• 🤽 Sport Drink Goes Back to Basics
• 🚚 Ponyboy, Hella Cocktail Dig In Regions
• 🪴 Cheech & Chong Challenge CA Hemp Ban
• 🥬 Starbucks Goes Green

Having raced to the top of the THC charts, BREZ is hoping to find its Flow state. 

The Florida-based brand has been on a prodigious tear – all documented on social media by co-founder Aaron Nosbisch – primarily driven by its two THC-and-CBD-infused SKUs that ship DTC nationwide (except to Alaska, District of Columbia, Idaho, Kansas and Washington). But here’s a surprise: around 40% of sales come from the recently reformulated Flow, BREZ’s non-THC-infused line in 12 oz. cans. The product is playing an increasingly prominent role in showcasing BREZ’s credentials as a full-fledged functional beverage company “that meet a wide range of mood and functional states, with or without THC,” said Nosbisch.

Developed based on consumer feedback, Flow’s revamped formula – now with black seed oil, cacao and l-theanine along with the 2200 mg of lion’s mane mushrooms per can – promises a “more targeted and elevated effect that resonates with our core mission of optimizing the drinking experience,” said Nosbisch. For a mainly DTC brand, it’s also a runway to retail growth: Flow is currently available in around 800 doors, having doubled distribution in the past three months, Nosbisch said, while teasing ongoing “discussions with several major retailers and distributors” about future expansion. 

But despite the restrictions around THC, moving into non-intoxicating functional drinks doesn’t exactly relieve the competition. The burgeoning ‘adult non-alcoholic’ category already boasts a diverse field of players appealing to a range of need states – from Kin Euphorics to Odyssey to Recess to Emotional Support Beverage, just to name a few. In today’s beverage landscape, there’s a chance consumers may be more familiar with the effects of functional mushrooms and THC than they are with cacao and black seed oil.

Of course, it can’t be ignored that this move comes against the backdrop of a THC beverage backlash, led by high-profile liberal governors in California and New Jersey. As individual state governments take action, the industry has turned its attention to shipping direct to states that have yet to enact regulations; it was mentioned as an explicit goal in a press release announcing Canopy USA’s new online platform back in August. For its part, while recent regulatory news has been “disappointing,” BREZ isn’t “standing still,” said Nosbisch, a member of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable board.

And why should they? Having already proved they can sell RTD beverages online, creating DTC-friendly products like powders, shots and other formats should be even easier, right? Nosbisch didn’t tip his hand on what’s coming down the road, but promised details on innovations that “complement our core products” to arrive in the coming months. 

Catch Up: California Approves Hemp THC Ban

There’s simplicity in branding, and then there’s Sport Drink. The young, powdered electrolyte hydration brand appears to be staking a claim to the Sports Drink category not just with its name, but also with a feisty social media presence aiming straight at the competition.

⛔  Sport Drink sells a single powdered hydration mix for $59.99 per 30-serving jar online. The brand touts that it contains “No BS” like corn syrup, chemical additives or synthetic dyes and is packaged in a glass container – the format originally used by Gatorade for the first several decades of that brand’s existence.

🐊 The company said the drink itself was also modeled after the original formulation of Gatorade, in order to provide a back-to-basics approach to hydration beverages.

🥊 Sport Drink isn’t shy about going after the category leader by name including PRIME and Liquid I.V. The brand’s X (Twitter) account has shared a number of posts and memes mocking and criticizing the competition. 

⏪ While all’s fair in love and war, it’s worth remembering that just this month startup CPG brand Chubby Snacks was hit with a lawsuit from The J.M. Smucker Co., accusing it of defamation over a number of social media posts attacking its Uncrustables brand by name.

A branding wizard turned coffee maven. The leader of an investment group that provides funding and support for beverage startups. A technology and manufacturing executive who found meaning in the soda business. They’re the first three speakers we’re announcing as appearing at BevNET Live Winter 2024, taking place on Dec. 8-10 in Marina del Rey, California.

• Sharad Chadha, the CEO of Sprecher Brewing in Milwaukee, Wisc., who has turned what had been a regional brewery into a fast-growing regional maker of craft sodas, energy drinks and more.
• Heidi Dillon, the CEO of Distill Ventures, a venture firm and accelerator leading the development of innovative brands at the crossroads of spirits and NA beverages.
• Craig Dubitsky, the CEO and Co-Founder of Happy, a coffee brand he started with actor Robert Downey, Jr. and one of the country’s leading CPG innovators and entrepreneurs

Early bird pricing is still in effect for BevNET Live Winter 2024. Register now for a chance to learn from these inspirational and informative beverage industry leaders.

Our latest distribution roundup finds Eva Longoria’s Casa Del Sol securing a national deal with a major distributor and Hella Cocktail Co’s new RTD margarita line building a California footprint, while Ponyboy Slings celebrates a packaging refresh with bigger moves into Nashville and Kentucky. 

🏇 You might remember Ponyboy Slings, the 2023 BevNET Cocktail Showdown champion, for its twist on nostalgic bourbon cocktails. The brand moved into the East Nashville market last week, with a wider launch expected come spring 2025, and is now sold in Whole Foods’ Kentucky markets.

🔪 Eva Longoria – who stars in the latest season of Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building – is taking her tequila to 41 states with Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits after appointing an industry veteran as COO. Now, the brand will leverage the distributor’s access to high-volume accounts while pursuing on-premise traction.

🍸 Bitters and mixers brand Hella Cocktail Co hit the SoCal streets with its first bev-alc offering, Hella Margaritas, and is now on the shelves of major chains as well as 200 independent liquor stores. We talked to co-founder Eddie Simeón about how they got liquid to lips. 

Read the full story on BevNET for more distribution moves.

The eponymous cannabis company of famous stoners Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong, in addition to trade organization the U.S. Hemp Roundtable Inc., filed a complaint last week claiming that California Governor Gavin Newsom’s move to ban “intoxicating hemp products” in the Golden State is an overreach.

 The complaint alleges that the emergency regulations, which went into effect last week, circumvents existing federal law legalizing industrial hemp in the 2018 Farm Bill by drawing a distinction between intoxicating and nonintoxicating cannabinoids.

❌ The plaintiffs are seeking a temporary restraining order on enforcement of the new rule while the case is argued in court.

🧑‍⚖️ In the complaint, the parties contend that the California regulation is counter to existing laws  of industrial hemp in food and beverage laid out in the state’s 2021 law A.B. 45.

💬 "Plaintiffs and their members will suffer losses in the millions of dollars over existing products, pending manufacturing, and future sales of hemp and hemp products that legally contained THC, as per existing California and federal law, but have now been banned overnight by the emergency regulations," the complaint said.

Learn more about how the emergency regulations might impact California on BevNET

Starbucks is seeing the green… juice, that is. While the company has not issued an official press release, social media posts seem to indicate there is a blooming partnership with AG1 (a.k.a. Athletic Greens) to offer green juices on-premise at its cafes around the country.  

📲 Posts on Reddit and TikTok showcase posters from Starbucks stores showing two new AG1 offerings on menu – Iced AG1 Coconutmilk Blend and Iced AG1 Watermelon Blend.

☑️ AG1 sells a variety of powdered green juice and smoothie mixes with much of its business coming from ecommerce. The company confirmed the partnership with Starbucks on LinkedIn this weekend.