Canadian food biz vet Hilary McCain has launched elegantly packaged CBD line called Sweet Reason Sparkling Water that offers rare female-tilting entry in nascent category.  The line packed in glass bottles reminiscent of wine coolers offers 7 mg dose of Colorado-sourced CBD and contains just 5 calories per 12-oz pack, in approachable, spa-like flavors Grapefruit, Cucumber + Mint and Strawberry + Lavender.  Highly bio-available CBD source makes the 7 mg equivalent to higher dosages in other products, Hilary told us earlier this week.  Clear liquid is intended to get away from “dirty water” feel of some brands in space.  McCain is operating on premise that, pioneering new ingredient like CBD, it pays to keep rest of product proposition as familiar as possible.  Brand name riffs on old expression for common sense, as cannabis and its therapeutic properties are welcomed back into daily lives with changing of legal regime.  McCain views line as balm for today’s anxiety affliction, tho without making overt health claim to that effect, offered in format that can be woven easily into common social occasions.

Toronto-based McCain grew up in family food biz and found herself blown away at sight of food execs leaving senior posts at established cos to head into cannabis.  But she didn’t encounter many bevs she found personally appealing, due to inconsistent dosages and lotsa sugar.  She created brand in Toronto in early 2018 and was ready to run it last Aug when, overnight, the biz became illegal in Canada, prompting crash that saw entrepreneurs lose funding and VCs returning capital to investors.  But with Farm Bill prospects looking promising in US, she decided to attack this market instead, selecting NY as base.  Production commenced last Nov and brand quickly entered about 150 stores in NY metro extending into Penn and Mass, including chains like Dean & Deluca, Westside Market and Korean H Mart stores.  But with city’s health dept sometimes cracking down on CBD products, she’s also begun looking further afield as a hedge.  In NY she’s been using Korean-focused distributor so far while holding discussions with indie houses. 

She’s in midst of raising small convertible note as bridge larger capital raise after finding some funds still won’t touch segment.  Overall, she notes, it’s way easier to raise money in Canada than US, where there’s still an underlying skepticism of segment.  So far her team includes a coo, marketing mgr and sales/biz development exec, but she’s in hunt for head of sales familiar with bev space as well as local reps.  Among her advisors is former Coke and Aquahydrate exec Hal Kravitz.  Info at DrinkSweetReason.com.

Whole Foods has pulled out all the stops with opening today of its 500th store in Atlanta’s Midtown nabe, a 4-story unit of 70K sq ft that includes 4 fast-casual eateries and extensive outreach to regional suppliers. New unit, which joins 11 other stores in metro area, boasts selection of 100+ beers and 1K+ wines includes offerings from 44 local producers, as well as 4 blends from coffee roaster Brash and Cucumber Lemonade from juice/smoothie player Arden’s Garden. Locally based Dtox Organic Juice has been recruited to operate juice bar offering smoothies, juice shots, cold-pressed blends and acai bowls. What’s called Canopy Court on rooftop has stadium seating, big-screen TVs and games, serviced by food truck dispensing local beers and wines, while 14 Street Bar overlooking 14 St and West Peachtree emphasizes local beers in its offerings. “Fruit & vegetable butcher” will cut produce to order. Coffee bar eschews usual in-house name, Allegro, in favor of Capital Commons in nod to Atlanta’s position as state capital. Store will host heavy slate of programming like open mic nights, meet-the-maker events with local purveyors and monthly galleries featuring local artists’ work.

“It might as well be you.” That’s tagline for major campaign breaking this month by fast-growing Essentia Water that enlists array of overachievers including KC Chiefs’ 23-yr-old quarterback Patrick Mahomes along with designer Danielle Guizio, chef Julian Rodarte and violinist who goes by Ezinma. At center of campaign for alkaline brand is short TV spot that, against portentous music, advises that “Somebody is going to pitch that crazy idea . . . do their own thing . . . make their name known,” and concludes, “It might as well be you,” say people who’ve seen early execution. Outdoor and print executions offer similar sentiments along lines of “Somebody is going to make waves” or “Somebody is trying to make a statement.” Outdoor ads position brand as “Supercharged ionized alkaline water.” We're hearing that campaign is budgeted in tens of millions of dollars as alkaline water continues efforts to break into mainstream. Co has been mum about effort, hosting event for trade partners at recent Natural Products Expo West at which creative apparently wasn’t yet quite ready for unveiling. But it aims to offer burst of further energy to brand that’s had a great ride in recent years and may be looking to juice topline in anticipation of exit in coming year or 2.

A few weeks ago we profiled Austin entrepreneur making a game try to put only domestically grown tea variety, yaupon, on Americans’ radar (BBI, Jan 11).  Rachael Serena Young was operating RTD biz as Texana Tea, riffing on Texas sourcing of plant.  But that was then.  “We’re killing Texana despite our little cult following,” she disclosed to us recently.  New moniker: YaYaYa.  New name riffs – very indirectly – on “yaupon,” but basically puts ingredient into background after Rachael decided it was simply too much of a lift to educate consumers on plant.  “That’s a $100 million problem we can’t solve,” she concluded.  (Another unsolvable problem these days: finding cans, meaning one thing that hasn’t changed in restage is reliance on glass-bottle format, tho Rachael would have liked to move to cans.)

