Whole Foods has tapped its global buyers and other foodies on staff to suss out key food trends for coming year. Among bev-relevant trends that made their top-10 list: floral flavors, super powders, functional mushrooms, technologically manipulated plant-based items and sparkling bevs, less wasteful "root-to-stem" foods/bevs, and - surprise, surprise - sparkling bevs. And transparency in labeling will rule, not just on calories but also areas like GMO, Fair Trade, animal welfare standards. Other, less bev-relevant trends heralded by report include Middle Eastern foods, puffed and popped snacks and taco variations that may exclude the actual shell. Some excerpts:

Gosling's Rum, which broke its first TV ad back in Jun to herald its canned ginger beer as perfect accompaniment of its Black Seal Bermuda Black Rum, has added another spot to highlight the highly mixable bev. Gosling's, of course, gets general credit for creating that now-resurgent cocktail in Bermuda in 19th century. The 15-second spot, like the earlier one, features prexy/ceo Malcolm Gosling strolling through barrel-aging room. "The thought of mixing my award-winning Black Star Rum with any old ginger beer . . . drove me to this," he declares, plunking down 12-oz can of ginger beer onto counter. "Perfectly made to make the perfect Dark 'n' Stormy," he assures viewers. Earlier ad had adopted similar theme, with Gosling confiding that "there's actually way to improve upon Gosling's slowly aged Black Seal Rum . . . Add it to Gosling's finely spiced ginger beer. The result: a trademark Dark & Stormy." Also in campaign has been ad themed to America's Cup, contrasting yachters' pursuit of fast with Gosling's pursuit of slow - both with same aim of attaining perfection.

Miami-based Powerful, another of the Greek yogurt makers that's extended into drinkable varieties, said it's raised total of $4 mil in equity and asset-based loans to stoke further innovation efforts and build out retail effort. The undisclosed portion that comprised the Series B capital round was led by River Hollow Partners, PE shop focused on consumer and retail brands in natural space that becomes first institutional partner for co founded by ceo Carlos Ramirez. River Hollow enjoyed successful exit from Sir Kensington's condiments co and currently is investor in Premama maternity drink mixes as well as Dancing Deer Baking Co. The loans were from Gerber Finance. Launched 4 years ago, Powerful claims by now to be in 10K retail doors, including Walmart, Target, Stop & Shop and Shoprite, with its 3 high-protein platforms: Powerful Yogurt, Powerful Drinks and Powerful Oatmeal. Co also offers an online subscription model. UC Berkeley grad Ramirez boasts resume that includes stints at Zyman Group, consultancy founded by former Coke cmo Sergio Zyman, as well as at Zumba Ventures, where he helped intro Latam Functional Beverages Co, and gm role at yogurt marketer Alpina Foods just before he went off to do his own yogurt thing. His idea in launching Powerful was to harness brand name, black graphics and "man-sized" packs to offer hi-protein option that tilts toward males. Co started with Greek-style yogurts in 2013, added drinks in 2015 and then oatmeal last year.

InterContinental Beverage Capital has teamed up with science-driven player New Tree Fruit Co LP, investing in and offering its range of biz development services to Traverse City, Mich, co that's found way to extract nutrients from fruit while leaving the sugar behind. That, of course, is holy grail for fruit juice biz that can offer serious nutrition but at cost of high calorie count that's been scaring away increasing # of consumers. Quest has inspired other entrepreneurial ventures, notably Koa Olakino, which derived its technology from Mexican growers, tho Koa this year threw in the towel after running into funding problems (BBI, Apr 25 2015 and Jun 15 2017).

Body Armor's electrolyte-reinforced SuperWater has been accepted chainwide at Kroger groceries, exec of NY-based co told BBI at event heralding UFC ties last night (story above) . . . New Age Beverages said it's aligned with Unified Strategies Group to place its range of healthier bevs into the 1 mil vending machines, 5K micro markets and 1,800+ client dining facilities that USG serves in US. New Age portfolio includes likes of Xing Tea, Aspen Pure Water, Marley's Mellow Mood relaxation line and Coco Libre coconut waters.

