Energy Drink - 555 Reviews

Oh look, another Moxie energy drink that tastes absolutely nothing like their classic soda. At least the citrus one had a decent taste. This just tastes like overly, overly diet carbonated fruit punch. This taste like what I imagine diet Tahitian Treat would taste like. It doesn't even have an energy drink taste to it. That would normally be a nice change up, but all I get is the diet taste of sucralose. I don't know what demographic this energy drink is for, but I am certainly not it.

Can we all agree that your everyday energy drinks make you feel like garbage in the aftermath? There is too much sugar and too many weird chemicals in them, and as a result you crash and you either need to drink another one like a junky, or you deal with the “shakes,” or should I call them anti-shakes? For me at least they are a “break glass in case of emergency” type item, or at least they were until we started up Thirsty Dudes. Now I have a civic duty to feel like moose trampled me.

The main, and classic alternative to energy drinks is to drink coffee. That is also not for me. I can enjoy it if there are tons of chocolate and sugar in the mix, but I just do not like regular coffee. Again, I really don't need all that sugar into my life either.

Runa is giving people another option. It is a sparkling juice beverage that uses the Amazon guayusa as a delivery method for natural caffeine and polyphenols. Each 8.4oz can contains 120mg of caffeine, which is more than in a regular cup of coffee. We're talking more energy per square inch here people. On top of that it actually tastes great. It has a never rainforest berry flavor going on. You know if acai actually tasted the way you wanted it too, and wasn't so intense.

Sure these cans cost more than a gas station coffee, but they are cheaper than you would pay for a coffee shop coffee, so why not go for the switch and drink healthier.

I believe there is a flaw in the basic nature of this beverage. How I see it is that you would want to drink an energy drink prior to doing strenuous activity that would require hydration. Wouldn't you want that extra boost to help you push through whatever it is that you're doing? Does added hydration do anything previous to any sort of workout? I suppose you could sip this while you are in the process of whatever it is that you are doing. Would the energy boost hit you in time though? I certainly don't get it.

Another thing that I don't get is the flavor. Grape has got to be one of the easiest flavors ever (right along side orange), yet they have somehow messed it up with this. What little non-diet/energy flavor that is present almost tastes more berry than grape. Whatever it is, it's not very pleasant. It's certainly doesn't taste good enough to denote a 24oz can.

I'm going to stick to the one serving out of the three that are in this can, and introduce the rest to the drainage system in my house. It has no place in my person.

I got into a bit of an altercation earlier today. Words were said, threats were made and now it's going to be me and Julio fighting it out down at the school yard. I should really learn to watch my mouth. I mean this guy is a professional boxer and he's obviously going to cream me. I picked up this energy drink that he's the spokesperson for in hopes that it would give me some sort of edge in the fight that is likely to be a one sided blood bath.

Well here it goes…€¦ugh…€¦this tastes like Red Bull mixed with kola champagne and a little jigger of cherry mixed in. It's not really any sort of enjoyable to my palate. I love chewing bubble gum, but I don't like drinking anything that tastes like it. It always makes me feel like I'm drinking the concentrated spit of a dozen people what have been chomping on gum for hours. Gross. Along with the regular energy drink ingredients this also has green tea (as an antioxidant) and L-Carnitine (as a fat burner). I don't see how either of those are going to help me when I get down to the elementary school though. What grown adult wants to fight you at a school for young children anyway? That's just weird. I guess I should have not told him “la vaca es mas azul prque los monos bailan en su marmalade.” I never thought it would set him off so much.

ps. That sentence is all that remains in my brain from three years of high school Spanish.

I equate NOS with everyday cars that kids soup up with kits and parts to make them faster and look cooler, mainly so they can hang out in local parking lots at night and show off what they have done. These cars, such as a Ford Focus, never were meant to be fast cars, but these kids dump all their money into putting parts in to make them that way. They would even go as far as to swap out engines and put in NOS systems for a little extra boost. In reality they could have just used all of the money they have spent making a “crappy” car “fancy” on a car that was that way to begin with, but I guess the process is part of the enjoyment. I mean everyone needs a hobby.

Now NOS energy drink takes a normal person's fairly unhealthy body and gives it a little shot, so that they can feel what it would be like to be a little healthier and to have more energy. It has mplx6 for enhanced mental focus and high performance energy, what ever that is.

