With local gov't enthusiastically throwing out welcome mat, Humm Kombucha has settled on Roanoke, Va, as site of its eastern-US brewery, led there by tip from Deschutes Brewing founder Gary Fish, who'd already selected Blue Ridge town in SW part of state as East Coast site for his own brewing operation. Both are Bend, Ore, cos and Fish is investor/board member at Humm. Announcement comes as European partner quietly is on brink of hitting START at Humm facility in Sweden. So brand that launched as Kombucha Mama at Bend Farmers Market in 2009 lately is looking like major factor in booming market for fermented tea style, along with mainstay GT's and upstarts like Health-Ade and Revive.

Body Armor advanced its aggressive push into UFC by announcing partnerships with quartet of fighters, including bantamweight champ Cody Garbrandt, who'll be defending title at Madison Square Garden this weekend. Announcement was made at boisterous event yesterday evening in event space next door to MSG attended by UFC prexy Dana White, investor/endorser Kobe Bryant and several of the fighters. Body Armor said all the fighters - the others are Michelle Waterson, Francis Ngannou and Cynthia Calvillo - would be making appearances in Octagon by year-end, getting Body Armor activation off to quick start. "Gatorade is the boxing of sports drinks," Body Armor cofounder/chmn Mike Repole said to appreciative audience comprised mainly of MMA beat writers. The athletes will participate in in-store and external ads, local events and work their social media tribes even as all-natural sports brand serves as official hydration bev at bouts starting in Jan. It will also be presenting sponsor at some weigh-ins. Mike noted to BBI that, reflecting his intense participation in brand activities, Bryant had flown to NY on redeye specifically for announcement, after helping write and direct TV ad in which he's featured earlier this year and working c-store show in Chicago a coupla weeks ago. Other athletes in Body Armor mix include Mike Trout, Kristaps Porzingis and James Harden.

After creating shockwave in altbevs with high-multiple purchase of Blue Bottle Coffee in Sep, food conglomerate Nestle has added another to its arsenal of third-wave coffee brands with acquisition of Austin-based Chameleon Cold-Brew Coffee, positing question of whether it's joined arms race that's been seeing Starbucks and JAB seemingly vying to outdo one another at cutting edge of coffee space. Unlike Blue Bottle deal for jaw-dropping $500 mil for majority stake, terms of this deal haven't trickled out. As with Blue Bottle, tho, idea is for Chameleon to continue to operate independently of both Nestle and Blue Bottle, under current mgmt team out of Austin. It echoes setup that's seen JAB's Peet's Coffee & Tea allow acquired subsidiaries Stumptown and Intelligentsia continue to pursue own path, even if that means increasingly overlapping territories and product ranges. By now Chameleon plays in wide range of formats, including refrigerated concentrate, refrigerated RTD in both still and sparkling versions, draft and even bagged coffee. Among Chameleon's investors have been Boulder Food Group (BBI, Sep 23 15), which exits now There were rumors at recent Expo East show in Sep that Chameleon was in play, with Coke rumored to be among suitors.

A few years ago, it seems, Howard Schultz simply soured on Tazo, artisanal tea line he'd purchased for $8.1 mil from founder Stephen Smith back in 1999 and as recently as 2012 was planning to make a centerpiece of new health & wellness push that also included recently acquired Evolution Fresh fresh-juice brand. Tazo's star at SBUX already was dimming when Schultz acquired Teavana chain of mall-based tea stores for $612 mil in late 2012 and developed a thriving line of Teavana-branded offerings within Starbucks stores. Soon, Tazo's name no more was heard on his quarterly conference calls with investors nor seen in earnings press releases. And even tho Teavana's core biz proved to be failure, with its hundreds of stores all gone by this spring, Starbucks has doubled down on that brand with decision to unload Tazo to Unilever for $384 mil. Ironically, deal unites Tazo brand with Lipton Tea unit that's long been allied on RTD teas with PepsiCo, which fumbled bottled Tazo tea launch and in that way contributed to brand's ultimate ouster from SBUX.

