A-B, 1st Phorm team up for new line of energy drinks

Two companies with St. Louis roots are teaming up to enter the ever-growing energy drink market.

Anheuser-Busch and the Fenton-based sports nutrition and supplements brand 1st Phorm today announced the launch of Phorm Energy, a new product line that allows both companies to plant their flags in the evolving—and competitive—beverage category.

In true St. Louis fashion, the relationship between Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth and 1st Phorm CEO Sal Frisella began when they met at a Cardinals game at Busch Stadium several years ago.

“Being a St. Louis kid, there’s a lot of sweetness to that story,” Frisella says.

In late 2024, the two—along with Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White—connected about a possible collaboration. 

“I called Dana and said, ‘We’re going to do this thing. Do you want to join?’” Whitworth says. “We did a secret trip to St. Louis with Dana at the end of last year. We were all over at the 1st Phorm headquarters. Right after that, he’s like, ‘I’m absolutely in.’”

For A-B, the new line represents the first large-scale partnership with a St. Louis brand. “It’s our hometown,” Whitworth says. “In terms of partnering with another St. Louis company, going to commercialization and having big plans of what we want to go do and achieve—as far as I’m concerned, in the history of over 165 years at Anheuser-Busch, I think this is the first.”

Phorm Energy is available in 16-ounce single cans in four flavors: Screamin’ Freedom (blueberry, cherry, and citrus), Blue Blitz (blue raspberry and cotton candy), Orange Fury (orange soda and candied orange), and Grape Smash (grape candy and grape soda). The drinks are derived from green tea extract and contain zero sugar and zero artificial flavors.

“From my perspective, Anheuser-Busch has been around for 165 years. Next year, it’ll be 150 years for Budweiser,” Whitworth says. “There are pieces of our portfolio that we do our best to be stewards for, to make bigger, and do different types of things to change them for the changing tastes of consumers. Then, you have opportunities to add brands and pieces to the portfolio that can be around 50 years from now… If you look at it, and you look at everybody that’s on the team, one would probably give this a pretty good chance of being successful. We know it’s a competitive market that we’re going into. But, if successful, we can have something that will be around and we can look at decades from now. We’ll know where it all started and we’ll know why it all started. I think we’ll feel good about all that.”

Why It Matters: Studies show that beer and alcohol consumption is declining, especially among young people. But the energy drink market has been growing—U.S. sales amounted to $11 billion in 2017 before growing to about $21 billion last year.

The energy drink space has a mix of well-established brands, such as Red Bull and Monster, and upstarts like Celsius. By joining forces, the companies behind Phorm Energy have the marketing and distribution power of A-B and the sports nutrition expertise and credibility of 1st Phorm. The combination of those factors could combine to help Phorm Energy become competitive in the space—and quickly. White’s presence and reach gives it an extra layer of marketing potential.

“The fourth partner [in addition to A-B, 1st Phorm, and White] is the Anheuser-Busch distribution network,” Frisella says. “It’s the strongest in the game. For us, one of the best strengths in the relationship is being pushed into that network. When you think about what makes Phorm Energy different, it’s the combination of best-in-class formulation and best-in-class distribution. Being able to have that capability is something that not everyone has access to. That’s a huge, huge advantage.”

What’s Next: In addition to the four flavors hitting shelves today, Frisella says there are plans for a fifth, limited-edition flavor to be released later this summer.