After announcing a $4 million raise backed by celebrities and athletes earlier this week, Yerbaé co-founder and CEO Todd Gibson has unveiled one of the company’s latest sports alliances, announcing a new partnership with QB Collective and Collective Sports Advisors founder Richmond Flowers III to help introduce the brand to pro football coaches and athletes.

• Flowers is a second-generation former NFL player who now serves as CEO of QB Collective, a “pro-style development pipeline” for high school quarterbacks, according to the organization’s website. He also founded sports media company Collective Sports Advisors which represents NFL and college football coaches.
• According to Yerbaé, the partnership looks to integrate the brand’s plant-based energy drinks “into coaches’ daily lives.”
• The beverage brand announced on Monday it has closed the “first tranche” of an ongoing fund raise, bringing in multiple undisclosed athlete partners from the NFL, MLB and the U.S. Soccer Federation and establishing a Sports & Entertainment Board to help guide strategy and marketing.
• The company did not offer any financial details on the deal with Flowers or if it is at all related to the fundraise. But regardless, it underlines Yerbaé’s continued focus on the sports world from the pro leagues down to the high school level.

Explore the evolving world of convenience with Andy Steele from Olipop and BODYARMOR, alongside Vanessa Walker from NEW YOU BRANDS, as they break down the ever changing convenience store landscape. We'll discuss revenue and velocity expectations, what sustainable success looks like, and the range of players.

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We should have expected this – it was only a matter of time until someone took the concept of a hangover cure and tweaked it for aficionados of the other, most popular intoxicating product category. 

HIBEGONE (read: High-Be-Gone) is a new shot drink that promises to reduce or entirely eliminate the effects of THC in 15 minutes thanks to its not-FDA-evaluated formulation of L-theanine, alpha GPC, and THCV, the latter of which is also being studied as an appetite suppressant. 

How did they come up with this? Like many great food and bev inventions, HIBEGONE was apparently made by accident. A group of friends were trying to create a cognitive enhancement drink that could suppress appetite. One of the friends, referred to as Jeff, was dubbed “the perfect guinea pig” as he “was known for experiencing severe ‘couch-lock’ and munchies after smoking cannabis.” So the group fed Jeff their latest test formula, and to their surprise, drinking the concoction virtually eliminated their companion’s high. And thus, HIBEGONE was born.

That come down comes at a price, however: at $14.99 a pop (3-packs for $39.99 and a 12-pack for $120), you may end up both sober and poor, as the national average price of a high-quality joint is around $7.59.

Founded in 2016, Gunna Drinks is a UK-based line of “better made lemonade" that is now working on expanding into the U.S. with five uniquely flavored varieties. Can it make a splash on this side of the pond?

Read the full review on BevNET

At BevNET Live in Marina del Rey, CA, beverage brands can participate in Retailer One-to-Ones, presented by SIP, Hi Touch Libations and LA Vibrations. Decision makers from Albertsons Companies will be available for private, pre-scheduled conversations during the two-day event. Register to receive more information on signing up.

Getting kids (and adults, for that matter) to drink more water has been a constant quest for brands -- will the entrance of powdered "hydration multiplier" brand Liquid I.V. make an impact? 

• The new line is recommended for kids ages 1-12 and available in five new flavors: Concord Grape, Tropical Punch, Cotton Candy, Crisp Apple, and Banana.
• An 8-pack of single-serving powder sticks sells of $11.70 on the brand's website. 
• The closest direct competition? Probably SOS Hydration's Paw Patrol-licensed kids electrolyte mix.

Brook Eddy, the founder and CEO of Colorado-based tea brand Bhakti Chai, has published a new book detailing her journey to entrepreneurial success. Titled STEEPED: Adventures of a Tea Entrepreneur, the book is advertised as “Eat Pray Love meets How I Built This.” 

• Per the synopsis on Amazon, STEEPED is “part business memoir, part India travelogue” and “brimming with provocative prose, transcendent images of travel through India, and advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, idealists and travelers.” 
• Founded in 2007 with a commitment to sustainability, Bhakti Chai produces a line of organic chai concentrates available in original and unsweetened varieties.
• The products are available via the brand’s website for $59.94 per 6-quart case as well as at Whole Foods Market, Lucky’s, Alfalfa’s and Natural Grocers locations nationwide.

Keurig Dr Pepper-backed, foodservice-focused organic drinks maker Tractor Beverage Company debuted a new commercial for its “Escape the Ordinary” marketing campaign last month – which will include TV, digital streaming and cinema airings – and if you haven’t seen it yet, it’s a doozy.

• Available in 90, 30 and 15 second versions, the animated ad features a Valerie June-sung cover version of Duran Duran’s “Ordinary World” playing over a surreal sequence where a walking cup of ice defeats a gang of unhealthy packaged sodas using a fountain dispenser and then later drops Mentos into a bottle of cola and rides it into the sky. Look, it’s kinda hard to describe, maybe just watch it for yourself.
• We first wrote about the campaign last month (see our July 12 newsletter). Since then, Tractor was named to the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing private companies in the U.S.
• Yesterday, Tractor announced that it had appointed Swapna Mony as its VP of Innovation and Quality. Mony comes to the company from Cargill where she most recently served as Sr. Market Manager of Distribution.

Last week, we reported that Italian spirits group Campari has the firepower for a major acquisition. Now, researchers are naming possibilities for that deal.

• Deutsche Bank researchers are forecasting an acquisition or merger with a spirit company that has an active presence in the U.S. and Asia.
• By assessing the top 50 groups and cross-referencing them with nine pieces of criteria Campari may consider, Deutsche Bank landed on three possible companies that may be into a deal:
• Scotland-based premium spirits producer, Edrington; French group Rémy Cointreau; and William Grant & Sons, a family-owned Scottish distiller which owns Glenfiddich Whisky and Henrick’s Gin.
• Campari has completed 40 acquisitions in the last 10 years.

WES Brands, the celebrity spirit incubator founded by Diageo and Southern Glazer's veterans, announced a new partnership with Kentucky-based Heaven Hill Brands yesterday, though details were scant. 

• Heaven Hill is one of the larger family-owned distilleries in the U.S., with a portfolio that includes Evan Williams Bourbon, Elijah Craig plus the diverse Samson & Surrey portfolio which the company acquired recently. 
• Dallas-based WES Brands formed soon after several of its founding members were part of the $610 million sale to Diageo of Aviation American Gin. The company is focused on the growth of its actor-backed brands: Mark Wahlberg’s Flecha Azul Tequila and Jamie Foxx’s BSB Flavored Whiskey. This is the first partnership of its kind for WES.
• The company has taken a staggered approach to its releases, testing out markets before utilizing the Southern distribution network for a national roll-out.
• “While I can't share the identity of our next celebrity partner today, I'm confident the industry will take notice,” said Stein.

Yesterday’s newsletter featured a look into the latest NielsenIQ sales data, which BevNET receives on a regular basis via Goldman Sachs Equity Research. And as noted yesterday, that data set may use different sourcing and metrics than those of other market research groups. NielsenIQ uses US xAOC (eXtended All Outlet Combined) including Convenience Stores to summarize multi-channel markets and aggregate all national cross-outlet market data, and includes certain retailers (Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s) that other providers do not. In contrast, SPINS and Circana offer US MULO (multi-outlet) data.