AriZona Beverages used NACS as platform to formally intro its recent foray into sparkling mineral waters, but predominant innovation tilt was to alcoholic bev and food sides, with items ranging from German beer import to Crazy Cowboy American Lager and similarly named all-natural beef jerky. Not least, over at MillerCoors pavilion, licensed Arnold Palmer Spiked, 5% ABV malt-based entry made its debut, based on major AriZona tea/lemonade franchise. (Pair of c-store operators we overheard there were enthusing about its prospects.) Made with real juice and tea, new entry debuts in Mar in 24-oz can and 6-packs of 12-oz slim cans.

Celsius Holdings used NACS show to highlight pre-workout Heat line, backed by co's affiliation with healthy-living rapper Flo Rida, that's making first push into convenience channel after initial move into fitness, nutrition and military channels. The 5-flavor line, whose packaging shouts out its 300 mg of caffeine and 2K mg of the vasco dilator super-citrulline, commanded prices as high as $4.99 in fitness channel, auguring well for new push. Brand's 16-oz can, vs 12-oz can of most other Celsius items, also makes it a good fit for key energy drink channel. And Fla-based CELH already is looking ahead, interim ceo John Fieldly and sales/marketing chief Vanessa Walker said in conversation at booth, with efforts to seed new item in handful of grocery chains, starting with HEB in Tex. On marketing side, Flo Rida, who made appearance at show, is first among "Heat Elite" ambassadors being recruited, some of them controversial within their realms but with proven tenacity and commitment. Brand is getting some outdoor ads, initially in Dallas, near hq of Gold's Gym and other fitness chains, and in Flo Rida's stomping ground, Miami. Digital will kick in early in 2018, as new year's resolutions create stampede to gyms. As previously noted, recruitment of Flo Rida under prior mgmt team to promote fruit-forward core line was viewed somewhat skeptically even by some within co, but launch of Heat brand gives rapper more suitable platform, given his own workout ethic as well as ubiquity of his tunes as accompaniment to others' workouts.

Fortified by $10 mil investment led by VMG, Prolog and Karp Reilly (BBI, May 4), sparkling water marketer Spindrift is ready to dial up its marketing with recruitment of former Coca-Cola exec Caroline Kibler to newly created post as svp marketing, reporting to founder/ceo Bill Creelman. Caroline comes off run managing $1 bil Smartwater brand at Coke, where she launched Smartwater Sparkling extension. She's also held marketing and innovation roles at Evian and Campbell Soup's Godiva and Pepperidge Farm brands. She joins as Spindrift, based in Newton, Mass, has successfully pulled off pivot from a fruit-intensive soda line to a unsweetened sparkling water brand flavored with real fruit rather than flavor-house concoctions that have led to court challenges vs some nominally natural essence waters. Brand just went national at Whole Foods and Target.

Why scour Amazon rainforest for antioxidant-rich fruits when most potent of all is growing right in your Midwestern backyard? That's key premise of Poppilu Antioxidant Lemonade brand launched by Chicago-based marketing vet who earlier in career played instrumental role in Fair Oaks Farms' launch of Fairlife dairy brand, these days getting big push via Coke system. The exec, Melanie Kahn, has been slowly building lower-sugar line that adds functional twist by harnessing antioxidant power of regionally grown aroniaberry. The "sassy little superfruit," as co likes to call it, has highest antioxidant content in world - more than jungle fruits like acai - and is what lends Poppilu its pink hue without need for coloring agents. Tho berry has found role as supplement in crushed and powdered form in States, it was Eastern Europeans who ran with it as bev base, with Poland growing largest crop in world even tho plant is native to US. This side of Atlantic, formal cultivation began only recently in Midwest states like Iowa, and Kahn hopes to bring fruit the recognition it deserves, much like yaupon marketers are lookin' to bring awareness to American-grown tea variety.