When the MillerCoors facility in Golden, Colo., experienced a small flood in its basement a few years ago, little did the company know what it was about to stumble upon.

The beverage marketplace continues to make strides against the economic downturn that hampered consumers and businesses beginning in 2008. In Beverage Industry’s compilation of the Top 100 beverage companies based on 2012 sales, The Coca-Cola Co. continued to lead the list by recording an additional $1.5 billion in sales compared with 2011.

When co-founders Martin Chalk and Peter Maher started developing their vision for New York-based Balance, their goal wasn’t to create a beverage company — it was simply to bring the homeopathic benefits of Australian flower essences to consumers, Chalk says.

Following Seattle-based Starbucks Coffee Co.’s acquisition of Atlanta-based Teavana Holdings Inc. at the end of 2012, the tea industry is waiting for the hot tea segment to boom, according to experts.

Representing the “Tenth” reference in Tenth and Blake Beer Co., the 10th Street Brewery in Milwaukee is one of the company’s smallest, most experimental breweries, says Tom Cardella, president and chief executive officer of the Chicago-based MillerCoors division of craft and import brands.

It’s amazing how much can change in a year’s time. As our staff began compiling Beverage Industry’s list of the Top 100 beverage companies (page 24), I realized the magnitude of changes that have taken place in the beverage realm within the last year.

The excitement surrounding the lives of flappers and fun-seekers of the Roaring ’20s still enchant many of us almost a century later. This culture also recently inspired some interesting beverage marketing pushes, particularly following the premiere of Warner Brothers Entertainment’s “The Great Gatsby” movie last month.

In the ballad “The Sweetest Thing,” the pop rock band U2 sang about how love is the sweetest thing, but when it comes to the beverage market, the sweetest thing also is the biggest thing. Across 13 ingredient categories, sweeteners accounted for 85 percent of the 46.4 million tons of ingredients used in beverages in 2011, according to an April 2013 report by Chicago-based Euromonitor International titled “Beverage Ingredients: Trends and Influences.”

By the end of this month, it will finally be summertime. For those of us in cold-weather states, it seemed like summer was never going to come, but now it’s finally time to enjoy all the fun activities, food and beverages of the season.

As the economy improves, a majority of Americans are not returning to their pre-recession ways, according to Deloitte’s 2013 American Pantry Study.

Imbera’s quality of service, global presence, as well as standard bearing technology and innovations were just some of the reasons it was chosen to receive this year’s Most Valuable Supplier award at the Partnerships for Sustainable Business Success event, hosted by Atlanta-based The Coca-Cola Co. on April 17 in Atlanta, according to Imbera.

Highlighting its Freightliner Trucks Business Class M2, Daimler Trucks North America LLC’s Freightliner trucks offer the M2 106 and M2 112, which both feature best-in-class visibility with a 2,500-square-inch windshield and have numerous manual, automated and automatic transmission choices, the company says.

With fuel prices hovering near the $4 a gallon range, drivers across the industry are looking for ways to cut costs and boost vehicle efficiency. Some fleet managers have turned to telematics to help monitor fleet performance and reduce overall vehicle costs.

The first decade of the 21st century saw profound change in the beverage industry, with an exponential explosion of product SKUs taking place at the same time as unprecedented levels of bottler and distributor consolidation.

Although it might not have been a requirement 10 years ago, good brands today will need to make a genuine commitment to sustainability moving forward, says Trent Overholt, vice president of supply chain solutions for Los Angeles-based Rehrig Pacific Co.

LycoRed Corp. introduced a new micro-encapsulated beadlet line of natural carotenoids and vitamins at the Supply Side Marketplace show in New York.

Terry Laboratories has developed a new way to grow, harvest and process aloe vera with the introduction of its NaturLock System.

Autocrat LLC announced the addition of natural, premium tea extracts to its product selection. This approach encourages innovative solutions to produce countless unique product options, the company says.

Sensient Colors LLC, a business unit of Sensient Technologies Corp., expanded its research and development efforts on a global scale and developed an Advanced Emulsion Technology for natural colors.

Robertet Flavors, Piscataway, N.J., appointed two sales executives to flavor division roles.

Although the plastic bottle market in the United States serves a number of different industries and manufacturers, the beverage business continues to play a large role.

Miller Lite, a brand of MillerCoors, is upgrading its bottle with a sleek design that provides an innovative, contoured shape that is a modern interpretation of the brand’s signature long neck, it says.

Similar to how gamers try to navigate through the complex and intricate challenges of some of today’s latest video games, research and development (R&D) specialists for the beverage marketplace are navigating through their own sets of challenges as they develop more complex formulations.

Imagine having the ability to pick up a beverage and examine it without ever touching it. Thanks to next-generation vending machines, this idea of virtual selection is becoming a reality.