Bloomberg reports Ben & Jerry's made a bold new flavor announcement in May 2019: CBD ice cream was coming ... "as soon as it's legalized at the federal level." Two years later, the "groovy" treat still isn't available to the public, as snack makers continue to wait for a green light from US officials for cannabis-infused foods. But as demand for edibles continues to rise and the market tops the billion-dollar mark, Big Food is getting ready.
'It's going to be a big summer for hard seltzer'
Sales exploded to $4 billion last year, from about $500 million in 2018. Dozens of brands will compete to be the boozy, bubbly drink of the season. The NYT reports while White Claw and Truly — the Coca-Cola and Pepsi of hard seltzer — capture about 70 percent of the market, everyone wants in on the action, drawn by the staggering growth. Old-school beer companies, spirits giants, winemakers, and others are fermenting sugar solutions and adding seasonal flavors like watermelon, black cherry, and strawberry lemonade to create their own buzzy concoctions.
How flavored bubbly water with alcohol became a national phenomenon is partly due to social media videos that went viral and clever marketing that sold hard seltzers as a "healthier" alcohol choice.
The phone call with Italy on the other end
Title: Adventures with Fiat Pandas + Autogrills + Negronis
Time + Date: 2:00 pm ET | Wednesday, June 16, 2021
Speaker: Matt Hranek | Founder + Editor @ Wm Brown Magazine + Author of A Man & His Car
$25.00
Brigadoon Members attend free
Less wolf. More panda.
Views of China have grown more negative in recent years across many advanced economies, and unfavorable opinion has soared since 2020, a 14-country Pew Research Center survey shows.
Currently, a majority in each of the surveyed countries has an unfavorable opinion of China.
And in Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United States, South Korea, Spain, and Canada, negative views have reached their highest points since the Pew Research Center began polling on this topic more than a decade ago.
Xi Jinping is now telling his comrades, be best.
Xi urged Chinese officials to create a "trustworthy, lovable, and respectable" image for the country, in a sign that Beijing may be looking to smooth its hard-edged diplomatic approach.
Too much wolf and not enough panda.
Xi told senior Communist Party leaders Monday (May 31, 2021) that the country must "make friends extensively, unite the majority, and continuously expand its circle of friends with those who understand and are friendly to China," according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
Bloomberg reports Beijing needed "a grip on tone" in its communication with the world and should "be open and confident, but also modest and humble."
China has increasingly hit back against perceived violations of its core interests by foreign countries with trade measures, travel bans, and diplomatic protests -- an approach sometimes criticized as "Wolf Warrior" diplomacy.
Read the survey: Unfavorable views of China reach historic highs in many countries: Majorities say China has handled COVID-19 outbreak poorly. Pew Research Center