The budding bev conglomerate EARI said it's enlisted Great South Bay Brewing to make and distribute hard extension of its recently acquired Original New York Seltzer in eastern US. Deal gives Great South Bay rights to distribute the 5% ABV brand thru its network spanning East Coast from Maine south to Fla. EARI, which stands for Entertainment Arts Research Inc, is among new flock of small-cap bevcos that straddle alc and NA realms. Its acquisition of ONYS instantly catapulted that brand to flagship status within portfolio that also includes Canada's Bell City Brewing and Perfectomundo tequila . . . WhatIf Foods has expanded its BamNut milks and noodles from foothold of 200 retailers across NY State to enter banners like Pete's Fresh Market in Chicago, Good Earth in Salt Lake City, Lassens in Southern Calif and PCC in Seattle. Using bambara groundnut, coconut oil and water, WhatIf milks are positioned as superior nutritionally to other plantmilks . . . Chlorophyll Water has landed a spot in grab & go coolers in all Sprouts Farmers Market stores nationally . . . Alkaline Water Co is expanding presence of its Alkaline88 water brand within Sprouts, with its 1.5-liter PET bottle migrating from dry shelves to coolers within about one-fourth of natural chain's banners and its 750-ml aluminum bottle entering all of the coolers.

Top-selling natural water enhancer, Stur, has enlisted TikTok influencer Kat Stickler as investor and endorser. Stickler boasts 10 mil followers just on TikTok and Stur founder/ceo Neel Premkumar termed Florida-based mom a natural fit given her commitment to a healthy and active lifestyle and "heartfelt transparency." (That's included her frank discussions of her divorce and co-parenting arrangements with her ex-husband and former TikTok partner Mike.) . . . A Shoc Energy, working to carve out viable role alongside new portfolio partner C4 within Keurig Dr Pepper system, has augmented its athlete partnerships with signing of Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts as investor and brand ambassador. He'll back both the restaged core A Shoc Energy and its Accelerator Active Energy extension with thermogenic and focus-enhancing properties. Hurts joins athlete investor roster that includes Aaron Judge, Travis Kelce, Freddie Freeman, Lexi Thompson, Darius Garland and Brooks Koepka. A Shoc, of course, is brainchild of Lance Collins, entrepreneur behind brands like Fuze, NOS, Core and Body Armor. Both C4 and A Shoc boast minority investment from KDP.

Interim management team at Bang Energy has inaugurated seemingly extensive round of layoffs that apparently goes all the way up to coo Gene Bukovi as co heads to bankruptcy court hearing next Wed that's expected to clear the way for acquisition of most key assets by rival Monster Beverage. Employees at VPX's key hard asset, its plant in Phoenix, were exempted, and it's not clear whether, once MNST takes control of co, some furloughed employees may be invited back. Also unclear is what distribution route Monster will use for its new brand, whether plugging it into Coca-Cola network thru which Monster and its Bang fighter Reign move or maintaining Bang's current network comprised mainly of beer houses. Wholesalers told us they weren't expecting word on that until next week's hearing. We reached out to Gene but haven't heard back. He was longtime righthand man of VPX founder/ceo Jack Owoc and essentially was running day-to-day following Owoc's ouster a few months ago while interim turnaround team sought to navigate co's bankruptcy process. That's now nearing its conclusion, with brand in much diminished state that could take further hit with latest brain drain.

The Healing Co, which so far has acquired Your Super and Chopra Global on way to assembling "healing community of brands," said it's secured "up to $7 million" in new equity and uplisted from OTC Pink Market to OTCQB Venture Market. The investors included investment office of Burman family, which control major Indian CPG co led by Dabur brand, and Munich-based family office of Stephan and Ingvild Goetz, the noted art collectors and philanthropists. New tranche brings total committed equity funding to up to $17 mil, augmented by $150 mil credit facility to support next acquisitions. NY-based co is aiming for a Nasdaq listing within next year.

Mastersfund said it's made the 3d investment in adaptogenic sparkling water brand Heywell as part of that Chicago co's seed round of undisclosed magnitude. It was joined in raise by DC-based Daintree Capital, which focuses on women-owned companies, as this one is, and those operated by BIPOC founders. New money comes as Heywell sold its 1 millionth can essentially with no marketing, as Mastersfund noted. Now it's prepping expansion beyond current retail base of Central Market, Wegmans, Erewhon, Foxtrot and Life Time Fitness.

Just as Diageo announced $27 mil investment in Guinness 0.0 global brewing capacity (BBI, Jul 5), A-B InBev announced similar investment for its NA brews, spending €31 mil ($33.8 mil) for technology upgrades at 3 Belgian breweries. As our sibling letter Insights Express noted, this will help ABI expand its NA beer portfolio and increase capabilities to brew Corona Cero, ABI's non-alc Corona version that rolled out in 10 European mkts last yr (not to be confused with Constellation's Corona 0.0 in US). ABI now boasts portfolio of 30 non-alc beer brands available in 42 countries, per release.

It's proved an arduous task that traversed two senior management teams and hindered both ecomm and retail growth, but Laird Superfood finally is ready to ship its aseptically packed liquid creamers. Sporting brand's new graphic look, the entries are debuting in Vanilla Liquid Superfood Creamer + Adaptogens and Cinnamon Liquid Superfood Creamer + Adaptogens, using coconut cream, cane sugar, sea salt and lion's mane and reishi mushrooms, in 16-oz resealable cartons priced at $26 per 3-pk on DTC site. "The best part? Our aseptic packaging guarantees freshness, so you can now order directly from our website," co touted . . . Dramatic restage early this year altered Zoa Energy from black 16-oz cans to brightly hued 12-oz slim cans as struggling brand sought to move to more gender-neutral stance. But it kept a quartet of 16-oz entries available on website - tho with the brighter new look. Apparently, interest remains strong in larger size, as co now adds 3 more flavors: Cherry Limeade, Frosted Grape and Strawberry Watermelon. They join Tropical Punch, White Peach, Wild Orange and Super Berry flavors. The 16-ouncers all seem to be available online only . . . Katy Perry and her master distiller partner Morgan McLachlan continue to expand their De Soi line of non-alc cocktails, now adding Très Rosé as lighter alternative to more traditionally bitter aperitif style. As with rest of line it includes better-for-you ingredients, in this case lion's mane mushroom, saffron and rooibos. It's out in 4-packs online, single cans at retail and will add 750-ml bottles this fall.

Kaumil Gajrawala, well-liked Wall Street analyst who in recent years has carved out role as authority on range of consumer segments he dubs HALO (healthy, active lifestyle, outdoor), has returned to scene at Jefferies bank after exiting Credit Suisse during that bank's financial meltdown that saw it acquired by UBS in shotgun wedding. Among casualties of his exit was HALO conference that was due to hold its second annual event this past spring with roster of companies that some used to group under LOHAS (lifestyles of health & sustainability) mantle. "It is like Opening Day," Kaumil enthused on LinkedIn today. "Excitement to the point of butterflies," he said of role as managing director for consumer staples and HALO strategy at Jefferies. "New team, same league . . . bigger aspirations," said Rutgers-educated analyst, who's been around the horn with 5 years at Credit Suisse following 4 years at Manikay and, before that, nearly 14 years at UBS, Credit Suisse's eventual acquirer last month.