I have always had a disinterest in all things car related, so by default I have also stayed away from this brand of energy drinks. In fact this is the first one I have ever drunk. You know what? I was correct to stay away. This tastes like a bad Mountain Dew rip off, which isn't anything great to begin with. It doesn't have much of a traditional energy drink taste to it, which I generally applaud, but the base flavor is just something I have no taste for. I'll stick to my little Chevy hatchback that gets good gas mileage, and can be parked anywhere.

In a world where bigger is deemed as better in almost every regard, it is nice to see a company scaling things down. Monster has created a 5oz beverage that “packs a 16oz punch.” This is essentially the same amount of ingredients that give their larger canned beverages the energy kick that the world so desperately craves these days. They just decreased the other ingredients in the formula. The most appreciated decrease is the amount of sweetener used.

One would imagine that the result of this concentration would be a beverage that was so strong it would taste like you were downing a bottle of toxic chemicals. Monster somehow worked out the kinks and while the flavor is a tad stronger, it basically tastes like the classic, or original Monster flavor with the green packaging. I had expected an intense sludge from this but was pleasantly surprised by what I was presented with. I can assure you that the energy aspect of this certainly worked and it made me feel as crazy and jittery as ever.

Touring in a band can be a draining activity. You don't get much sleep, and the small amounts you get are generally uncomfortable. On top of that you generally also eat like garbage. Don't get me wrong, it's my favorite thing in the world to do, but after a while I sometimes find myself getting a severe case of soft brain. It's times like that that I reach for a Moxie. Oh you mean you didn't know that the official beverage of Maine, Moxie, was originally created in 1876 to help fight the completely fictitious ailment known as soft brain? Well now you do, and you also know what to do if you ever find yourself in the grips of this infliction.

While I was in Maine, on the previously mentioned tour, I made my band mates stop at a grocery store so I could pick up a 12 pack of Moxie to bring back home, since it is nowhere to be found in Buffalo. When I went to check out I saw two different flavors of Moxie Energy Drink in the cooler at the register. My mind was reeling as to what these could possibly taste like. Obviously the best-case scenario would be liquefied candy mixed with the classic medicinal Moxie flavor. Unfortunately this was not the case. While the drink does contain it there wasn't a strong gentian root flavor (it's what fights the soft brain), but it also didn't taste totally like a typical energy drink. When I started the beverage had a strange orange flavor, but the more I drank the more it tasted like lime. It didn't have a strong taurine flavor to it either. It had a very distinct taste that I couldn't fully place. I want to say it tastes like Skeleteens soda, minus the burn, but I'm not exactly sure that was right on.

While I was disappointed that it didn't taste like one of my favorite sodas that it is it's namesake, this energy drink tasted better than most, but more importantly it tastes different, which is all one can ask for in the energy drink game these days.

Are you tired of energy drinks all tasting the same (ie. like some candy Willy Wonka dreamt up)? Well Vemma has a solution for you with their “insanely healthy energy” drink. Now I have qualms with them saying this is actually healthy as I don't think it's helping your health at all by drinking it, but I will say that after perusing the ingredients list and seeing what is in it I will concede that it is a “healthier” version of an energy drink. It may not cure, nor prevent illness, but hey it's an energy drink and it's not supposed to.

The base of the drink is mangosteen juice, and its caffeine comes from green tea and aloe vera. It also has taurine and a bunch of B vitamins in it, but you take your health where you can get it nowadays. When you open the can it has a weird almost bubble gum smell, that I don't understand. I don't think I can actually taste it. I think I can, but I also believe that the smell may be planting subliminal flavors in my brain. Overall this tastes more like a weird juice than it does an energy drink, and that is a great thing.

This is also the more intense energy version of the beverage. I drank this around 1PM as I had to go to a family party, then another party, and then another. I didn't think I would make it through the day. I also knew if I drank this later in the day when I actually needed it I would never sleep. So I drank it early. Around 6PM I started to crash. I made it through, but then by 9PM I was back with a crazy second wind that was anything but natural. I hadn't had anything else caffeinated or anything like that, so I can only hold this drink accountable. I came back with a fury and I felt like I had drunk three Red Bulls. Luckily by the time I was ready for sleep around 2AM it had worn off and I passed right out. Now that's efficiency.

