Beverage manufacturers have bottled a lot of unlikely drinks over the years – pickle juice comes to mind – but Jon Wilt may have the strangest idea in recent history.

He’s bottled blocks of ice.

You read that right. Blocks of ice. Mr. Wilt is doing the same thing you’ve done in the past – sticking a bottle of water in the freezer ahead of a hot day – but on a large scale.

Under the name Fria Frozen Water, Wilt has gotten his product into 12 stores, and is working on more, according to the Arizona Star. Wilt says he’s slowly (glacially?) gaining a following, but knows he’ll have to shift gears when the winter comes.

At that point, he will introduce his first line extension: un-frozen bottled water.

Somehow, I think this might get an icy reception.

Read more here.

In one of the stranger quirks of the now-global “Cola Wars,” Pepsi and Coke squared off over the rights to promote themselves on the hopes of an Olympic boxer from Thailand.

Reuters reported that a Thai Pepsi distributor beat Coke to the punch by setting up promotional tents at Worapoj Phetkum’s home. Coca-Cola’s Thai agents countered by cutting a deal with the boxer’s father, Thaweep. Thaweep declared that both companies can stay, as long as they behave.

“If they make problems, both will have to leave,” Thaweep told Reuters.

In other words, he wants a good, clean fight.

Don’t expect this one to slither into the U.S. market.

Japan Tobacco Inc. introduced a new drink in Japan called “Unagi Nobori,” or, “Surging Eel.” While animal names are common for beverages, this one takes its moniker more literally than Red Bull or Venom.

Unagi Nobori contains extracts from the head and bones of the serpentine fish. If that’s not enough, the drink is formulated to taste like the slithery sea-beast.

The Japanese believe that consuming eel boosts stamina in hot weather. I believe that drinking an eel flavored beverage would boost my lunch out of my gut.

Typically, the only good way a mouse and a beverage bottle go together is when Disney partners with Coke for a promotion. Any other combination of rodents and refreshments usually induce screaming, lawsuits and bad PR, but Green Bottle USA has a new way to combine the two.

The company markets a humane mouse trap called “Catch a Mouse.” Customers attach an empty bottle to the mechanism and wait for the little critters to find their way in. Once in, they can’t get out, and you have yourself a mouse in a bottle.

From there you can release the critter a safe distance from your home, or dispose of the pest without need to touch it directly.

Or, you could stick it in the fridge and see how people react. But you shouldn’t do that. And if you do, you shouldn’t tell anyone where you got the idea.

A product popped up on my radar Wednesday that made me dread the inevitable BevNET review. Tru Blood claims to be a synthetic blood substitute. For vampires, mostly. Initially, I doubted the product’s authenticity.

But, then again, I’d met people in college who believed they were vampires – despite making it to daytime classes without turning to a pile of ash. These people would probably go for Tru Blood, and their four flavors – O, A, B and AB – would give them a little variety in their bizarre hobby.

But, as it turns out, the “product” is a piece of viral marketing to promote HBO’s new vampire show, “True Blood.”

Great. It seemed like a bad beverage idea anyway. Where are you going to go for flavor extensions? And what about line extensions? Would they produce the other three humors?

Mmm, Tru Yellow Bile.

Starbucks – that company that stands at the curious intersection of coffee house, RTD brand and beverage retailer – will close 600 company-owned stores.

The company said most of those stores opened in the last two years, and the process will also mean the termination of 12,000 employees. But that doesn’t mean that beverage industry professionals should weep in their lattes.

While the company once helped build Jones Soda, its cooler has more recently featured Starbucks-branded products or products out of the Pepsi system. The closures also likely won’t affect Starbucks’ RTD business.

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Today, outside of the BevNET world headquarters in Harvard Square, Advertising Ace John McKenna spotted what could be a tea-leaf-like sign of Red Bull’s future. A passing car crushed a can of Red Bull like the first-moving energy drink once crushed its competitors, and the resulting splatter-pattern strongly resembled the logo of Dark Dog Energy Drink:

Dark Dog has a U.S. presence that’s about as strong as beer in Utah. While Red Bull has steadily lost market share to Monster over the past few years, it’s hard to imagine its Europe-based competitor would be able to make much of a move on it. Unless there are darker forces at work! We haven’t heard word that Dark Dog hired a witch doctor, but we can’t be sure. If anyone sees black swirling clouds over either Red Bull or Dark Dog’s HQ, let us know. And don’t make them mad.

In what may be the most high-brow examination ever performed on a beverage containing high-fructose corn syrup, New York Times wine critic Eric Asimov turned his attention to root beer this week.

Asimov and his tasting panel evaluated 25 root beers available to New York residents, and – amid light-hearted writing that seemed to poke fun at the writer’s own seriousness – managed to find some wisdom on the world of root beer.

Root beer comes in many varieties from many sources, Asimov wrote, not unlike craft beers. There is no definitive root beer formula, leaving root beer makers the room to experiment with different flavor profiles.

The article included the panel’s top ten brands, with grocery staple IBC and Wisconsin brand Sprecher taking the top two slots. Asimov and the tasters also took the time to compose short audio presentations on six of the top root brews.

Click here to see the article.

Anheuser-Busch has contacted Grupo Modelo about a possible merger to make the American brewery too expensive for InBev. See the clip below.

InBev offered Anheuser-Busch a $46 billion buyout. Watch the clip below for more.