Looks like Japanese tea giant Ito En is up and running and its new facility in Brooklyn's up-and-coming maker haven, Industry City: it's introducing special loose-tea blend called Brooklyn Breakfast that it boasts has been "crafted in small batches and hand blended in Brooklyn." Limited-edition tea "is a loving homage to the eclectic community that's been home to Ito En North America for more than 10 years," said evp Rona Tison. The brew combines single-estate black tea with Colombian coffee, cranberries and orange peel, SRP of $14.99 per canister. Also debuting as LTOs are blends called and Spice in a Cup, Holiday Spirit and Festive Winter. Ito En, of course, is best known on RTD side for its Teas' Tea line . . . Red Bull North America has unveiled limited-edition Street Fighter can series featuring 5 characters to celebrate 30th anniversary of videogame from Capcom. The cans feature codes under tab that are redeemable for in-game value such as Red Bull skins, on PlayStation4 devices. On-can scan-to-unlock Snapcode reveals unique Street Fighter filters tying to specific character on can, with one can unlocking an interactive lens, RBNA said . . . Coca-Cola has gone big - to 16-oz size - for special can issued to commemorate Houston Astros' playoff run that culiminated in World Series win. They're available at Timewise and Family Dollar stores. KO also is pitching 8-oz glass bottles featuring Astros' logo, via CokeStore.com.

Accelerated deadline has come and gone, but many (perhaps most) Bud wholesalers out west don't seem to have signed contract to pick up distribution of Hiball Organic Energy, miffed over terms they view as less than attractive and possibly setting bad precedent for future launches. As reported, brand is being rolled out to Bud network in western third of country first, with brewer setting aggressive deadline of having executed contracts back by Sep 22 and rollout under way by Nov 1 (BBI, Sep 18). Well, the signing deadline has passed and so has Nov 1 and we don't see much action so far, even tho lotsa Bud houses are hurting on their core beer biz and might welcome an on-trend energy entry, as A-B delves progressively deeper into NAs. Obviously, it's sensitive issue and nobody's talking on record, tho from what we hear A-B's NA vp, Mike Taylor, has told some he'll see tweaks he can make to improve the vibe. It's not clear what options A-B has if some wholesalers don't sign; hard to believe it would put brand into rival Miller house, and in some markets 3d-party options are scarce. As an indie, Hiball hadn't gone in much for DSD itself, so there's no existing network to tap into for now. Hiball cofounder Todd Berardi didn't respond to inquiry we sent his way early this week.

Elyxir Beverage, diversified beer and NA house based in Watsonville, Calif, may have the distinction of being the first DSD partner enlisted to sell Red Bull in N America, back in 1997 when Austrian energy brand began its US assault in NorCal. But that 20-year run as partner of Red Bull North America has come to an end, with Elyxir principal Skip Ely (the "ely" in "elyxir") last night confirming recent rumors that axe had fallen. Skip said he couldn't comment beyond confirming that Elyxir was first house and that it is no longer a partner. He added: "I don't understand why." RBNA will self-distribute in territory, likely auguring a dropoff in service levels but enhanced profitability as it cuts out middle man. If Elyxir's contract was anything like most other Red Bull houses', it gets no meaningful buyout on way out, tho it surely prospered immensely riding energy icon's growth over past 2 decades. With rumored termination of another among few remaining DSD partners in Calif, Pacific Beverage of Santa Barbara, RBNA essentially has made clean sweep in Golden State, where archrival Monster has made steady inroads even as Rockstar has held onto to significant position in northern part of state. In Pacific Bev's territory, one source said RBNA is taking over distribution from Calabasas to Paso Robles, opening up warehouse in Santa Maria supporting 12 routes and satellite location in Ventura (4 routes) starting Jan 1. As of press time we hadn't gotten response to inquiry lobbed last night to Pacific Bev exec; we hadn't heard back from RBNA either, but co has policy of not commenting on its wholesaler interactions. RBNA has been steadily moving to self-distribution model over past few years, tho most such initiatives have occurred in major metros, making Elyxir an anomaly, along with a few others like De Crescente in Albany, NY, terminated a few years back.