Product Watch

Refreshing Drinks to Heat Up the Summer Sales

Summer often conjures images of long hot days made easier by timely poolside barbeques, lounging with a cup of a sweet fruit juice, and lighter, more refreshing meals. Sweet, fruity and cold beverages dominate the summer market, offering customers an ability to beat the heat and take advantage of the season’s many ripe fruits. While traditional summer treats of sugary and frozen drinks like lemonade and sodas still dominate the mass market, increasingly families are trying to lean towards natural, healthier beverages such as low-sugar teas or drinks made from natural fruit juice. A smart restaurant owner knows his/her audience and is able to present healthy options that are as healthy as they are tasty. Similarly, owners should be aware of the many different alcoholic beverages that are particularly popular during the summer months. Instead of heavier or more filling beers and liquors, in the summer adults typically prefer lighter or fruity alcoholic beverages like special pilsners and light beers.

This beverage product column seeks to highlight new and exciting products for restaurants to add to their beverage menu. This month we bring you exciting beverages with a summer twist! From the anti-oxidant rich and delightfully healthy Frützzo Yumberry juice to a selection of iced and green teas from reliable brands like Gold Peak, summer is a season sure to delight your customers’ taste buds! Ginger and green teas (such as Jayone’s line of aloe, citron and ginger based teas) are popular items for restaurants who like to have Asian-themed beverages to compliment their meals, but many owners may find Americanized beverages will be just as popular in this hot time of year. For those restaurants with a liquor license, summer beers are in season as well- with options like Kirin Ichiban’s imported Japanese pilsner, Harbin Lager’s fruity flavored lager, or Bud Light Lime’s combination of light beer taste with a kick of lime- your customers will have plenty of refreshing options to beat the heat!

The following fifteen products provide a myriad of flavors and tastes that are sure to appeal to customers of many different ages and palettes. Find the products that are right for your restaurant. There is a products index at the end of this column to make quick browsing easy. Happy summer!



Bud Light Lime
Services: Beer
www.budlightlime.com


Description:


Premium Light – American-style light lager that combines the superior drinkability of Bud Light with a splash of 100 percent natural lime flavor. Light-bodied brew with a delicate malt sweetness, clean, crisp finish and the taste of a fresh squeezed lime for ultimate refreshment. Bud Light Lime is brewed using premium grains, subtle hops and a natural lime flavor. Bud Light Lime tastes great cold, straight from the bottle and pairs well with spicy, grilled meats and fresh fruits and vegetables. Perfect for summer refreshment, Bud Light Lime offers adults the citrus taste, expected from a fresh squeezed lime, without a trip to the produce aisle.

Harbin Lager


Introduced: 2006

Beer Category/Style: Import – Chinese-brewed super-premium pilsner-style lager.

Industry Ranking: Harbin Lager won the coveted “China Top Brand Award” in 2005 for a second consecutive three-year period based on overall quality, market value, economic impact and potential for future development. Harbin Brewery Group was the Chinese province’s first company to win the award two consecutive times.

Taste Profile: Harbin Lager offers a complex floral and fruity hop aroma from the use of the unique “Qindao Dahua” aroma hop variety grown in China’s remote Northwestern Regions. This distinctive hop character is layered on a balanced and round malty body and crisp finish.

Ingredients/Brewing: Harbin Lager is brewed with a blend of Chinese “Qindao Dahua” hop and European aroma hop varieties, as well as a blend of fine two-row malt for a round mid-palate and complex flavor. Its unique yeast strain and traditional brewing techniques, including a long and cold aging process, adds to the beer’s nuanced aroma and crisp finish.

Packaging: Available in 11.2-ounce (330 ml) longneck bottles, and 20.3 ounce (600 ml) restaurant-style bottles featuring special rice paper wrapping.

Interesting Facts: Harbin Lager is brewed and packaged by Harbin Brewery Group Ltd. in China for export to the United States by Anheuser-Busch, Inc. The beer’s distinct taste differentiates it from other Asian beers and makes it an ideal accompaniment to spicy and aromatic Asian cuisine. Anheuser-Busch acquired Harbin Brewery, China’s oldest brewer, in 2004.

