Veev: Capitalizing on the Antioxidant Craze

The featured beverage of the Green Drinks party was Veev (tagline: a better way to drink). Reputed as being the very first Açaí spirit, Veev's press release claims that the açaí is "the exotic-tasting, Brazilian national fruit considered to be the healthiest food on the planet. With 57% more antioxidants than pomegranates or blueberries, and 30 times more heart-healthy anthocyanins than red wine, this dark purple berry has catapulted from the Amazonian Rainforest to martini glasses."

I was first introduced to Acai about four years ago by my friend Grant. He had just come back from studying in Brazil and thought that acai was ripe for the spotlight, maybe even the next big American food trend. Unfortunately, he was maybe about a year late in terms of capitalizing on the berry. As you can see now, Acai is so trendy that there's even an alcoholic beverage using the fruit's health value to its advantage. This is clearly ludicrous; the alcohol is going to get you drunk, not keep your immune system strong. However, as marketing ploys go, it's not bad. Plus, they donate $1 per bottle to Sambazon's Sustainable Acai Project in Brazil. Righteous bootleggers.