Chunky - 165 Reviews

It's a rough place to be, out on the hard streets of Aloeville. People were getting hooked on the heavy stuff left and right. Personally I've seen more than a handful of friends fall victim of its sweet siren song. It seemed that everyone was out to get the sweetest stuff they could find, and the bigger the chunks the better. More and more dealers were popping up everywhere. It was getting to a point where you couldn't be on a street corner without someone trying to push it on you.

That's when Aloe Water came onto the scene. They came up with this crazy idea that this city needed to be shaken awake. They thought the aloe world had become too complacent, and it was time for a change. They started producing a light aloe drink that wouldn't kill you so fast, to help clean up the dirty streets of this run down town. They went for the smallest chunks they could find. We're talking orange juice pulp small here. They also wanted more of a hint of flavor, rather than the way companies of old would bash it over your head. Sometimes they put a nice light pineapple. It wasn't harsh at all, just like they soaked chunks of pineapple in their aloe juice and then strained it out.

Before long things started to look brighter. Diabetes counts went down. People seemed happier. A new era began.

At first I thought this tasted exactly like orange juice, then my thoughts turned to Sunny D. Then I realized that it is pretty much dead on "orange drink." This is what gas station beverage junkies have dreamed of for years. Imagine if you took one of those huge gallon jugs of orange sugar drink and added pulp to it. Okay, so that's not really that crazy of a concept, but that hits this on the nose. It has a very strong and sweet orange flavor. The aloe chunks in this aren't very big at all. They are the size of the largest pulp chunks you would get in orange juice.

While I do enjoy this the more I drink the more I question why I'm not just drinking orange juice with pulp. Also, why is it making my mouth slightly numb? Did someone drop some Auragel in my bottle when I wasn't working? Now we're going to have to listen to the baby cry because we have nothing to numb his gums. Good job guys!

I was drawn to this drink because of the color. This pink colored drink really stood out in the Asian markets cooler. After I picked it up and noticed that it was a chunky drink, I was sold.

At first I thought the chunks were aloe, but then I looked a little closer. I saw 'nata de coco' in the ingredients. I had no idea what this was, but a quick Google search found the answer for me. Taken from Wikipedia: "Nata de coco is a chewy, translucent, jelly-like food product produced by the fermentation of coconut water, which gels through the production of microbial cellulose by Acetobacter xylinus. Nata de coco is most commonly sweetened as a candy or dessert, and can accompany many things including pickles, drinks, ice cream, puddings and fruit mixes."

Now I can see these chunks with drinks and fruit mixes. Ice cream and pudding are ones I wouldn't have thought of, but I'm sure it's delicious. The one that throws me off is pickles. So are there jars of pickles with these chunks floating in it? If so, I really want to find one of these because I love pickles.

The drink itself is good. It's really refreshing and taste like something between juice and vitamin water. It's not too sweet which actually works in this case. I feared it was going to be very syrupy. The strawberry flavor is good, but I wish it had more of a tart flavor to it. This is quite possibly the chunkiest drink I have ever had. It is impossible to take a sip and not get any chunks. It's pretty awesome.

I often wonder what one would want to "detoxify" themselves of. Obviously if you smoked a pound, or kilogram to our metric brethren, of week, you might want to get that out of your system. It's the same with any sort of drug. Aside from that, you can't really "detoxify" yourself of a giant hamburger that you shouldn't have eaten but the menu said that it had chipotle in it and that is your weakness. Water, I feel, would probably be the best detox drink because it doesn't leave anything behind. No sugar. No carbs. I think I've heard that cranberry juice is a good cleanser, but once again, what are you doing that you need to be cleansed?

I kind of expected this to be lighter than a typical aloe drink, you know, because it's called "Aloe Water". I thought that it might be in the beginning, but after you take a couple sips, you're right there with the rest of them. One thing that I did notice is that the "chunk count" is less in this than in many of the other aloe drinks I've had. That's never good. If I'm buying a drink, knowingly with chunks in it, I never want to chance that I will take a sip and not have anything to chew on. Taste? It tastes good. It's fruity but you still get a pretty good aloe taste to it. Think of a very light fruit punch mixed with an "original" flavored aloe. There is honey in the ingredients but I can't really pinpoint it in the drink itself.

If I ran this company, which also makes Coco Water, I would drop the tagline of "Natural Detox Drink" because it makes me feel dirty every time I read it. I would say something like "100% All Natural" or "All Natural Aloe" or "Naturally Sweetened". Why make something out of nothing. I have drunk my share of aloe drinks and I've never heard it be considered detoxifying.

Also, don't smoke a pound of weed. Go outside and play.