Does anyone else have second thoughts about drinking a beverage that pops when you twist off the cap and an eerie smoke pours out of the opening? I feel like I should be wearing a has mat suit with some thick gloves that you can handle uranium with. Essentially it makes me feel like this beverage should not exist outside of some lab somewhere.

Being as I am a scientist, specifically one with a degree in drinkology (no , not like some pretentious mixologist, I had to spend eight years in college to get my degree), I through caution of radioactivity to the wind an dove in head first. By that I mean I took a small tentative sip. I can safely say that this does not taste nuclear, and I have no fear of my pee coming out glowing later.

The strange thing about this beverage is that it is made with real orange juice (it's the second ingredient, but it's only 3% of the whole), yet it still tastes like Tang. Have they ever thought of marketing this as an energy drink for astronauts? I imagine that is exactly what space explorers do not need though. They're stuck up in orbit for months at a time with, what I expect is little to do for a good portion of their days. Why would they want to be all hopped up on energy drinks? I think I would like to sleep through as much as that experience as possible. So yeah, nix that idea.

As part of the recovery line this beverage is meant to give you energy as well as hydrate you. Think of it as Rockstar meets Gatorade with sexy results!!! Wait, that's not right. There is nothing sexy about this. It tastes like Gatorade made a Tang flavor and then they added a bit of an energy compound to it. It doesn't taste too much like chemicals, but it's there around the edges. Actually it's there in a way that makes it taste vaguely diet, even though it's sweetened with sucrose.

On a side note, while I do like the idea that it is in a resealable can, I have to say that about a third of the sips I took resulted in some sort of splash back that got on my clothes. Either they need to work on the design a bit, or I need to learn how to drink properly.

Companies send us a decent amount of products for review. When we got an email from a gentleman in our fair city that wanted to meet up so he could give us some samples of a beverage we had not tasted we were shocked that there was a product in Buffalo that we didn't know about. When we met up with him, we discovered that he was a part of the elaborate sales team for Vemma. He gave us the samples and then launched into a presentation to get us to become part of his team. It was unexpected, but we weren't upset by it. The man was just trying to secure a more comfortable station in life. We politely declined, as we are clearly not salesmen of any sort, and made our way to our second meeting of the day (a meeting of friends at a delicious Indian restaurant).

Somewhere during the speech we were given a little factoid jumped out at me, “the orange can tastes like Flintstones vitamins.” That is a statement that will always get my attention. As a child I probably nearly overdosed on vitamins a handful of times because I loved how they tasted and I would just keep eating them. Luckily for me my love of drinking fluids had already bloomed by that time, so the vitamins were diluted and quickly flushed out of my system.

Today I was finally in need of a little boost so I decided to take a one-way train to Children's Vitaminburg. That sounds way creepier than I meant it to. Anyways, I think a cow had wandered onto the tracks because I was certainly detoured to a different town, a town where childish things are put aside and people take grown up vitamins. Not for a second in drinking this did the taste of children's vitamins pass my lips. The base of this drink is mangosteen, which is great because it doesn't taste like a typical candied energy drink. It tastes of fruit and unfortunately the bad kind of vitamins. Their flavor is not as strong as I portray them to be, but it's still there. If this had a normal energy drink base with that added, it would be absolutely horrible, but the mangosteen course corrects it a bit. Also, even though I gently shook it, as recommended, the last gulp of the can was very chalky, and nothing that you want in your mouth.

This energy drink has its ups and it's downs. I was on the fence as to give it a two or a three bottle rating, but I decided that since it was an energy drink that didn't taste like it was made by the Wonka corporation I should give it the benefit of the doubt and so three it is.

Shakes the clown did not get his name for good reasons. He was known for shaking very badly while making balloon animals. He never knew why he shook and didn't ask a doctor until a group of kids were picking on him for being at a birthday party and it took him a long time to tie a knot.