New look goes from 12-oz glass bottle to Adina-style 14-ouncer at same $2.99 price, for what Young believes is first organic-certified RTD yaupon.  She’s sourcing ingredient from category pioneer Cat Spring, outside Austin, which focuses its own consumer biz on loose-leaf format.  “Wild Harvested North America,” disk on label proclaims.  “An elevated vibe,” positions label copy.  As for brand name, Young decided Texana was too pretentious, that consumers prefer “fun, even cheesy” in their brands.  Along those lines, expanded flavor range (7 now, from 4 before) includes Ooooh Ya (unsweetened lemon), Sunny & Sweet (with honey), Bright Brain (with rhodiola, rose and honey) and Aaalright (with honey and lavender lemonade).  Energy-oriented Marfa Lite (a reference to arts center in West Texas desert) now is Peaceful Power.  She’s upgraded distribution to FullClip Craft Distributors, Dallas-based house that covers whole state, including Whole Foods, for smaller craft beer brands like Rabbit Hole and New Braunfels as well as NAs like Holy Kombucha and Shade Tree Lemonade and Wild Tonic hard kombucha.  With all signals go after Young floated new look at recent South by Southwest fest, she’s ready to look beyond Texas borders, too.

For decades, before selling out to DBI in 2015, ME Fox was Bud distributor with uncommonly deft touch in craft beer and NA brands ranging from Snapple to Red Bull, serving diverse consumer target that included growing # of early adopter types at area’s burgeoning tech campuses.  Now the Foxes are edging back into beer and bevs via 15% stake they’ve taken in Gordon Biersch Brewing, leading capital round that got cofounder/ceo Dan Gordon over the hump in adding 250-per-minute Krones can line due this fall.  The partners hope the addition will make Biersch a go-to resource for growing craft brewers and NA bevcos in expensive market where labor and environmental regs make it difficult to operate.  Terence told us today that he’s getting word out well ahead of installation of line so prospective customers can line up their can supply, at time capacity crunch has extended timeline to 4-5 months (BBI, Dec 11).

ME Fox founder Mike Fox Sr, now 82, will serve as special advisor to Gordon Biersch, while son Terence, 48, will take board seat on co where he held his first job out of college, before heading to family biz.  After running day-to-day at ME Fox as prexy, Terence had segued over to acquirer DBI for a spell as vp before exiting the biz and concentrating on activities like commercial real estate and local cannabis dispensary.  Recall that Gordon Biersch was founded by Dan Gordon and Dean Biersch as specialist in German lager styles, with restaurant unit eventually spinning off to Rock Bottom (now owned by CraftWorks) while Dan continued to operate brewery sited in San Jose’s Japantown section.  Biersch moved on to concept called HopMonk Taverns.  Recent financing at Gordon Biersch Brewing was prompted by desire of longtime investors the Fertitta family to get its money out.

In discussion, Terence told us that close to 90% of Gordon Biersch Brewing’s output is contract production, tho he’s not at liberty to disclose specific clients.  He said big scale of brewing operation should recruit fledgling craft brewers wary of risks of expansion on their own as well as larger-size operations, along with increasing # of NA brands using cans as format.  He said brewery will solicit cos offering packaged sparkling waters, teas and other bevs except those like kombucha whose fermented nature introduces contamination risk to beers.  Canning line will be able to run slim and standard cans from 7-oz to 24-oz and offer secondary packaging like fully enclosed 4-packs, 24-packs and shrink-wrapped loose trays.  Existing Krones bottling line runs 350 units per minute.  Of course, on beer side, team also will be working to return to growth a Gordon Biersch brand that once was #2 kegged craft brand to Sierra Nevada.

Dunkin’ is losing no time augmenting its espresso offerings following $100 mil investment in training and new gear, now heading in more indulgent direction with whipped-cream-topped Blueberry Crisp, Caramel Craze and Cocoa Mocha Lattes, available hot or iced. As reported, Canton, Mass-based co has upped its game on espresso-based lattes and cappuccinos via investment, which it dubs “one of the most transformative product initiatives in recent brand history” . . . Red Bull North America has devoted a limited-time 8.4-oz canned offering to e-gamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, with consumers invited to upload pics or videos of how they creatively game for chances at meet-&-game with Ninja. The cans are out in 4- and 12-pks until supplies run out. As most followed Twitch poster, with 13 mil followers, Blevins has engaged in stunts like ushering in new year gaming on Twitch with soccer superstar Neymar Jr and other celebs.

Red Bull has confirmed it will shut down its much-lauded Red Bull Music Academy and Red Bull Radio activities on Oct 31, moving from centralized structure to one that relies more on local expertise both within its geographic units and outside co. Efforts trace roots to partnership with Yadastar marketing co in 1998 that launched academy in Berlin, expanding to global roster of creative hubs like London, Tokyo and Madrid with performances and talks with artists like Brian Eno, Questlove and Erykah Badu. The efforts drew wide, respectful coverage in publications from NY Times to Rolling Stone, which reported on dissolution of deal this week. Yadastar confirmed via Twitter that they’ve “agreed to part ways,” Rolling Stone reported.

New Age Beverages has cut a deal with Hudson News that gives its brands like Marley and Xing Tea access not only to Hudson News’ own locations at airports and other sites but to its distribution network servicing national chains like 7-Eleven, Circle K and Target. All told, NBEV is tallying the new doors at 15K concentrated in 11 Northeastern states plus the national chains serviced by Parsippany, NJ-based magazine distributor via 14 warehouses, 400 trucks and 2K+ merchandisers. Also among the natl accts serviced by Hudson News are Costco, CVS, Ahold Delhaize groceries, Walmart and Walgreens, per NBEV’s announcement. The New Age brands include Bucha Live Kombucha, Xing Tea, Marley and Coco Libre coconut water. Those brands also will get access to Hudson News’ ecommerce platform.