This conversation happened in real time just moments ago.

Me: Do you want to try a drink with chunks.
Jessica: Uhh.
Me: Sure you do. I have to take a picture of it. Come on in and have some. Here.
Jessica: What does it taste like? What are the chunks?
Me: It's aloe and it usually tastes like grapes.
Jessica: It's actually pretty good.
Me: Greg, try some.
Greg: I'm not trying anything with chunks in it.
Me: Sure you are. It's part of our agreement.
Greg: It's good.
Me: Zack, try this.
Zack: It's good but I can't get past the chunks. What are they?
Me: It's aloe. Aloe Vera. The plant.
Zack: You don't know that.
Me: Sure I do.
Zack: No, you don't.
Me: Oh, I mean it's head chunks. Chunks of a person's head.

See?! Three converts from having no aloe to actually liking it. Greg took one sip in a cup and now he's got a glass refilled. Zack won't touch it and Jessica had to go back to work. Sabila, you've earned three more friends.

There are three out of print beverages that are the holy grail to me. They are Crystal Pepsi, Ecto Cooler and Orbitz. Seeing as I am a nerd I refer to them as the three pieces of the Tri-Force. I paid $14 on this bottle of Orbitz and I don't regret it a bit. Clearly Canadian stopped making this drink in 1996, so this is at least 15 years old. We expected vomit, but it actually wasn't too bad. I used to drink cases of this stuff when it was first discontinued. A store by me blew them out at a quarter a piece. You can't beat that.

Check out this video review we did of this mystical beverage. Due to some weird file conversion the video looks like we shot it in the year this drink was put on the market with a huge VHS video camera.

I drink a lot of aloe beverages. I love them, and I've never had one I didn't enjoy. I've also had an aloe dessert cup from an Asian market, which was great. Taking that into consideration when I was out walking around and I saw an aloe plant I decided to break off a leaf and eat it. Big mistake. Even though every aloe based product I've consumed has been sweet and delicious this was incredibly bitter and it tasted like uncut poison. Oh you didn't know you cut poison? You don't watch many movies do you. You have to poison people slowly so it goes undetected. If you don't you'll end up in "the hut." So it was foul and I hated myself for letting it touch my tongue. In order to feel better I realized I needed to renew my faith in aloe so I picked this up. It's pretty standard with the exception that Family uses real fruit juices in their drinks. The chunks are average size and there are plenty of them. It tasted like a mellow mango juice with pulp. Good times.

I didn't know what to expect with this. Upon first sip, it tasted like soymilk with an extra flavor to it. Then Monet reminded me of the mung bean dessert balls you get at Thai or sushi restaurants. That is EXACTLY what this tastes like. Even though we followed Jason's instructions to shake this prior to opening, the tapioca balls still stayed at the bottom. The tapioca balls are much smaller and less chewy than those I'm used to in bubble tea. Sadly, these would not be as effective if you were to spit them.

I made it to Hawaii alive. I was surprisingly not too miserable after 17 hours of traveling. To help refuel myself I drank a pineapple smoothie that was pretty astounding. Then I hit up a grocery store for rations for the week. I found a couple bottles of this aloe that is made in Hawaii. Pretty great, right? Want to know what's better? I realized there are huge aloe plants everywhere around here, and I'm going to attempt to eat it fresh.

This was very good. Average style chunks, with a strong aroma of honey. The honey flavor was also way stronger than I expected, which was nice. It's always great to find "irregular" flavors of aloe.

Oh Alo with your giant chunks of aloe. You treat me so well. Let me tell you all, y'all, a story about going to an Asian market. I went to an Asian market with Jay, Thirsty Dudes editor Dan, and some other friends and we came across an olive juice drink. I wanted to buy it so badly because of two reasons:
1. It would have been potentially gross.
2. It would have been potentially delicious.

I did not buy it because it was expired...by four years. As much as I like the idea of drinking milk that's two weeks old, I will not drink anything that's four years old. Why am I bringing this up? This has "olive leaf tea" in it and I hoped that it would taste like olives. Imagine my face when it didn't. It tastes like a sweet tea with chunks in it. Is that bad? Nope. Would I buy it again? No. Why? If I wanted a tea, I would buy a tea. If I wanted an aloe vera drink, I would buy one. I don't need two drinks in one. As novel it is, it's best not to mix something you're great at with something you aren't great at. I'm not belittling Alo, I'm giving them all the credit in the world for trying. Like I said, I'm not picking, I'm just stating an observation. This is a good drink, but it's like a hybrid car. I want all electric or all gas. I don't want to have to worry about plugging it in and filling it up with gas. I know that's not the same with all hybrids, but you know what I'm saying.