He went to the doctor and the doctor asked him what was on his mind. Shakes, or to the doctor, Gerald, said that he didn't know what happened. The doctor asked him about a normal day and Gerald said that he would wake up, drink a bottle of mango iced tea, and go to work. The doctor asked him what brand of drink it was and he said it was called "Zum XR" and the doctor gave him a look, took off his glasses, and gave him a little chuckle. He said, "Gerald, do you feel fine for about a half hour and then start to shake?" Gerald said that he did. He said that he really likes the flavor of it. He said it tasted great and you could taste both mango and a decent, smooth not bitter green tea. It was well sweetened and he liked the little balls in the bottom. The doctor asked Gerald if he knew what the balls were. Gerald said that he didn't know. The doctor told him that it was time released energy beads that was just giving him too much energy and his body couldn't handle it. Gerald was happy that he knew what it was but sad that he might have to stop drinking his favorite drink.

The next week, Gerald went back to work for kids birthday parties and felt like he was doing the best because he wasn't shaking. He could tie balloons no problem. He had no problem squirting water from his lapel flower. He never missed another pie in the face. At the end of the shows, though, at least one person would ask him why he was called "Shakes" and he said that he used to shake all the time. The kids actually missed the shaking and he missed his favorite drink. He made the tough decision to be worse at his job but to enjoy his drink and live up to his namesake again. Shakes the clown was back!

Diet fruit punch should not exist in any form.

Gerald, you just won a big race but I didn't tell you that I have a flat tire and we actually have to run to return this copy of "Bridemaids" to the video store and it closes in fifteen minutes. I have for you a small bottle of energy water. It's like water but it's got some extra goodies in it. What goodies? I don't know; what am I, a scientist? Did I make the drink? No, Gerald. I did not make the drink. Every minute that we're stuck talking about the drink is time that you could be running to the video store. Yeah, I'm surprised that they made the movie on VHS, too but they did. What do I look like, Gerald? A rich person? Only rich people use DVDs. Blu-Ray? What's that?

What does it taste like? Jesus Christ, Gerald. It tastes a little like Tang but a little bit thicker and a little bit more diet. It's good. I had one and I'm wasting my energy talking to you about the where's'it's and who's'it's of this drink. Just get out of here. You don't have to worry about your precious figure because there are no calories in the entire bottle.

Thank you, Gerald, for finally returning my video. Now when you get there, see if they have a VHS copy of "Bachlorette." I'm on a real "bad girl wedding" tear right now.

I really, really wanted these to taste like something special. I wanted a ropey flavor, like you get with hemp iced tea. All I ended up with was a beverage that tasted very similar to diet Red Bull. That's not a bad thing at all. I actually prefer the diet version to the regular (an insane thing in my world with a hatred of all things artificially sweetened). It's just more of the same. Sure this has hemp seed extract in it, but it's not evident in the flavor.

I'm the very competitive world of energy drinks, where companies come and go all the time, this may have an edge with the pot leaf on the can. It will appeal to the stoners and kids out there who think they are getting away with something wrong by drinking it. It's just an image, but if that image helps them sell product, good for them.

Everyone knows that when training for space travel potential astronauts need to prepare their bodies for zero gravity as well as G-LOC (well to avoid it). G-LOC is when the intense amounts of gravity moves the blood away from the brain, which can cause a loss of consciousness. In order to prevent this the future space travelers take a couple of rides in a high G-Force centrifuge. Essentially it spins them around at ridiculous speeds to mimic the effects of a space launch. I can only assume it is not a pretty picture. I assume it's like a Tilt-A-Whirl times a thousand.

Now in order to prepare for the training Gamma Labs has created this product that gives the user energy, focus and endurance. All of which are important when spinning a million miles and hour until you no longer have blood in your head and you pass out.

Remember in the 80's when you could buy freeze dried food and the tagline was something like, “Eat like the astronauts!,” well now you can drink like the astronauts trainees. Do you know what astronauts drinks taste like? Well I'll tell you they taste like concentrated sour diet sugar. I measured out the water perfectly, like an astronaut would, and I have to say this is extremely strong in a way that makes it a little difficult to drink. More water, or less m ix would have treated me much better. I don't understand how this can be so sour, yet taste so much like sucralose. It's a mystery for the cosmos.

ps. The only place that Gamma Labs products have any connection to astronauts is in my head, which is quite full of blood at the moment, so I have no fear of losing consciousness, especially since I just drank some energy powder that will probably have me up all night.

Oh you hate energy drinks? First, "hate" is a strong word. Hate should only be assigned to things like racism, which should, in itself be abolished. Such a vague, ignorant statement, but I'm saying that the word "hate" should be more reserved than it is.

