As one of four categories in the ready-to-drink coffee category, the cold brew category took prominence in recent coverage by BevNET. “While indulgent (high sugar) iced coffees still lead the market,” Euromonitor senior beverages analyst Matthew Barry said, “cold brew is experiencing the fastest growth – in large part due to ability to cross over into the other segments. It can, for example, provide consumers with good-tasting sugar-free energy.”

Representing the category was Stamford based Rise Brewing Co. co-founder and CEO Grant Gyesky.

“Grant Gyesky, co-founder and CEO of RISE Brewing Co., which enjoyed a $2.3 million raise last summer, said his company is currently exploring further investment and that interest from venture capital in cold brew is strong. He compares coffee to craft beer, believing that the current prominence of brands like Starbucks and Dunkin’ is equivalent to the failure of major brewers to recognize the growing power of the craft beer trend two decades ago. Calling cold brew coffee’s evolution unpredictable, he said many brands like RISE are taking a careful path ahead before being locked into the rigidity of a larger company’s system.

‘I see a lot of brands at our stage purposely trying to stay away from capital that limits what lanes they can move forward in, which is those larger players,” Gyesky said. “I think it limits where they can go, where they can take the brand.’ ” (excerpted from article, “The Erosion of Indulgence: Cold Brew is Changing the Game,” in BevNet)

Read full article in this month’s issue of BevNET