This is one of the better aloe vera companies and when it comes to bang for your buck, this company has some great and really different flavors.

We here at Thirsty Dudes have a strong appreciation for aloe drinks. They're refreshing, delicious, and good for us. When I saw this cute little bottle I couldn't resist giving it a try. It's a very basic aloe drink. It has a moderate amount of chunks, and a nice white grape aftertaste. Not the best, but FAR from the worst. This seems like the perfect drink (size and taste) to keep in your bag "just in case".

Now back to the wonderful chunky world of aloe drinks. I think Sabila may have this game on lock-down. This is my second bottle of their product and both have been more than awesome. It's the use of actual fruit juice and the lower sugar content that have put them in the lead. When something is supposed to be mango flavored, why mess around with chemicals? Sure they may save you a little money, but you'll have an inferior product. Sabila knows this. Their collective mothers didn't raise aloe-loving idiots.

Buy it. Love it. Share it with friends and see how they react to the chunks. It's delicious and fun, just like aloe was meant to be.

Not only is it an incredible movie and two songs (Thin Lizzy and Jet's to Brazil), but Chinatown is also a fascinating section of almost every major metropolis. Everything about it seems so sketchy in the best way possible. You can generally find almost anything you could possibly be looking for and bizarre things constantly go down. On my last trip to Toronto we walked down Spadina to the Asian center of the city and so many strange things happened and no one took any notice. My friend Tony leaned in close to me and said "I think David Lynch is directing my day." I couldn't have summed it up better.

While soaking it all in I stopped at a little grocer and purchased this bottle of aloe. The sweetness of it took me by surprise. I have grown accustomed to the aloe drinks produced by the Alo and Sabila companies. They are all natural and not overly sweet. The amount of sugar in this bottle would make any dentist see dollar signs. It reminds me a lot of Aloevine, but with a more natural fruit flavor. The peach in this is somewhere between a slightly unripe peach and a gummy peach ring. It's a bit much if you drink a lot of it, but in moderation it's quite pleasant.

We went camping this weekend for our friend Kevyn's bachelor party. I brought several boxes full of my extra drinks for everyone to enjoy. A lot of aloe drinks were downed. The fun this about aloe is watching people's faces when they drink it for the first time. Even when they know there are chunks in it the look of shock and disgust is always there. It's ridiculous how many people describe the chunks as "feathery." Everyone I've known who's kept trucking and finished a bottle, has loved it by the end and wanted more. Once you get used to the chunks, they become a fun little game. Catching them in your teeth and chewing them after you swallow the liquid is always fun. Our friend Nick had his first aloe experience this weekend, and he powered through that first bottle. By the end of the weekend I think he had drank about six of them himself.

I brought this bottle of Sabila as part of my personal stock. It's pretty great. The chunks are an average size for these types of drinks. What stands out with this brand is that they use actual juice instead of artificial flavoring, and that the sugar added is low on the ingredients list. They let the aloe and the juice speak for themselves. They have a lot to say, believe me.

A drink called California Garden that is made in Lebanon. Well that makes sense. I don't even think pineapples can grow in Lebanon. There's some sort of mystery here that needs to be solved! I more than likely only think that because I started re-watching X-Files. I'm going to see conspiracy everywhere now.

Besides the great Lebanon cover up this what I like in a juice. Firstly, it's actually made from pineapple. You would think that would be a given, but through doing this site I've learned that "juices" are pretty artificial more than you would expect. Secondly, it's filled with wonderful chunks of fruit. We here at Thirsty Dudes really can't get enough of "chunky drinks" as we call them. This is different than most. Normally the chunks are soft and chewy. Since these chunks are pieces of pineapple they are a lot harder than I'm accustomed to. I was able to quickly adapt.

Oh man. I spent all day at the beach. I went swimming, built sandcastles, commented on how ridiculous a lot of the people looked there, went on Shark Watch 2011, and most importantly I got a wicked sunburn. I slathered myself in sunscreen and everything. I'm talking SPF 85 here. Still my archenemy the sun got me, and he got me good. Burn city. The only thing to do now is to cut a leaf/branch off of this aloe vera plant and rub the juice on my burn to sooth the pain.....

Oh wait I'm sorry I just drifted off there. I'm actually still in Buffalo, NY. It's 14 degrees out and snow is everywhere. It's pretty ridiculous that even in my escapism fantasies I still get terrible sunburn. It's my life. I'm cursed with being an "outdoor kid" that is easily burned. I don't even own an aloe plant. What I do have is a bottle of original flavored aloe drink. My only history with an original flavored aloe drink is with Aloevine. Theirs tastes like white grape juice for some reason. I had stupidly assumed that aloe naturally had a grape like flavor. Nope. Alo makes a more natural product without all the additives and there's doesn't taste like grape at all. It has a fairly nondescript sweet flavor. There are big chunks of aloe in it like all of their drinks. I'm a fan.

