For all the buzz and fascination with competition policy and its application to the alc bev industry in the last couple of years, there may not be much substance there, a pair of legal experts explained during opening session of the NABCA Legal Symposium yesterday. Given lack of strong public demand for change to the "laws that govern competition in the alcohol industry," and no consensus among industry members about it, atty Richard Blau doesn't see "any meaningful change…coming any time soon," he explained during first NABCA session. The federal gov't generally responds to "proximate cause," he said, citing a wise dinner guest from the prior evening. That is, they react when they have to, when there's some pressing concern, especially for the public. And "I don't think that it exists in the alcohol context."

MC partnered with college basketball broadcasting legend Dick Vitale for new Coors Light ads running thruout March Madness. The 15-second TV spot begins airing during next week's playoff tournament, looking to give the notoriously boisterous broadcaster a chance to "find his chill" with Coors Light all month long. He's also featured in 30-second spot for Coors Light Coors-icles, the limited-edition beer flavored popsicles, depicted shushing fans and handing out Coors-icles to help "when your bracket implodes…cause if they can help Dickie V chill, they can definitely help you." Coors-icles will be available at 800 participating bars across the country starting Mar 16 and online for $20.23 per 6pk as of today. Coors Light will also leverage its "30-plus college basketball alliances to provide co-branded assets" like posters, coasters and aluminum cups in those mkts.

The small courtroom at the US District Court in lower Manhattan was packed, but vast majority of people there were outside counsel or work for either ABI or Constellation. There were close to 30 in room yesterday. The daily costs of this trial alone must be staggering, not to mention the hundreds of filings and all the prep. And there could be a second trial on damages. Given what's potentially at stake, and how the trial has progressed so far, an appeal seems likely as Judge Kaplan himself acknowledged last week when he quipped "save it for the Second Circuit" to Constellation attys. Judge continued to focus his sharpest critiques on Constellation, at one point telling on STZ atty: "If you had tried more cases, you'd have a better understanding." At the end of the day, he praised same atty, adding: "Lawyers are supposed to fight for their clients. You sure do. That's impressive."

A lengthy sidebar without jury present yesterday morning resulted in judge finally allowing 1 page of a deck which Constellation said would be "highly prejudicial" to jury. If allowed, STZ atty said it wanted to move for a mistrial, with jury present. Judge denied Constellation that, but these issues will undoubtedly come up again.

Soylent Nutrition has brought aboard a PhD who led Danone’s Vega plant-based nutrition brand to serve as its vp of product development & innovation. Julie Daoust, who boasts PhD in organic chemistry from Univ of British Columbia, had enjoyed 5+ years at Vega, also in BC, most recently as sr dir of research & innovation. Earlier in career she worked in QA role at Canadian supplement maker Clef des Champs, after pursuing doctoral research “bioprospecting” in marine organisms for drug ideas.

Starbucks has given at least a faint nod to oatmilk with plans to introduce the dairy alternative into handful of its Reserve stores. As of today, Elmhurst’s oatmilk is available as creaming option in 5 stores: big roasteries in Seattle and NY, Reserve store inside SBUX hq and single Reserve bars in Seattle and SF. Three of co’s Princi bakery locations also will offer oat milk. Given tidal wave that oatmilk – notably Swedish Oatly brand – has created among third-wave coffee roasters, some observers were surprised at tepid step taken by Seattle roasting giant. “Honestly, we’re pretty shocked that Starbucks isn’t using cult-favorite oat milk brand Oatly,” offered TheDailyMeal.com, adding, “The non-dairy milk alternative is going to be one of the biggest food trends of 2019.” Baristas have embraced ingredient in part because it froths much like dairy milk, enhancing latte art, but have sometimes been frustrated by out-of-stocks as Oatly scrambles to bring online a massive plant in NJ. Starbucks has previously embraced soymilk, almondmilk and coconutmilk at its stores alongside traditional dairy milk offerings. It began offering oatmilk at its European stores a year ago, CNBC noted.

Just Water, the sustainably packaged water brand devised by Jaden Smith with his dad the actor Will Smith, broadened range of its year-old flavored extensions while also adding unflavored electrolyte sku, all while continuing downward trajectory of frontline price. The new flavors due in summer will be Mint Blackberry and Mint Cherry, augmenting initial lineup of Lemon and Tangerine, said Kara Rubin, vp of brand & product strategy at parent Just Goods. As for the “electrolyte infused spring water,” that’s been developed with co with proprietary filtration technology to extract minerals directly from seawater, rather than adding powdered minerals to water. TDS (total dissolved solids) is mere 79 ppm vs more than double that in some other brands. The core water, flavors and electrolyte extension are all line-priced at new front line price of $1.29 per half-liter carton at key retailers like Whole Foods.

 For years the big story at Talking Rain has been its Sparkling Ice brand, once-neglected regional entry that’s been nurtured into significant national brand as zero-calorie sweetened water that’s a nice segue from folks’ Diet Coke habits.  Now Seattle-area co is giving its core brand, Talking Rain, a bit more attention, taking small steps to expand it further down West Coast from Pac NW bastion and offering a sparkling essence water after similar effort under Sparkling Ice brand didn’t pan out.  At show, co was sampling Talking Rain Sparkling Water, in La Croix-like 8-pks of 12-oz cans in Original (unflavored), Lemon Lime, Peach Nectarine, Grapefruit, Mountain Berry and Black Cherry.  It’s also available in 1-liter PET bottles in 4 of those flavors, and in 30-bottle variety pack.  Presence at Expo signaled intention of broadening geographic footprint, initially by moving further down West Coast.  Staffers confirmed that essence water launched by Sparkling Ice as a counter to La Croix has been discontinued. 

Also being shown was Talking Rain + Caffeine, essence waters in different set of flavors that contain modest 50 mg hit of caffeine sourced from coffee beans.  That’s due in May in the co’s core Pac NW footprint in 8-packs of 12-oz cans priced at $3.29 and 30-pk of 16-oz bottles at $9.99.  The flavors are Blood Orange, Summer Melon, Green Apple and Passion Fruit.