Danone's ceo for N Amer, Shane Grant, and Niagara Bottling's Andy Peykoff II, are latest additions to board of American Beverage Assn, the DC-based trade group announced. They join re-elected board members Matthew Dent, prexy/ceo of Buffalo Rock, who's chmn, as well Bill O'Brien, ceo of Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling, the vice chair, and Ralph Crowley, prexy/ceo of Polar Beverages, who's treasurer. Also elected to additional terms were Refresco coo Brad Goist; Keurig Dr Pepper cold-bevs chief Derek Hopkins; Bigfoot Beverages co-prexy Andy Moore; Liberty Coca-Cola cofounder/ceo Paul Mulligan; Arca Continental Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages prexy Jean Claude Tissot; Bernick's ceo John Torgerson, and Atlanta Coca-Cola Bottling Co chmn/ceo Kirk Tyler.

Fast-expanding Wil Fischer, Anheuser-Busch distributor in Midwest which acquired NA player Palmentere Bros earlier this summer (BBI, Jun 17), continues on its acquisition binge. This time it was another A-B house, 1.5-mil-case Western Bev in Dodge City, Kan, in deal that closed last Fri. That's 4th A-B house Wil Fischer has bought since 2014, as our sibling letter Insights Express tallied, after previously acquiring Schatz, Lueke and O'Malley. With Palmentere, whose NA portfolio included about 1.5 mil cases of brands like Essentia and Talking Rain, Wil Fischer now is moving over 7.5 mil cases annually in Missouri and Kan, both high-share A-B states.

With pace of cannabis dereg moving at sluggish pace, Mad Tasty prexy Dan Holland has amicably departed company, deciding that at this late stage of his career he'd rather scout out new gig in segment less inhibited by external constraints. Dan told us he's doing some consulting while seeking next permanent assignment that might capture skills he acquired in decades as a distributor followed by years helming brands like Activate and Mad Tasty. Mad Tasty, founded by One Republic frontman Ryan Tedder, counts private-equity shop First Beverage as core investor . . . Another First Beverage holding, Health-Ade Kombucha, has had change at the helm: Snapple and Voss Water vet Jack Belsito has quietly departed as ceo, succeeded in role on interim basis by cofounder Vanessa Dew, BevNet reported. Jack had come in after longtime partner Coca-Cola exited its stake, with cofounder Daina Trout moving to chief mission officer role and her husband Justin departing co. Vanessa had taken role of chief sales officer. She's in running for permanent ceo job . . . With Shaka Tea now ensconced in Hawaiian food co Irresistible Foods, its founder Bella Hughes has moved on after more than six-year run. "I have decided that the time is right to pursue new entrepreneurial opportunities," she posted . . . Nutrabolt cmo Rajaa Grar, a Miller Coors, Starbucks and Amazon vet, has moved on from marketer of fast-growing C4 Energy brand, we hear. Austin-based co is in hunt for successor . . . Bernard Rubin, who's been assembling portfolio of brands under aegis of publicly traded EARI Beverage Group, has brought aboard cannabis refugee Joel Kleinfeld as his #2. Kleinfeld, who spent 20 years at apparel marketer MJC before heading to prexy role at Hemp2O, has taken coo role with responsibility for "supply chain, manufacturing, and sales, focusing on driving the efficiencies and profitability for the group," per Rubin . . . Mika Manninen, who created Halsa yogurt brand with his wife Helena Lumme, has taken role of prexy and global ceo at chocolate drink marketer Huski. We've been unable to get response from Mika as to status of Halsa parent Nothing But Real. Mika used to run ad production co, then moved into food/bev with Simpli oat brand and then Halsa. Huski was created by pair of self-styled Nordic adventurers in Sweden in 2012 and has taken active sponsorship role in racing and soccer in Europe. Lumme's LinkedIn profile lists her as continuing to operate Nothing But Real . . . After helping Nirvana Water Sciences thru launch phase of its HMB-rich water, Voss vet Bob Hofmann has segued to BLK Water, where NJ-based sales exec has taken role of vp for East and Midwest regions.

Maine-based apparel co Origin USA is intensifying its move into bev space under name Jocko Fuel, named for 20-year Navy vet Jocko Willink, who's Origin chmn as well as ceo of leadership training co Echelon Front. Also participating in effort are Origin ceo Pete Roberts and their newly recruited chief brand officer Troy Michels, who brings a decade's bev experience from Resqwater recovery water to the task. The entry, which may represent rebranding of former Jocko Go line, takes aggressive, Black Rifle-style approach in offering no-crash "force multiplier" in flavors like Mango Mayhem, Citrus Psycho and Whoop Assault Watermelon. Labeled as dietary supplements, the hotfill entries contain 95 mg of caffeine, 500 mg of L-carnitine along with alpha GPC, bacopa, theanine and theobromine, with monk fruit as sweetener for 5 calories. On website a 12-pk goes out for $35 to one-time purchasers. Brand has entered Wawa c-store chain among bricks & mortar retailers. It seems to be ambitious effort, judging by Michels' putting out word that he's in hunt for specialists in consumer, creative, planning, digital/ecomm, field and sports marketing, SEO, SEM, HR, supply chain, distribution and accounting, not to mention unconventional athlete endorsers and other influencers. We were unable to connect directly with him so far to get further details on buildout plan.