Now back to my dreams of the beach. This time I'm upping the SPF even more.

Ohhhh Bethany, this has chunks in it. Why would you give me something with chunks in it? You know I don't like chunky. I like smooth. I like my peanut butter smooth. I like my spaghetti sauce smooth. I like my jazz smooth. I especially like my drinks smooth. Honest to goodness, Beth, why would you give me this? If I wanted something with chunks in it, don't you think that I would have let you know years ago? We've been married 17 years and you've never known me, even a little bit, to go against the grain. I'm an accountant. I drive a base model Toyota Camry. I only own black and dark navy suits and white and light blue dress shirts. I have three ties and two of them are navy. I eat my sandwiches with the crusts cut off. Chunks, Bethany?! You know what? I will take another sip of it because I see that you're getting attached to these strongly rooted opinions that I have on my lifestyle.

On second though...yeah...on second though this isn't so bad. It's a very good fruit taste, and those chunks are just chunks of real fruit, so it's not that far fetched. It's just like eating a really juicy watermelon but a mixed fruit flavored watermelon. There is even a nice buzz that your lips get from the tang of the real fruit. You know what, baby? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to take it out on you. This is actually a wonderfully delicious drink that I could see myself drinking again.

Bethany, here's $20. Go to the local Indian market, buy a mixed case of this stuff and meet me in the Camry. We're driving with the sunroof open today!

It takes a lot for a drink to gross me out. I didn't know what longan was before I bought this, but I assumed it was a fruit. When I picked up the bottle, I noticed that there were big chunks of something floating inside. Then, I noticed on the ingredients list the following: Longan Meat (2.0%). My vegan instinct kicked in at the sight of meat on the label and freaked me out a little. The floating stuff did have a meat look to it as well. Luckily I was right, and longan is a fruit grown on a tree of the same name in South and Southeast Asia.

Upon opening it, I couldn't help but to smell it first. After drinking some nasty stuff over the years, it's instinct. The smell was something I have encountered many times, but never in a drink. If you guessed really dirty socks, then you are correct. How they managed to bottle the smell of dirty socks I will never know. A couple of my housemates said it smelled like dates or prunes to them, but I didn't get that at all.

To prepare for potentially getting a mouthful of dirty socks, I took the first sip over a sink. Luckily (or unfortunately depending on how you feel about drinks making you puke) it tasted better than it smelled to me. The taste can be summed up in two words: liquid raisins. I don't hate raisins, but I don't particularly love them either. The idea of a raisin flavored drink is pretty disgusting to me. After this revelation, I tried taking another sip and it was too gross. I don't want liquid raisins.

This is not my first dance with grass jelly drink. I have had it before and although I will say this one isn't as good, it's not undrinkable.

There are chunks in it. Surprise! Surprise, dude! There are chunks in it and there isn't anything that you can do about it. You could pour it through a colander, but that you make you a pansy, a girlie man. A wuss. If you're going to buy something, drink it how it comes. Don't modify it. Just do it. Nike®.

While wearing a pair of butter new Air Max 90's, try this drink on for size. It's a light, sweet tea taste but without all of the sweetness of sweet tea. Then, when you man up and decide to bite down into the gummy grass jelly goodness, it's like the flavor crystal of drinks. This drink is like the Ice Breakers of drinks. It's a different taste but it's from Malaysia and you leave them alone. They're fine people.

Justice has been served. I feed people aloe drinks all of the time and never tell them there are chunks in it. It's fun to watch the concern in their faces. To be fair the bottles are always clear, so if they took a second to look at what they were about to drink they would see the chunks of aloe. This can in a can. A solid, opaque, aluminum can. There were also no indications of the can that it had chunks in it. The concern I loved watching on the faces of other quickly sprung onto mine after the first sip. I even went so far to pour it into a glass, so I could make sure they were supposed to be there. They were. The weirdest part of the chunks is that they are mushy. It is just chunks of the fruit, not aloe if I misled you. Sitting in the juice must have started to break them down. It's a strange sensation. It's nothing like aloe or nada de coco. There are also tiny seeds in it.

Dragon Fruit is sweet and tropical, thus so is this drink. It's really good. This may be the only time I've ever thought that chunks in a drink have taken away from the quality of it. Believe me there were tons of chunk to distract me from the sweet flavor of the juice.