Two products landed on my desk recently that share an unlikely common thread. Both are reimagining something ordinary as something premium. One capitalizes on purple corn. The other wants to elevate beverage ice to an art form.

Let's start with the ice. Founded in 2018 by three former Lagunitas Brewing executives, Abstract Ice has differentiated itself in the craft ice space with suspended flowers, etched cubes, spheres, and most recently soccer balls timed for the World Cup. The company says its ice is "crystal clear, slow-melting and made from deliciously pure water." The ice is also a canvas. Etchings can be custom designed for Abstract Ice's target hospitality and upscale retail customers with anything from a company logo to a drawing or monogram.

Cocktail culture has spurred companies like Fever-Tree to create craft mixers with a promise that they won't contaminate fine spirits with cheap ingredients. The proposition changed the mixer category entirely and opened the door to a new kind of consumer who thinks carefully about every element in the glass. Companies like Abstract Ice are making the same argument for the frozen rock that goes in that Old Fashioned. If the bourbon is craft and the mixer is craft, why not the ice?

Another start-up that caught my attention markets a drink called Purple Drop. The plant-based drink is rooted in chicha morada, a traditional Peruvian beverage made from purple corn simmered with pineapple and cinnamon and finished with lime. Despite centuries of cultural history, the drink...

Several countries across the Americas hold the highest per capita consumption rates for carbonated soft drinks (CSD), according to BD analysis of 2025 estimates by researcher Euromonitor. Mexico posted the highest per capita soda consumption for retail stores and fountain/foodservice locations combined, at...

My wife and I got away late last month for a vacation to Southern Italy’s Amalfi Coast. I was taking some time off but couldn’t help making a few casual beverage observations.

First, when it comes to carbonated soft drinks, Coca-Cola appears to dominate the region. From the small local market near our Airbnb rental in tiny Conca dei Marini, to the trendy restaurants in mid-size Sorrento, there was always a Coke for sale. We didn’t stumble on a Pepsi until we hit a market in the much larger city of Naples.

While this was no formal survey, the disparity actually makes sense to me, knowing something about Coca-Cola’s and PepsiCo’s global strategies. PepsiCo’s global beverage expansion strategy has historically focused...

I finally tried A.G. Barr’s Irn-Bru during a trip this month to Scotland. The carbonated soft drink is said to outsell even Coca-Cola and PepsiCo in the country. Irn-Bru is dubbed “Scotland’s other national drink,” coming after, of course, Scotch whisky. The soda has its own closely guarded “secret recipe.” At Edinburgh airport, an Irn-Bru branded orange and blue vending machine awaited my arrival — it also contained Coke, Diet Coke, and 7Up.

Irn-Bru’s flavor is hard to describe. I’ll try. While the drink has a medicinal orange color, it doesn’t taste anything like the orangy flavor of a Fanta or a Crush. There are bitter tonic notes owing to the quinine in the formula. Perhaps Irn-Bru would work well as a mixer for gin? I’m not sure of that. Apparently, young Scots...