

🍎 Now entering their third season together, Health-Ade’s Pink Lady Apple (in the co-branded can design) and Passion Fruit-Tangerine will be sold at the stadium through 2025.

🏠 The deal has gone a long way – particularly spurring growth in Health-Ade’s Hispanic shopper base, which increased 45% during the first season in 2023; overall household penetration grew to 7.6% last year.

Go Deeper: Health-Ade Opens Dodger Stadium Business

As the world navigates emerging scientific, regulatory and industry-centric approaches to the Ultraprocessed Food (UPF) debate, Nosh dove into how different constituencies are addressing the challenge. Here’s a look at some of the deep dives you may have missed:

💡 The CPG Industry’s Approach. We sat down with Megan Westgate, founder and CEO of the Non-GMO Project and the newly launched Food Integrity Collective (FIC) to learn more about how FIC is working to build industry guardrails around the designation of non-ultraprocessed food. That includes a new pilot program kicking off in the coming months. Get all of the details here.

🏛️ Regulatory Moves and Resource Allocation. Without a clear definition for UPF, the Make America Healthy Again crowd (lead by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.) faces hurdles as it works to restrain the category through regulation.  Read why, when it comes to drafting and enforcement of any new initiatives, there are numerous challenges.

🔬 What The Science Says, And Where It Falls Short. In a typical regulatory environment, legislators look to federally-funded, clinical studies to inform industry guidance. But when it comes to UPF, many of those gold-standard studies – long-term, comprehensive and double-blind clinical trials – are just getting started. Learn everything you need to know about where the science currently stands.

Kerry opened its West Coast Customer Engagement Center in Commerce, Calif., this week – a co-creation hub for regional food and beverage manufacturers.

🤖 The site will facilitate rapid product development and refinement and features an AI-powered concepting tool. 

🚀 Geared toward up-and-coming companies, Kerry’s new “Taste Alley” portfolio eliminates common early-phase barriers such as high minimum order quantities and long lead times for materials.

Is West Virginia’s groundbreaking move to ban artificial dyes in food the pebble that causes an avalanche? And, is Ben Stiller really leaping into an already crowded pool for BFY soda? Lots to discuss. We also sit down with Dan Grim, the CEO of functional drink manufacturer Lucky To Be Beverage Co.

Listen to the episode now. Also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.