If UPDATE is the SKIMS you can drink, then yes.

On our corner of the internet, two things became clear this week. Alcohol is losing its grip on culture faster than people want to admit, and beverage dollars aren’t disappearing. They’re migrating. The money is moving into alternatives that match how people actually want to live now, which is why non-alc and energy keep gaining traction, are getting crowded, and more investable on paper.

But if you’ve been here for a minute, you know we’re not letting a headline like Kim Kardashian becoming a “co-founder” of UPDATE convince us a category is suddenly easy. Beverage is still beverage and it will humble you, even when the product is good and the branding is perfect.

This is why two announcements this week caught our attention. Kim Kardashian is coming in as a co-founder of UPDATE for the relaunch, and Walmart is taking it nationwide. Alix Earle is continuing to invest in beverage with a strategic investment into GORGIE Energy. These are both celebrity-driven moments, but they’re not the same kind of bet. One is a distribution unlock. The other is a momentum signal that things are going well and Michelle Cordiero Grant is doubling down on her customer.

At the end of the day beverage is still hard and this is why: