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...
When it comes to the transition from artificial food and beverage colors to natural colors, the US is 15 years behind Europe. And there is a concerted, even frantic effort now to catch up.
That was my biggest takeaway from this month's BevTech conference, an annual gathering hosted by the International Society of Beverage Technologists. This is where the nation's beverage scientists go to discuss "The Science of the Sip," as this year's event was themed. The 350 professionals in attendance engineer and manage everything from ingredients to PET blow molding needed to get a drink from formula to shelf. I opened the conference with an overview of industry trends before taking in several presentations and a few extremely technical breakout sessions.
Right now, there isn't a major food and beverage company that isn't working on the shift...
