Blue Moon Brewing Co., a Golden, Colo.-based operating unit of MillerCoor’s Tenth and Blake Brewing Co., is celebrating its 20th anniversary with the planning of a new brewery that is scheduled to open in 2016.

If the groundhog’s ability to predict the end of winter held true on an annual basis, it would make planning the last six weeks of winter much easier for many people. Although not as temperamental as the weather, many beverage-makers probably wish they had an ability to see into the beverage market future to predict the latest trends.

Although the common business adage “The customer is always right” might not apply to all businesses, some beverage brands are collecting consumer insights to help guide their new product development. In fact, one beverage manufacturer exclusively uses consumer feedback to create its products.

For consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, it’s a bit scary to hear the Nielsen statistic that more than 85 percent of new CPG products fail in the marketplace.

KeVita Inc., the Ventura County, Calif.-based maker of KeVita Sparkling Probiotic Drinks, is bringing its expertise to the kombucha category with a new line of KeVita Master Brew Kombuchas.

Paterson, Wash.-based Columbia Crest is turning to the Internet and consumers for its newest release. The Washington state winery will help the online community of wine lovers to create Crowdsourced Cabernet Sauvignon.

How do you imagine the typical brainstorming session goes? Imagine that brainstorming session is about creating new flavors of beer — a market that is growing in size and sophistication.

When it comes to the latest trends, “healthy” and “natural” continue to top the list of consumer needs and interests for beverages, according to respondents of Beverage Industry’s annual New Product Development Survey.

Before finalizing new beverage product concepts, beverage-makers need to consider the capabilities of the contract manufacturers and packagers (co-packers) with which they work, according to experts.

Taking into account outside elements like economic challenges, environmental hurdles and trepidatious consumers, consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers have a number of things to consider when it comes to developing new products.