Fred Franzia, co-founder of Bronco Wine Co that shook up domestic wine biz in US with Charles Shaw wines, aka "Two Buck Chuck," passed away on Sep 13, his family announced. Fred was a "larger than life character who expanded the reach of California wine with budget bottlings that offered consistent quality," wrote Wine Spectator. He was also known for "brash dealmaking and acerbic remarks" and "renowned for verbal sparring with the likes of Robert Mondavi and Sam Sebastiani," as he continually called fine wine "overrated and overpriced." He was famous for comeback when asked how he sold wine for less than water: "They're overcharging for the water. Don't you get it?" His family sold Franzia wine in early 70s to Coca-Cola. In 1995 he acquired Charles Shaw trademark "for a mere $25,000" and "built it into a $1.99-a-bottle empire, arguably creating a new market segment for ultra-budget wines and streamlining distribution exclusively through Trader Joe's" to cut costs, wrote WS.

Consumers of growing and highly competitive RTD alc bev biz drink broadly across categories and brands, showing little loyalty, survey conducted by Bump Williams Consulting reveals. BWC heard from 350 respondents who all consumed at least one RTD in past 6 mos. The majority of respondents were age 36-54, with only 16% in the 21-35 age range. Unsurprisingly, hard seltzer was by far the most-reported RTD segment consumed by these folks in the last half-yr, reported by 74% of 'em. But 55% said they consumed an FMB, 49% a spirit-based RTD and 33% a wine-based cocktail in that time. And they also consumed plenty of other core alc bev categories: 2/3 said they drank wine, near 60% had some domestic beer and 50-55% reported consuming imported beer, spirits or craft beer over same period.

Simply Spiked and Topo Chico brands grew about $72 mil for 12 weeks thru Sep 4 in IRI multi-outlet + convenience this summer and grabbed an incremental 0.6 share to 0.9 share. Total Molson Coors up $46.9 mil, 0.2 share to 16.9 share. So without those 2 new brands, Molson Coors $$ sales down more than 1% and it lost 0.4 share. Simply Spiked $$ sales at $32 mil and it got 0.28 share for 12 weeks, Topo Chico Margarita at $17.8 mil and original Topo Chico variety pack up 41%, $11.1 mil. Topo Chico Ranch Water at $7.4 mil. Several long-declining Molson Coors subpremium brands also grew over summer, going against shortages last yr as well as brand/sku rationalization . Steel Reserve $$ sales up 18%, Icehouse up 19%, Mil Best Ice up 29%. Those 3 brands gained 0.1 share. Some of this growth could be difficult to replicate, tho Molson Coors also doing better on its biggest brands. It basically held share on Miller Lite over the summer with $$ sales up 1% and only lost 0.1 share on Coors Light, with $$ sales down 1%. Those top 2 brands are still 58 share of MC $$ sales in IRI. Miller High Life (#3 brand) $$ sales up 6% for 12 weeks and it gained 0.04 share. High Life is 5% of MC biz.

Celeb chef Wolfgang Puck has signed on as brand ambassador for Blue Triton’s Origin spring water brand, its effort to offer premium national spring water alongside its Poland Spring, Zephyrhills and other regional brands. It’s positioned as “refreshingly American” spring water brand . . . Mexico’s Electrolit hydration brand, which has been making aggressive push into general market, has signed on as official hydration partner of LA Marathon from 2022-24 after 3 years participating in LA Marathon Health & Wellness Expo. Partnership spans all McCourt Foundation events across Southern Calif starting with sold-out Santa Monica Classic this past Sun . . . Boxed Water Is Better has notched another victory over plastic, ousting plastic-bottle brands at CorePower Yoga chain’s 200+ studios with its cartons starting this month. Move should eliminate 96K single-use plastic bottles from landfills annually, equivalent of 2 tons of plastic . . . Ghost Energy has signed on as exclusive energy drink partner of Life is Beautiful fest in Las Vegas, where it will operate a lounge featuring Ghost branding and video game elements and a bar dispensing happy hour promo cards, hydration sticks and other swag. A co-branded Orange Cream flavor will be served at bars throughout the fest, set for Sep 16-18 . . . Continuing to build out its roster of athlete endorsers, Ready has recruited first-round draft pick and Pittsburgh Steeler rookie QB Kenny Pickett. Partnership was deemed logical move for Pittsburgh-based co birthed by former hoops player at Pitt, where Pickett also played . . . Gaming-oriented G Fuel energy brand has signed Seattle  punter Michael Dickson to long-term contract by which he’ll serve as brand ambassador at in-store events, social media integrations and special giveaways . . . Lemon Perfect has recruited Philadelphia Eagles QB Jalen Hurts as endorser, with athlete to focus his activation efforts particularly on Delaware Valley region where Eagles rule.