Yesly Enhanced Still Water Beverage, the much-anticipated functional water brand from Essentia founder Ken Uptain and his former ceo Scott Miller, has landed its first DSD partner: NY's Big Geyser, which has been a key partner in Essentia's breakout performance leading to its acquisition by Nestle. Scott confirmed assignment yesterday, saying partners were kicking off brand this week, both up & down the street and at key corporate and foodservice accounts via Compass. Retailer feedback so far has been very encouraging, he said, for brand that offers vitamins C, B12 and B6, is calorie-free and is packed in gulpable-size cans, 16-oz, at SRP of $2.49. It's initially offered in Black Cherry, Pomegranate Acai Blueberry, Kiwi Strawberry and Lemon flavors. Miller said Southern Calif is next DSD target, with assignments there hopefully concluded in coming weeks. As longtime Snapple exec before move to Tampico and then Essentia, Miller knows DSD landscape well. Note that others have sought to resolve enhanced-water conundrum to fill void left by stagnant Vitaminwater brand, including MyMuse brand launched at Big Geyser and then withdrawn by serial entrepreneur Lance Collins, who continues to tinker with concept. Geyser, of course, was a key incubation partner for Vitaminwater on its way to acquisition by Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola, along with its megabottling partners Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and Coca-Cola HBC, gotta be pleased that European regulators "have reportedly scrapped an investigation" that these 3 companies "granted conditional rebates" to retailers in several countries "in order to block entry of new drinks," reported Seeking Alpha today. Turns out, European Commission found "insufficient ground to further pursue the investigation," per report. "The closure of the investigation is not a finding that the conduct in question complies with EU competition rules," the EC emphasized in statement it issued. Still, it was unable to land a glove on soft drink giants.

Pete Marino, the point man on Molson Coors' effort to become a broad-based "beverage" company, per its name change of a few years ago, is departing the big brewer as part of a restructuring that is seeing the elevation of cmo Michelle St Jacques to newly created post of chief commercial officer for Americas region, effective tomorrow. Move inaugurates newly "centralized commercial function in its Americas business unit," co announced. Since MSJ joined the co, she's "built a track record of building brands and attacking white spaces with a consumer-first mindset to effectively drive our business forward," ceo Gavin Hattersley stated, praising her "bold swings in marketing" coupled with her "growth and commercial mindset" to collab across biz units. She's being succeeded in cmo role by brand vp for Miller Lite, Sofia Colucci, who's presided over multi-year revenue growth run for brand as well as revitalized Miller High Life trends last year.

BLK Water, which has built up a head of steam with its odd-looking but mineral-rich liquid, is about to attack 2 growth opportunities simultaneously at upcoming Expo West with canned sparkling version of what's been still bev packed in PET bottles. At natural foods megashow in Anaheim, Calif, next week, BLK will unveil sparkling extension packed in 16.9-oz (half-liter) cans and offered in Original form and 4 flavors: Dirty Lemonade, Strawberry Rhubarb, Celery & Apple and Elderberry. The line, which was the result of frequent retailer requests, will go out at SRP of $2.99, said Bob Groux, who's been running day-to-day at LA-based brand since its revival under new ownership group. BLK, recall, gets its unique color from abundant quantities of the beneficial minerals fulvic and humic acid.

Weathering an anticipated soft cycle in sales as co cycles pandemic-era boom and effects of price increase it took last summer, Talking Rain is keeping its eye in 2023 on pair of longstanding priorities: increasing the number of US households it penetrates, and accelerating the innovation that will help it get there, both under its core Sparkling Ice brand and under new brands. One brand getting a test within an innovative program called ICE Lab is so old that it may as well be new: ActivWater, an enhanced water brand that once was viewed as key growth engine as bevcos raced to fill void left by subsiding Vitaminwater. (The once-sleepy Sparkling Ice brand instead exploded into retail ubiquity as its full-flavor, zero-sugar message was embraced by consumers.)

Sign up now for the 2023 Beer Insights Spring Conference! This year's event will be held May 17-18 at the Four Seasons, Chicago, including an evening welcome reception on May 17 and a full day of programming May 18. So far, our program includes: a fireside chat with Mark Anthony Brands' recently appointed cco David Barnett; a data deep-dive with IRI executive veep of bev alc Scott Scanlon; the latest on distributor M&A with OMAC Beverage Advisors' managing partners John O'Connor and Sean McLaren; a craft brewer panel including Stone Brewing ceo Maria Stipp and Allagash director of sales Naomi Neville; a panel of alc bev legal experts with Lehrman Beverage Law's senior counsel Art Decelle, Hinman & Carmichael partner Rebecca Stamey-White, and Christopoulos Law Group principal Dimitri Christopoulos; and an up-to-the-minute presentation on all the latest trends and hot topics in beer from BMI prexy Benj Steinman.

Big are getting bigger in OH. Superior Bev Group will acquire 1-mil-case MC house based in Newark, OH, Brown Distributing, cos announced late yesterday. Deal's expected to close "sometime in March," and once complete, Superior will take on "all of Brown Distributing's 1,000,000 cases servicing 900 accounts in the Newark, Ohio market," per release. Puts Superior "over 20 million cases in the state," as co made over 50 acquisitions thruout 100 yrs in biz.

NÜTRL vodka seltzer's quirky debut natl campaign features Saturday Night Live cast member Chloe Fineman as new spokesperson, AB announced this morn. "The One With The Umlaut" campaign introduces NÜTRL on a national stage thru Günter, "a cheeky vodka seltzer sommelier" and spokesperson played by Chloe as she highlights the brand's various attributes, key flavors and "sleek, monochromatic looks." Campaign will roll out across the US on "connected TV, digital, OOH, social, radio and retail throughout 2023," including four 15-second ads and four 6-second ads, one for each core flavor: pineapple, watermelon, lemonade and cranberry.

For the first time in years, each of the top 7 growth brands thru the first 7 weeks of 2022 are lager beer brands, shows Bump Williams in BWC's monthly letter, citing Nielsen all-outlet data thru Feb 18. That's quite a switch. Even last yr, 3 of top 7 and 4 of top 10 growth brands for calendar 2022 were new hard seltzer variants. That had changed by Q4. And now YTD, only 1 top 25 growth brand is a seltzer (White Claw Surf at #17) as seltzers continue to decline.