This summer, KeVita^®, a leading brand of delicious, probiotic sparkling beverages, is putting a modern twist on the beloved classic taste of childhood lemonade with its new line of light and refreshing Sparking Probiotic Lemonades. The delightfully bubbly summertime drinks, available in flavours Classic and Peach, taste delicious, are packed with billions of live probiotics, and are made with organic ingredients and fermented water kefir culture. Each 15.2-ounce serving bottle of KeVita’s certified non-alcoholic Sparkling Probiotic Lemonade contains 30 calories or less and 6 g of sugar.

KeVita Sparkling Probiotic Lemonades are available now in the US.

In 2020 and continuing into 2021, COVID-19 has profoundly affected trading in the UK, with the cider market losing 16.3 %^* volume in 2020, dropping to 7837.36 thousand hectolitres, according to GlobalData. However, the leading data and analytics company notes that, with restrictions being lifted and most businesses emerging from lockdown, the possibility of a successful trading year for many companies should not be ruled out, especially those heavily involved in beer and cider production.

Chloe Gbadero, Senior Beverages Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The lifting of restrictions is great news for companies such as C&C Group, a large cider producer in the UK, which saw a 56.1 %^** revenue decline during 2020 due to lockdown measures and an overall downturn for the industry. In H2 2021, C&C Group, and many other companies, have potential to see volume uplifts compared to last year, now that bars and pubs have reopened. This, combined with the potential for warm and sunny weather during the summer months, will continue to encourage outdoor dining and companies would do well to take advantage of the remaining summer months to recoup sales losses during lockdown.”

In GlobalData’s most recent survey in the UK, 21 %^*** of respondents demonstrated that when it comes to alcoholic beverages, including cider, fruity flavours are the most appealing. This is 4 % more than citrus flavoured alcoholic products, highlighting a gap in the market for unique flavoured fruit ciders – which producers could benefit from through innovation of products for the remainder of 2021, as usually UK consumers are not the most experimental, preferring sweet and fruity flavours over unique/novel.

Gbadero continues: “It would be interesting to see if alcohol companies will consider further promoting their pre-existing flavoured beverages or introduce new variants in order to encourage further growth. For instance, Old Mout has introduced a new watermelon and lime flavoured variant to its range, following the successful launch of its pineapple and raspberry flavor.

“After a less than favourable 2020, which has fueled long-term loss in the forecast period to 2026, there is still light at the end of the tunnel for this well-established and popular category, provided that producers continue to innovate in line with changing consumer behaviors, and collaborate with on-premise locations to promote cider consumption.”

^*GlobalData’s Intelligence Centre – Quarterly Beverage Forecast
^**C&C Group – Annual Report 2020
^***GlobalData’s Consumer Survey – Q2 United Kingdom

LIFEAID Beverage Co. brings the first flavour variation of its most popular blend, FITAID, to market. FITAID, the blend specifically formulated for post-workout recovery, has traditionally been known for its refreshing Citrus Medley flavour. Using the same proprietary blend as the original, FITAID Strawberry Lemonade joins the brand’s line up just in time for summer.

“We’ve made athletic recovery simple. Now we’ve made it even more delicious for summer,” reports Aaron Hinde, president and co-founder of LIFEAID. “As our first flavour extension, FITAID Strawberry Lemonade checks off all the boxes for a refreshing finish to a hard workout. Stacked with anti-inflammatory goodness and great taste, this is my new favourite in our roster.”

Ahead of the general release, FITAID Strawberry Lemonade was made available to gyms across the United States and Canada, in addition to celebrating the summer-time drop with exclusive retailers including HEB and Vitamin Shoppe. As the US largely opens up and regains event marketing, FITAID Strawberry Lemonade will be the focus of LIFEAID’s brand partner’s on-site activations. Athletes and brand fans will be able to enjoy an ice-cold FITAID Strawberry Lemonade at the finish lines of Spartan Races, during the 2021 NOBULL CrossFit Games and ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, at USA Weightlifting events.

FITAID’s recovery blend includes BCAAs, Glucosamine, CoQ10, and Omega 3s, and is sweetened with raw organic blue agave with no artificial flavours or sweeteners. It is currently the number one post-workout recovery beverage on Amazon, ahead of the new flavour variation.

Last year’s hot summer boosted UK water drinks consumption by more than 7 % to 4,267 million litres, according to a new report from food and drink experts Zenith Global. This was worth an estimated £ 3,330 million at retail prices.

Sales of plain bottled water in retail packs increased by 7.9 % to 3.4 billion litres, whilst sales of flavoured, functional and juicy waters rose by 7.2 %.

A key driver behind the growth was the warmest summer on record, according to the Met Office. The new soft drinks levy from April 2018, on products with a higher added sugar content, appears to have had a limited impact, after most manufacturers pre-emptively reformulated many products to avoid the tax.

Pressure undoubtedly increased on producers to improve their environmental profile. For the first time, the report documents packaging innovations such as recycled content as well as examining initiatives in recycling and deposit return schemes.

Zenith Global predicts that the UK market will continue to grow robustly, but at a slower pace than in recent years. “Our forecasts to 2023 show an upward trend of 3 – 5 % a year,” commented Zenith Global Senior Consultant Robin Bell. “Debate about plastic and recycling are likely to remain centre stage and we expect to see more packaging from alternative materials becoming mainstream,” he concluded.