Articles by Amanda Del Buono

It’s a running joke in my family that my boyfriend doesn’t eat real food. His diet seems to consist of chocolate milkshakes, chocolate chip cookies and a variety of chocolate candy.

For the past several years, the beverage industry has faced an evolution in consumer demand. A consumer drive toward maintaining overall health and wellness has impacted several categories, particularly carbonated soft drinks (CSDs).

In February, the Distilled Spirits Council (DISCUS), Washington, D.C., announced the 2015 results for the U.S. distilled spirits category.

Not too long ago I tried Not Your Father’s Root Beer at a friend’s college graduation party. The flavored beer was a nice change for me, as it offered a different kind of flavor with less alcohol than a spirit, which I appreciated.

Thomas Jefferson was quoted as saying, “Coffee — the favorite drink of the civilized world.” Today, coffee remains a favorite beverage and flavor in the United States. As such, beverage-makers are using the flavor within a plethora of categories, including ready-to-drink (RTD) coffees, spirits and craft beers.

After being carefully set in a line, when a single domino is knocked over into the next, the entire line will fall. Similar to the cascading effect of falling dominos, changes within the front-end of beverage operations often will cascade through the manufacturing facility all the way to the end-of-line operations, even to case packing and wrapping.

Previously known for bikini tops and one of Harry Nilsson’s hit songs, coconuts have gained a much more respectable persona in the minds of U.S. consumers within the past several years.

In December, Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) announced it would launch four Global Smart Drinking Goals in an effort to encourage responsible drinking and reduce harmful drinking, a growing concern for many consumers.