Last week we featured Brooklyn craft brewer named Wartega that's offering bourbon-barrel-aged coffees, part of growing wave of experimentation with barrel aging of green beans (BBI, Mar 1). Looks like Starbucks is gettin' in game, too, at least on limited basis. Seattle-based roaster is offering 800 lbs of its Sulawesi small-lot coffee that's been aged in freshly emptied American-oak-aged whiskey barrels from nearby Woodinville Whiskey craft distillery. Whiskey Barrel-Aged Sulawesi is being offered at big Seattle Roastery in 2 new specialty bevs: cold-brew sweetened with vanilla syrup and other is Barrel Aged Con Crema, using pourover processing and barrel-aged vanilla syrup with cascara sugar foamed topping. It can also be purchased as hand-scooped coffee whole bean coffee for at-home consumption, co said. SBUX isn't acknowledging any influences from other cos, saying Whiskey Barrel-Aged Sulawesi is result of experimentation undertaken over past 4 years by R&D team member named Duane Thompson in his garage at home. "As a chef and food scientist, experimentation is central to my being," SBUX quotes Duane as saying. "My neighbors would tease me about all the barrels in my garage."

Liking results of inaugural effort last year, Red Bull North America is doubling down on Street Fighter V esports tourney, adding 5 more "Red Bull Proving Grounds" cities to last year's 6, and going from single season to 2 seasons. Three winners from each regional tourney plus winners from online bouts will be flown to esports studio at RBNA's Santa Monica hq for Jun finals that put top 3 winners of each region on same team for 3v3 bouts. Winners get spots for themselves and top 8 from their region for EVO 2017 contest in Las Vegas, VentureBeat reported. At each qualifying stop, RBNA is enlisting gaming stars like Level Up's Jimmy Nguyen and Alex Valle of LA as organizers. Seasons run from Apr-Jun and Jul-Oct. Regionals are being held in US cities Orlando, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Chicago, Houston, LA, SF and Seattle, and Canadian cities Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

Natural Products Expo West, opening in Anaheim, Calif, in a few days, will be missing a genial presence who'd been a fixture at show for years: stevia pioneer James May, cofounder of Wisdom Natural Products, who has passed away at age 80. May cofounded co with his wife Carol, who as prexy will now lead co with their son Michael May, who's served as coo, per obit in The Shelby Report. May first brought stevia to US in 1982, and had long regaled listeners with accounts of the regulatory and other steps that makers of conventional sweeteners took to derail ingredient, tho he finally won gov't approval in 2008 as first ingredient to be designated as "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS). Jim also didn't hesitate to inveigh against big bevcos' use of stevia that had been highly processed into Rebiana, declaring that that's why stevia-sweetened products carried such severe taste challenges. "Rebiana doesn't exist in nature," as he once put it to BBI. "It's the trade name for a chemically derived product" (BBI, Jul 2 2010).

Bruce Lee Enterprises will unveil rethought and revamped Bruce Tea Super Power Tea line this week at Natural Products Expo West, going to bottle-only packaging lineup and shifting emphasis from c-stores to natural, specialty and grocery channels.

New Age Beverages ceo Brent Willis has promised to unleash synergies among Denver-based co's disparate collection of brands. Here comes the first: Aspen Pure Probiotic Water, harnessing probiotics expertise of New Age stablemate Buch Live Kombucha. Shelf-stable line contains more than 10 bil cfu's of 12 different probiotic strains, including Lactobacillus-Acidophilus, Lactobacillus Rhamnosus, Bifidobacterium Bifidum and Streptococcus Thermophilus. It will go out aggressively priced at $2.49 per 24-oz plastic bottle, same one used for core Aspen Pure bottled water line. NBEV said it leveraged Bucha's production expertise as well as its ties to probiotic suppliers to create entry that maintains 9 months' shelf life without degradation of the probiotics. Meanwhile, as part of broader project to broaden Aspen Pure brand beyond its regional base, NBEV also is rolling out its Aspen Pure pH Balanced extension, positioned as using naturally pH-balanced water from Rocky Mountains with up to 7.0 pH and priced at $1.49 per 24-oz bottle. Also in New Age stable are XingTea, Marley Mellow Mood Relaxation Drinks and Marley One Drop RTD coffees . . . Two-year-old naturally alkaline water from Canada called Flow that's sourced from glacial source in SW Ontario is entering US, bringing Tetra Pak offering to booming category. After gaining presence in 4,500 Canadian stores, including Whole Foods, Loblaw's and Safeway, brand has retained broadline distributors UNFI and KeHe for US push, along with Acosta's NSS unit and Ignite Sales Mgmt to help on sales side. Label lists entry as having pH of 8.1.

CSD volume fell 3% (down from -2% for 12 wks) as avg prices rose to +1.7% over last 4 wks thru Feb 25 in Nielsen all-channel data reported by Morgan Stanley's Dara Mohsenian. Volume for regular CSDs was off 2.8% while low-cal brands slipped 3.4%. Avg price on Coca-Cola CSDs improved to +1.4% (up from +0.3% for 12 wks) for 4-wk period while volume slipped 0.8%. PepsiCo volume still down mid-single digits with 5.9% drop on avg price increase of 1.6% last 4 wks. DPS swung from 0.8% price drop for 12 wks to 0.8% increase last 4 wks. Volume slipped 1.2% for 4 wks. Private-label brands were down 6.6% on avg 1.7% price drop last 4 wks.

Voss Water has added new twist to its program to funnel funds to well-building projects in Sub-Saharan Africa, this year teaming up with pair of retailers: Smart & Final in West and Jewel-Osco in Midwest. Both will feature special retailer-branded displays flagging program and will have well project funded in their names . . . Natural sweetener co SweeGen and its ingredient solutions partner Ingredion said the FDA has issued a no-objection letter citing partners' Bestevia Reb-M stevia sweetener as "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS), clearing way for its use as general purpose sweetener for food and bev applications in US . . . Nestle Waters North America said 12-packs of half-liter bottles of its Pure Life tap water brand proved to be the most ordered item on Amazon's Prime Pantry program in 2016.

With gov't scrutiny increasing of high-pressure processing (HPP), key equipment producers Avure and Hiperbaric and their allies are establishing segment's first trade group, the HPP Council, under auspices of PMMI, Assn for Packaging & Processing Technologies. Among its mandates, new council "will address questions about the technology while developing and formalizing industry best practices," PMMI said in announcement this week. HPP, of course, has revolutionized bev production by offering way for marketers to offer fresh, nutritious bevs untouched by heat, but have also set off alarm bells among regulators who're concerned about its rapid adoption, particularly in lower-acid products like coconut water. HPP Council will officially launch at ProFood Tech expo running Apr 4-6 at Chicago's McCormick Place, where group will host booth on show floor and participate in panel discussions and leadership meetings. Move follows evolution of other up-and-coming sectors such as kombucha, which set trade group as products became more broadly available and drew scrutiny over alcohol and calorie labeling practices.

"Trendy Quaff's Simple Roots," punningly headlined NY Times in extended takeout on kava niche that's fostered wave of bars in foodie-forward places like Berkeley, Calif, and NY, and one ambitious packaged-kava player, Taki Mai, that's put Fiji-grown psychoactive root at heart of its recipes.