The exploding popularity of pickleball in the US has created a gold rush for beverage companies looking to capitalize on the sport, which is a miniaturized version of tennis played with a hollow plastic ball, oversized ping-pong-like paddle, and bespoke set of rules. A large part of the appeal of pickleball is the democratic nature of the game, which proponents say draws a diverse group of players from across the spectrum of age and athletic ability. That reach, coupled with the social nature of pickleball, is good for consumer packaged goods brands, too, say Pennsylvania craft beer brewers and beverage co-packers Joe and Abby Feerrar. The husband-and-wife team is launching what they believe to be the first non-alcoholic ready-to-drink beverage created with pickleball players specifically in mind. “Dink,” named for the shot that is a staple of the small-court game, will debut this weekend at a pickleball event...

Liquid I.V., the powdered water enhancer acquired by Unilever in 2020, is closing in on $1 billion in net sales, according to the company. The brand will reach the milestone in the “near future,” the company said, while declining to define that timeframe. The “hydration multiplier,” which promises to hydrate as much as 2.5 times faster than water and is used by some consumers as a hangover remedy, is the largest single-serve drink mix brand on the market with a...

Beverage Digest is walking the show floor along with about 65,000 other attendees at Expo West in California this week. We'll investigate natural ingredient trends that could one day drive the growing and profitable functional packaged beverage market. We're also looking for what's new within existing ready-to-drink segments and product lines, and talking to the founders and leaders who propel the sector.

We'll share our observations in live updates here, so check back through the next couple of days.

Subscribers can email us if there is something specific you'd like to ask about. For those attending the show, feel free to send any noteworthy observations as well.

The buzz around artificial intelligence is growing louder, and companies want to know whether this tech will actually help them in their work. Launched in November, ChatGPT has given mainstream users access to a form of A.I. that can create everything from poetry to legal briefs. This kind of machine learning has broad implications for companies and brands, including within the beverage sector. ChatGPT’s potential to disrupt caused a “code red” inside Google, according to the New York Times. Setting aside the important debate around the efficacy and ethics of A.I., the following story is intended to help make sense of the current hype surrounding GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) technology...

Brand Backed By Former Hedge Fund Owner, Major League Pickleball Founder

Richard’s Rainwater has spent the last couple of years making sure the brand won’t be ignored. Fresh off a 2021 Series A funding round that was north of $10 million, the Austin, Texas-based packager of actual rainwater has been expanding shelf presence at retailers including Kroger, Albertson’s and HEB, adding production capacity, and executing an aggressive publicity campaign. If you hadn’t heard of the still nascent brand previously, you’d be...