Welcome to Issue #18 of The Quench Report, the newsletter that raises a glass and delivers the latest and greatest in Beverage Alcohol and the broader Beverage category.

This week we're going all-in on new products. Why? While the weather's cooling down, the innovation pipeline is on fire.

What’s on tap for today:

• 🍺 Athletic Further Expands Into Flavors

• 🥃 Shake Up Wins Fall Pitch Competition

• 🆕 Liquid Death Expands Into Energy

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WHAT’S ON TAP - UPCOMING

📊 Dec 2
• Nielsen data through Nov 22
• Circana data through Nov 23

Dec 3
• Morgan Stanley Global Consumer & Retail Conference - Celsius

Dec 4
• Brown-Forman Q2 FY’26 Results

🍺🆕 ATHLETIC BECOMES “FLAVORED”?

Athletic Brewing, backed by KDP for over 3 years now, just dropped three new flavors that might make beer purists raise an eyebrow: Lite Lime & Salt, Moscow Mule, and Paloma.

Check them out 👇️ 

🧠Our Thoughts

Tested Online: All three of these flavors were tested online only earlier this year. For what it’s worth - the Lime & Salt had the highest reported rating from consumers (4.7 out of 5) compared to 4.2 for each of the Moscow Mule and Paloma. The takeaway? Direct-to-consumer can be your R&D lab. Does your brand have this capability?

Flavors: Is this flavor expansion a smart diversification play or a signal that core NA beer growth is plateauing for them? Time will tell.

Beer Identity: There are plenty of brands out there that use malt base for “spirits cocktail like flavors” - but not many have such a strong existing beer association. Will consumers embrace the pivot? Early signs are mixed, ~15% of reviews on their site for the cocktail flavors are 1-or 2-star ratings. Expectations matter.

🥃🆕 SHAKE UP WINS FALL PITCH COMPETITION

Shake Up, an all-natural, gluten-free RTD cocktail brand, took home top honors at last week's InvestBev Fall Pitch Competition.

Check them out below 👇️ 

WHAT MAKES THEM DIFFERENT:

• 6% Alcohol - Threading the needle between sessionable (4.5%) and high-octane (9%+)
  

• Launch Flavors – No commas needed here… Want a slow gin fizz with hints of Gillyweed and an infusion of wormwood… not here. Launch flavors - Blueberry, Lemon, Peach, Cherry, Iced Tea and Lemon. Simple.
  

• Embracing The Bubble - Although “no bubbles” might be more on trend, Shake Up is leaning into carbonation with large “Bubbly Cocktails” callouts on their front label.
  

Our take? The design is stunning. These cans will absolutely pop on the shelf. We're tracking their rollout closely, this one might shake things up…

🆕 LIQUID DEATH EXPANDS INTO ENERGY

Partnering with Amazon (are you seeing a trend?), Liquid Death last week announced they are getting into the energy game.

Check out their portfolio here: 👇️ 

🧠WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

100mg of Caffeine - Caffeine is half the other trendy upstart brands (Celsius, Ghost, Alani). For consumers who find 200mg+ too jittery, this could be a sweet spot.

Stevia - Love it or hate it, stevia is polarizing. Will it help or hurt the launch? We'll see.

Energy Innovation Isn’t Slowing Down - Between FLRT, Jumex Energy, 1st Phorm, Mocean, and now Liquid Death, the past few months have been wild for energy innovation. The category is far from saturated.

THANKS FOR READING

The Quench Report is a free weekly newsletter from Thirsty Insights, a beverage alcohol consulting company that serves top clients in strategy, insights, and analytics.

Any questions, please email us at [email protected]