Looming up as last summer fling before several major fall events is Newtopia Now, New Hope's successor to the long-running but canceled Natural Products Expo East. It's taking place at Denver Convention Center from this Sun thru Wed and, to be honest, not all of our contacts (nor we ourselves) are entirely sure what it is. New Hope positions it as a way that "brands and buyers will connect in new ways, achieve deeper levels of engagement and create the next era of purpose-led CPG and retail" rather than in the hurly-burly of a conventional trade show like Expo West and Expo East.

Delta Emerald Ventures, a fund that invests in cannabis cos and provides data to the emerging industry, put out a Delta Dispatch over the weekend with intriguing "Trojan Horse" headline. "What if beer becomes the foundation to the THC drink growth driver?"

Proud Source water has made substantial adjustment to product proposition, heeding consumers' calls to move from 12-oz to 16-oz can and cladding those new cans in red, white & blue to herald brand's American provenance. "Made in America" prominently declare cans' front panels, using dark blue background for still version and white background for sparkling. Brand's droplet icon now gets blue outline surrounding red & white stripes. For now, at least, they're listed on website as limited edition available for shipment starting Sep 15 at $39.99 per 24-unit case. Recall that current look uses various shades of blue for still entry, silver/white for sparkling. The cans just went live on website and are headed to retail in single cans and 8-pks. In keeping with new theme, website now sports a "declaration" on parchment paper attesting to brand's water stewardship, packaging credo and community commitments. "We cast aside the plastic tyranny and embrace the noble aluminum vessel," text thunders. Brand has also been offered in 25-oz resealable aluminum bottle.

White Claw and Mike's Hard marketer Mark Anthony Brands' top execs are moving up a notch in latest round of changes. After 16 yrs with MAB and 12 yrs as prexy, Phil Rosse will graduate to newly created role of vice chmn of Mark Anthony America, effective Sep 1, founder Anthony von Mandl shared with partners yesterday. At that time, current CCO David Barnett will assume role as prexy of Mark Anthony Brands, continuing to report to Phil, as our sibling letter Insights Express reported yesterday.

HumaniTea boxed brand of RTD tea seems to be exiting retail, at least for now, in order to focus on ecomm channel. Joe Garza, the SoBe and Muscle Milk vet who's run sales for past 3 and a half years, has moved on, landing role running western sales for Gym Weed, the functional brand launched by his former employers at Muscle Milk, the Pickett family. Asked about status of HumaniTea, he said he prefers to look forward to new role, tho he remains a minority equity holder in boxed tea and wishes owners well. Recall that HumaniTea was launched by the brothers Jeff and Lance McClelland, who are juice copackers, who found themselves vying vs other early-stage tea brands with deep resources, including private-equity-backed Just Iced Tea and Saint James, a heavy-spending entry launched by AriZona cofounder John Ferolito that similarly plays in resealable cartons. Garza served as their chief sales officer, helping brand get out into estimated 3-4,000 retail doors without budgets wielded by brand's bigger-spending rivals. From what we've heard, HumaniTea will maintain a presence on ecomm as brothers assess prospects going forward.

Sudden stalling of sales of Prime Hydration has put Congo-operated brand in a squeeze, and now another vendor has resorted to legal action to argue that it got stiffed. This time it's Boston-based coconut powder supplier Agrovana, whose ingredient is used in Prime's unsuccessful energy drink extension and in its more popular hydration powder sticks. Echoing move of copacker Refresco a few weeks earlier (BBI, Aug 5), Agrovana sued on Aug 8 in Mass Superior Court over canceled orders in its already reduced and extended contract as Prime sales stalled. Agrovana contends that "Prime breached two separate contracts - one for $6,966,680 in damages and the other for $5,020,680 - and are asking for 'all damages and other compensation' to be paid as a result of the lawsuit," per account in Dexerto.com. Among pretexts Congo used to try to wiggle out of commitments was claim that product was tainted, tho supplier claims that's merely caramelized powder that poses no concern.

State legislators in Nebraska did not adopt the major tax overhaul proposed by Governor Jim Pillen, which would have also jacked up excise tax rates on spirits by 287%. Lawmakers chose not to make an extensive set of sales and excise tax changes as they seek significant property tax reductions, local press clarified. The Distilled Spirits Council greeted the abandonment of the proposal as "a huge win for consumers, distillers and the hospitality industry," as state government affairs veep Adam Smith commented. Recall, the org estimated the hike would have cost 1,350 jobs and slashed retail spirits sales by $110 million.

Another voice from Capitol Hill lodged their concerns with and complaints about the encroachment of a federal underage drinking committee on the process leading toward the next edition of the US Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). Early this month, former Representative from California, Lucille Roybal-Allard, weighed in on research currently being conducted by ICCPUD (the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking) in a letter to Health Secretary Becerra and Agriculture Secretary Vilsack, Politico and the SF Chronicle reported. An original sponsor of the STOP Act, which still funds ICCPUD, she's "deeply alarmed by [its] involvement in the current DGA process."