Further Information: Visit www.anheuser-busch.com.

Kirin Light/Kirin Ichiban

Introduced: Kirin Light was introduced in 1989 and Kirin Ichiban was introduced in 1990.

Beer Category/Style: Import – Japanese-style pilsners.

Taste Profile: Kirin Ichiban has a smooth, full-bodied and refreshing taste. Kirin Light has an enticing hop aroma and a surprisingly smooth, full-bodied taste.

Ingredients/Brewing: Kirin Ichiban and Kirin Light are brewed with the finest ingredients, including two-row barley malt and the finest Saaz hops imported from the Czech Republic. Kirin’s proprietary yeast strain is used along with a special “first press” brewing process, which extracts the most flavorful portion of the ingredients.

How to Serve: The full-bodied, yet smooth taste of Kirin Ichiban and Kirin Light pair well with a variety of Asian dishes, including Asian-fusion meals and sushi.

Interesting Facts: Kirin refers to a mythic beast, half dragon and half deer, from ancient Chinese mythology as a symbol of well-being and good fortune.

Further Information: Visit www.kirin.com or www.anheuser-busch.com.

Introduced: 1932

Beer Category/Style: Import – Pilsner-style, golden lager.

Taste Profile: A smooth, full-flavored beer with classic hop character and malty body.

Ingredients/Brewing: Brewed using the finest natural ingredients, a traditional bottom fermentation process and a combination of two imported hops. The naturally high carbonation produces a characteristically creamy head and a smooth, full-bodied taste. Brewed at the Asia Pacific Breweries’ Singapore brewery, for export to the United States by
Anheuser-Busch.

How to Serve: Tiger is best served in a pilsner glass and pairs perfectly with spicy Asian cuisine particularly the Chili Crab – Singapore’s unofficial national dish.

Interesting Facts: Tiger has won more than 40 international awards, including a gold medal in the European-style Pilsner category of the 2004 World Beer Cup, a competition which is considered the “Olympics of Beer Competitions” and the Brewing Industry International Awards, U.K., 1998 (the equivalent of the Oscar Awards for the brewing industry). Tiger Beer was named U.K. Cool Brand Leader in 2004, 2005 and 2006 – a recognition given to the coolest brands in the U.K. It also topped a list of 50 beer brands and was crowned the NUTS (a weekly magazine in the U.K.) Beer of the Year in 2004.

Further Information: Visit www.tigerbeer.us or www.tigerbeer.com.

Tsingtao Beer
Services: Beer
www.tsingtaobeer.com.

Description:

Tsingtao Beer, the number one imported Chinese beer in the United States, is brewed and bottled by the Tsingtao Brewery in China. Tsingtao Beer recently participated in the "Martin Yan Cooking School" at several Publix grocery store locations in the southeastern U.S. The events were supported with Tsingtao point-of-sale materials, including counter cards, case stackers, tackers and banners, as well as numerous Tsingtao Beer displays throughout the store.

Hoo Roo Foods
Services: Wild Hibiscus Flowers in Syrup
www.wildhibisucs.com
1800 499 8490



Description:




Wild Hibiscus Flowers are a lovely sweet rhubarb-raspberry flavored decoration. This bright exotic flowers sits perfectly at the bottom of wine glasses and exudes a ballet of pastel shades that dance in the glass. They are the perfect accessory to complete a beautiful meal. These flowers are grown in the hot Australian Outback and have a fiery beauty. They are hand picked and packaged to insure that the flower is both outstanding, and flourished to it’s full potential. The flowers are not only stunningly beautiful, but convenient! Their shelf life is two years and can be kept untainted in a refrigerator for up to three months after opening.

Wild Hibiscus Flowers will suit any occasion and are limitless in their versatility. Use these flowers as a stuffing, decoration, or simply to sweeten the appearance of any wine glass or restaurant display.

Island Oasis
Services: Frozen Drink Mixes
www.islandoasis.com.
1-800-777-4752

Description:

"Mango Paradise" kicks off Island Oasis' new "Flavor-of-the-Month" beverage program, which launches next month. The global leader in delivering the world's finest frozen drinks, Island Oasis will offer the foodservice industry a featured beverage each month over the next year to bring ongoing excitement to its customers and their patrons.