Secondly, you can now put an asterisk next to your previous ignorant statement because this doesn't taste like an energy drink. It is still an energy drink, yet it actually tastes pretty good. It tastes a little like everything and a lot like fruit punch. The acai is a little overpowering but not offensively. The pomegranate and blueberry are there but not really distinguishing enough to call them what they are.

Fruit distinction aside, this is good. It's light, not too sweet, and still a deceiving energy drink. You tricky bastard. You're going to accidentally make parents lose their mind because they're going to buy juice thinking it's just juice and they will read the fine print and quickly realize why their kids are just non-stop running around in circles constantly narrowly avoiding the grasp of the parent's hands. Sorry parents. Don't say that I didn't warn you.

Step One: Buy a sugar free Red Bull.

Step Two: Buy a bunch of sucralose. In my world this would be tricky, because I believe it should be a controlled substance, but in reality you could probably pick some up at the corner store.

Step Three: Crack open the Red Bull and pour a heaping amount of the sucralose in it.

Step Four: Swirl it around.

Step Five: Take a sip.

Step Six: Make a weird face because this tastes way more diet than any other energy drink you've ever tried. So much in fact that the diet starts to overpower the chemical energy taste of candy.

Mission complete. You now know what sugar free Icon tastes like.

Grab any kid who went to basement shows in Buffalo from 1999-2003 and ask them what their favorite drink from Frank's Mobil was at that time. You will probably here one of two things: Fikes Iced Tea or Arizona Arnold Palmer tall boy. The latter is what we'll be focusing on today. Granted I don't drink them as often now, but I would easily drink 1-2 a day back then. The lemonade and iced tea just mixed perfectly together for those sweaty basement show nights.

Given my love for Arnold Palmer's and my willingness to try any energy drink, you can imagine my excitement when I found this at a grocery store near Cincinnati. Good news for energy drink haters, it doesn't taste like an energy drink. In fact, I can only taste the lemonade and iced tea. And just like the original, it is delicious! While it's not the greatest half and half I've had, this is one of the best energy drinks I've had so far.

Keep up the good work Arizona! I'd love to see more flavors of this.

After yesterday's heart palpitations and then evening crash, it's amazing/stupid that I would drink another energy drink. Perhaps I felt the need to re-up myself to a standard energy level, of course forgetting that come eight o'clock, I can not be close enough to a pillow. We will see about that. Until then, allow my non-sleepy hands to tell you what I thought about this drink.

You all should know that I think acai is pretty bad. It's some newfangled superfruit that I was fine not knowing like that person everyone thinks is awesome but really offers nothing to the conversation. Acai was fine where it was, wherever it came from. Look at how much research I did on that. Acai, you generally suck. In this case, you are welcomly overshadowed by everyone's buddy grape and are presented with an energy drink that tastes a little bit powdery, you know, because it's made from powder, and tastes like a grape drink. Not the homage to Dave Chappelle with the lack of the word "juice." It's not too sweet and doesn't have that crap bitterness that acai brings with it.

I am feeling a bit lightheaded and I think I can attribute it to this drink but I've really been milking it all day for some reason. Probably because I don't want my body to fall asleep while I am not ready to. I also don't want the sweats and erratic heart beats that yesterday's energy drink brought us.

Right off the bat I would like to, like a solid jerk, stay on both sides of this fence. On one side, the one with the greener grass, hotter women, and more delicious hot dogs, this is a good energy drink. It tastes like alright lemonade but that's good because it doesn't taste like uber-sweet energy drinks. It doesn't have that offensive diet taste unless you let it sit there and drop to room temperature. That's when the sucrose rears its ugly head. These are all good with a little asterisk next to it what with it being a diet energy drink.

The other side of the fence filled with gross, wet hot dogs, women with poor teeth and even worse personal hygiene, and dead, dog urine soaked grass, come the bad parts. My gosh I would like these heart palpitations to stop. I ate a full lunch. A big old Greek-ish wrap filled with delicious fixins. Still, about a half hour after I started I'm having strange heartbeats. I thought this would be different because I ate but nope. I felt like I could run up and down the stairs a trillion times or that I should to work off the bad beats my ticker was making.

So there you go. Take your side. If you and your heart can take a punch, you are in luck. If you are sensitive to energy drinks I ask you to stay away and just drink coffee for your jolts.