Taking home the prize

Miller Lite named Santa Fe, N.M-based HoneyMoon Brewery as the grand-prize winner of the 2016 Miller Lite Tap the Future competition. HoneyMoon Brewery, which produces a probiotic kombucha tea with a touch of alcohol, took home the $200,000 grand prize. Now in its fourth year, Tap the Future is a business plan competition that offers entrepreneurs a chance to grow their businesses, the company says. “The Miller Lite Tap the Future competition is an intense process that takes months of preparation and hard work for all of the competing companies,” said Steve Canal, national community affairs manager for MillerCoors, in a statement.

Making art, making a difference

Partnering with musician John Legend and South African artist Esther Mahlangu, Belvedere launched its hashtag #MakeTheDifference campaign, featuring a limited-edition bottle and art events in support of HIV/AIDS awareness, it says. Mahlangu designed all of the campaign’s artwork in the style of her Ndebele tribal art, including the limited-edition bottle. As the campaign’s ambassador, Legend developed its four core values and collaborated with Mahlangu to bring them to life, it adds. Belvedere donated 50 percent of the profits from each limited-edition bottle sold to the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS in Africa, it says.

In the spirit

Heineken is spreading the cheer this holiday season with a fully integrated program supported by its There’s More Behind the Star credentials campaign. Starting this month, TV ads and digital and social media activations will reinforce the brand’s credentials — its quality, heritage and international footprint — and drive consideration as legal-drinking-age consumers plan and purchase their holiday celebrations, the company says. A full suite of retail and on-premise merchandising elements and shopper marketing tactics, including partnerships with Yieldbot, Foursquare, My Web Grocer, Drizly and Shazam, will engage shoppers, it adds. Additionally, its holiday packaging invites consumers to scan a Heineken bottle or pack and go to heineken.com to create a personalized Shazam holiday card and unlock prizes and rebates (where legal).

Bourbon know-how

The recently released biography, “The Big Man of Jim Beam” recounts the life and legacy of bourbon legend, Booker Noe. Written by award-winning author Jim Kokoris, a close friend of Noe and the Beam family, the book chronicles Noe’s life from his boyhood in a small town in Kentucky to his rise to bourbon prominence. The book also provides bourbon enthusiasts with a glimpse of one of the industry’s most influential figures. Additionally, the illustrative book recounts Noe’s 40-year reign as a master distiller of Jim Beam Bourbon and reconstructs his creation of The Small Batch Bourbon Collection, including Booker’s Bourbon, Knob Creek Bourbon, Basil Hayden’s Bourbon and Baker’s Bourbon, it adds. The history of his family’s seven generations of distilling, along with cocktail and cooking recipes, also are included in the book.

Prioritizing climate change

In celebration of New Belgium Brewing and Ben & Jerry’s latest collaboration, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ale, the two companies have again joined forces with Protect Our Winters (POW) to drink beer, eat ice cream and create tangible ways to fight climate change, the companies say. In the 100 Days to Change Our Ways campaign, the three socially minded organizations are asking the next White House Administration to make climate change a priority during the first 100 days, they say. To rally support, events will take place in 12 cities across the country with letter-writing stations, POW athletes speaking out about the dangers of climate change, raffles, and, of course, beer and ice cream. “Inaction needs to turn into action, from the highest levels of government to each of us,” New Belgium Director of Sustainability Jenn Vervier said in a statement. A portion of sales from Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ale will go to POW.

All-Star opener

Wine Ovation released new, officially licensed MLB electric wine bottle openers. The cordless, rechargeable device — designed in the shape of a baseball bat and available in all 30 MLB team logo options — easily opens a bottle of wine in seconds, the company says. To remove the cork from the bottle, the consumer pushes the button down and then up to extract the cork. The baseball-themed opener is designed to open 30 wine bottles on a single charge, it adds. When finished, it plugs into a wall charger to keep it charged for the next wine occasion.

Inspiring Innovation

Nestlé Waters North America is partnering with Imagine H2O (IH2O), a nonprofit organization that supports the development of water innovations, to help provide entrepreneurs with the resources, insight and visibility needed to launch and scale water solutions. “Providing entrepreneurs with access to customers in strategic markets is critical to our programming,” IH2O President Scott Bryan said in a statement. “For the beverage industry, engaging water technology startups in an opportunity to advance the market for water innovation and support new solutions to water resource challenges.”

Celebrating 20 years

Celebrating its 20-year partnership with Slow Food, Lavazza released a limited-edition 2017 “We Are What We Live” calendar. The Earth Defenders featured in the calendar played a key role in the Terra Madre Salone Del Gusto 2016, an international food and wine fair that took place Sept. 22-26, of which Lavazza is an official partner. A portion of the proceeds from calendar sales will support Terra Madre Projects. Images feature Earth Defenders and will be displayed around Turin in various historic locations and cafes, it adds.