Asian Sun
Services: Fruit Flavored Green Tea
www.asiansuntea.com

Description:

Asian Sun green tea may have shown the cleverest product of the show for Asian and Chinese restaurants, fruit flavored green tea based liquid concentrates loaded with anti-oxidants in individual serving pouches. Just add cold water and you have a very profitable, healthy, and tasty cold beverage to offer your thirsty customers. Packets come in boxes of 15 or in the 3-flavor dispenser shown. Or add the regular or decaffeinated mixes to water and serve from the attractive dispensers also pictured. A "home run" product for virtually any Chinese or Asian restaurant.

Gold Peak
Services: Iced Tea
http://goldpeaktea.com/

Description:

Gold Peak? revives the timeless flavor of classic, authentic iced tea. Offered in five great flavors - sweetened, unsweetened, lemon, diet and green tea - Gold Peak provides a bottled option for enthusiasts of home-style iced tea. This product is offered nationwide in stylish 16.9-ounce single-serve glass bottles. Gold Peak's unique carafe-like glass bottle bears a label featuring a tranquil lakeside scene, conjuring a time and place to be savored. The premium label together with the rich color of the product in the clear glass bottle enables Gold Peak to stand out among other teas as a sophisticated, upscale brand.

Offered in five great flavors - sweetened, unsweetened, lemon, diet and green tea,

Jayone Foods, Inc.
Services: Aloe Tea
1-562-6337400
www.jayone.com

Building on the Chinese tradition of healthful beverages going back to ginseng tea, Jayone offers Aloe based cold drinks. But will drinking their anti-oxidant rich pomegranate flavored version be as good for you as pouring aloe on a sunburn?

Jayone Foods, Inc.
Services: Citron & Green Ginger Tea
1-562-6337400
www.jayone.com

Description:

J1 Citron (yuzu) Tea has been sweetened with honey and organic cane sugar. It is used as an herbal remedy for the common cold and other winter illnesses. The J1 Citron Tea won the 2008 World Tea Championship (herbal category).

J1 Ginger Tea, which has a very fiery characteristic, has been sweetened with honey and organic cane juice. There are many health benefits using ginger, but mainly it has been used as a remedy against flu and colds for centuries. For over 2,500 years, it has been used in China to treat sore throat, nasal congestion, and sinus pain.

You can serve both J1 teas as either hot or cold drinks. Also, it can be used as a jam or spread. Although, there’re other brands that sell these fruit teas, J1 fruit teas have a higher percentage of fruit and the only one that contains organic cane juice.

Sweet Leaf
Services: Mango Green Tea
www.sweetleaftea.com
(512) 328-7775

Description:

Sweet Leaf Tea’s new organic Mango Green Tea is a delicious and refreshing organic, ready-to-drink tea made with premium organic green tea, organic mango juice and pure, organic cane sugar. Bottles of Sweet Leaf’s Mango Green Tea are available in 16 ounce glass bottles that will retail for between $1.39 and $1.59 each, and 20 ounce, recyclable PET bottles, which will retail for between $1.59 and $1.79 each.

Sweet Leaf
Service: Sweet Teas and Lemonades
www.sweetleaftea.com
(512) 328-7775


Description:

Sweet Leaf teas are made from all-natural, superior-blend black and green teas mixed with 100% pure cane sugar or honey (sucralose for the diet varieties) and carbon-filtered water. Six of their flavors are certified organic by the USDA, and their Green Tea line has more of the antioxidant EGCG than any other bottled tea on the market. Sweet Leaf also just launched old-fashioned organic lemonade beverages made with 100%, organic cane sugar, which was winner of the 2007 NASFT Silver “Sofi” Award for “outstanding cold beverage”.

Teas: The Organic Original Sweet Tea, Diet Original Sweet Tea, Organic Mint &
Honey Green Tea, Diet Mint & Honey Green Tea, Organic Peach Sweet Tea, Diet
Peach Tea, Raspberry Sweet Tea, Lemon Lime Unsweet Tea, Organic Mango Green
Tea, Organic Half & Half Lemonade Tea and Organic Pomegranate Green Tea.

Lemonades: Organic Original Lemonade, Organic Peach Lemonade, and Organic.

TMI Trading
Services: Asian Foods and Drinks
www.tmitrading.com

Description:

TMI Trading is your source for the most new and innovative foods imported from Asia. We carry a wide variety of high quality dry goods. Bubble Tea ingredients from Taiwan, instant cereals from Singapore, Citrus honey from Korea, and biscuits from China. You're sure to find something to supplement your business.

DRY Soda
Service: Fruit Flavored Soda & Cocktails
www.drysoda.com
(206) 652 2345

Description:
Seattle-based DRY Soda Co. offers today’s consumer a modern alternative in refreshment — a line of all-natural, lightly sweet sodas, flavored with fruit or herb extracts, and sweetened with a small amount of pure cane sugar. Combining the subtle essence of nature and the kitchen in four cuisine-inspired flavors — kumquat, lavender, lemongrass and rhubarb — DRY’s unique design and clean finish make it an ideal soda to pair with a great meal or a refreshing beverage on its own. For those who enjoy cocktails, DRY Soda also makes a distinct and sophisticated mixer.
Drink DRY and celebrate your everyday. Serve DRY and elevate your every occasion.

Frutzzo
Services: Juice
www.frutzzo.com
801-763-7157

Description:

As the SUPER super juice company, Frutzzo brings you high antioxidant, free radical-fighting juices and juice blends in all-natural and organic varieties. Radically free of artificial preservatives, artificial colors and added sugar, our juices feature nutrient-dense and delicious ingredients such as pomegranates, blueberries, acai and the newly introduced Yumberry.

Natural healing defense in a bottle, Frützzo’s Yumberry juice and juice blends are uniquely high in vitamins, minerals, food fibers and nutrients crucial for the human body. As well, if antioxidants had a “super hero,” it would be OPCs, the major constituent of Yumberry’s health benefits.

Twenty times more powerful than Vitamin C and 50 times more potent than Vitamin E, OPCs protect the body against internal and environmental stresses and are said to defend against cardiovascular and other degenerative diseases and premature aging. Yumberry’s OPCs have also been shown to boost the immune system, lower blood pressure, help lower LDL cholesterol levels and increase strength and elasticity of blood vessels while slowing down the collapse of collagen, keeping skin firm, smooth and wrinkle free.


Bubbies Homemade Ice Cream & Desserts
Services: Ice Cream & Desserts
http://bubbiesicecream.gourmetfoodmall.com
808-487-7218

Description:

Bubbies Homemade Ice Cream & Desserts has been manufacturing super-premium ice cream and gourmet ice cream desserts for over 19 years in the beautiful setting of the Hawaiian Islands. Along with our incomparable ice creams and sorbets, we also specialize and are the leader in mochi ice cream. Imagine a harmonious combination of creamy gourmet ice cream wrapped in a sweetened rice confection, all resulting in a delectable bite-sized, one and a quarter ounce ball of happiness. It is a perfect ending to an amazing meal or anytime for a gourmet sweet snack. These magnificent morsels are available in eighteen flavors with a special flavor of the month.

Enjoy Bubbies Ice Cream, homemade specialty desserts and premium mochi ice cream whenever and wherever you find gourmet products, knowing it is made from quality raw ingredients but mostly because it tastes so good.......possibly better than any other ice cream you have ever eaten.

Snapple Antioxidant Water
Services: Antioxidant Water & LYTeWater
www.snapple.com

Description:

Snapple's New Antioxidant Water and LYTeWater take hydration to the next level.
Triple benefit of antioxidants, vitamins and electrolytes offer healthiest benefits in new functional water.

The Antioxidant Water product line offers a smart solution that improves energy, helps restore the body and supports a healthy immune system for consumers who are actively taking steps to incorporate healthier behaviors into their everyday routine. For those looking to add a healthier boost to their traditional bottled water, the zero calories Snapple LYTeWater line is enhanced with electrolytes and minerals.