Erythritol - 101 Reviews

Take everything you know about protein drinks and throw it right out the window. Now just concentrate on what you know about chocolate milk, and make it a little creamier. That's what you have right here. The protein that is added to normal drinks of this variety, generally make them thicker and a lot of the time gritty. It's adding dairy onto dairy and the results can be a bit much. With this product the base is the thinner coconut water, so adding the milk protein gives puts it in the ballpark of regular milk, but creamier as I said. The Dutch cocoa powder that they add is great. If this were called a chocolate milk I might claim it to be the best I've ever tasted. Since it's not I will say that it is quite a tasty protein drink that goes down nice and smooth.

Oh, panex red, my favorite of the flavors. But seriously folks, what the heck is this? I don't know what flavor this is. It's made with Korean Red Ginseng. Cool. What does that mean? Is that raspberry? Who knows? You know what else? Who cares? This is actually really good. Oh, it's just the type of ginseng used, and not an added flavor? Well, that makes sense then.

This doesn't have the bitterness that one might expect in a ginseng drink. Check. It makes you not care that you may not know what you're drinking. Look, I don't think that they're trying to poison me. Like everything else you cram down your gullet, there are ingredients in there but they're half unreadable vitamins and minerals. The other half is all natural ingredients that are in everything. I guess that Korean Red Ginseng just naturally tastes good and we shouldn't care. Add a little carbonation and you've got something nice. If it tastes good, drink it. That's what I've literally never said before one time in my life.

Ladies and Gentleman, I have an invention that will revolutionize the beverage world. I call it the De-Gritifyer. No longer will the world be plagued by protein drinks that have that weird sandy texture to them. With my invention it will be nothing but smooth sailing, and yes all puns intended.

Why no sir I am not living in the 90s. Why would you ask such a thing? Wait, what do you mean that there have been smooth protein drinks on the market for years. That simply cannot be true. Fine I will try your beverage even though I saw you drink directly from the carton and you clearly have a cold. You know that is disgusting, right? Damnit! This is smooth! However did they achieve this before I could? I've spent the last decade in a lab working on the perfect formula. What did they use? Coconut water, milk protein concentrate and acacia gum? I can't believe I didn't think of that. On top of everything it also tastes delicious. The vanilla is great and it overpowers the erythritol and stevia. This is far superior to every protein drink I ever tasted when I started my work.

This is devastating to me. I wasted ten years of my life to create a product that is inferior to this. It looks like I should just go back to my old job as a dog groomer. Do any of you have a pooch that needs tending?

While I have inexplicably grown to enjoy the taste of Red Bull and its chemical tasting copycats, I always get a twinge of excitement when I come across energy drinks, especially when they actually work. You see a lot of the natural energy drinks on the market give you about as much energy as a cup or two of coffee. If that's what you're looking for then by all means indulge, but I personally don't partake in energy drinks unless I “need” one to help me stay up. I don't need a daily dose of caffeine to get me moving in the morning. A bowl of cereal works just fine. What Root9 did to my body, was much greater than what coffee does. It didn't make me feel insane and jittery, it just made me feel like I could keep going when I had a lot of work to do.

The source of energy in this beverage comes from green tea extract, but more importantly from the red ginseng that they use. I have been informed that red ginseng is more effective than what most people are used to. Also the roots that they use in their beverages is grown for six years for optimal potency, they also then allow the soil used to grow it to rest for 10 years to work up the proper nutrients. That is a long process, but as far as I can see it is worth it. I got one hell of a boost from this drink and it lasted a decent amount of time, without feeling like garbage at any point during the ride it took me on.

The other side of this drink is its health aspects. The Panax ginseng they use is also known as a “cure all”. In fact the beverage was created to help one of the creator's fathers who suffered from diabetes. I'm not sure that it actually helps treat diabetes in any way, but it does keep blood sugar in check when drunk instead of other energy drinks.

I just realized that I have gone this far and not talked about the taste at all. The Panax gold flavor is basically a carbonated citrus green tea. It's a flavor that I can get behind. It is sweetened with erythritol and stevia, so it has some of that flavor, but if you drink it while it's really cold their taste isn't too bad. In one of the testimonials someone said that this was supposed to mango flavored, but the can says nothing about that. I can taste it a bit, but it could be just because I'm looking for it. Either way it has a pleasant taste that I would drink again and again.

I don't mean to be a jerk, but has anyone else noticed that the Sunshine State has been putting on a bit of weight? It just looks like it's getting a little paunchy in the middle. I blame it on the whole scene surrounding Orlando. That damn gluttonous mouse and his friends make bulging out the center of the state. There are so many people, who consume so much terrible food. Those same people always want to be on the go to make the most of their limited vacation time. What we have here is something of a cure all. It's the essence of Florida, in a diet, liquid form that gives the imbiber a boost of energy.

Unfortunately it is a bit heavy on the diet side of the flavor. This taste insanely like fresh orange juice, except it tastes like that very specific flavor has been made into a powder and then mixed with equal parts zero calorie sweeteners . It's insane how such a pure taste is there, but also ruined by the sweetener. I've come a long way in accepting these sweeteners, but in here it's still too much for me. I'm sure those who are die hard diet soda drinkers would be all about this, but the rest of society will surely be put off.

Oh, this is actually called Ultra Sunrise, and not Ultra Sunshine? Well, everything I said stands, it just makes a little less sense talking about Florida the way I did. It really does taste like that state's staple fruit though.

Hey Jason, remember when you started Thirsty Dudes and you were kind of a lazy slob? Your diet mainly consisted of veggie dogs/sausage wrapped in tortilla shells and you are stale Oreos constantly. Seriosuly dude, remember the ridiculous amounts of Twizzlers you would consume, and the dumb amounts of pop you drank? I know you were younger and had a better metabolism, but seriously what were you thinking? Oh yeah and remember when companies would send you protein drinks and you would just drink them whenever?

Four years isn't really a long time in the grand scheme of things, but a lot has gone on in that time. Look at how much your diet has improved. You've lost weight and you feel a lot better, don't you? On top of all of that you get excited when protein drinks show up, because you now use them for their intended purpose; drinking after a workout. That's right man, you of all people started going to the gym, and you stuck with it. I never thought you would.

Oh look, there's a package of protein drinks waiting in the mail for you. Oh wow, they aren't chocolate or vanilla flavored. It's nice to have variety. Cool, this has coconut water in it as well as protein to help you rehydrate after a workout. On top of that it actually tastes like a mixture of berries and pomegranate. It tastes like a decent juice that is a little thicker (without being chalky) due to the protein. Sure it tastes a tad diet because of the erythritol, but it's not too noticeable. Overall go Body did a great job with this. You wouldn't have felt weird drinking this four years ago, just sitting around your apartment reading. Oh wait you're actually going to read now after your work out, you never change do you? Seriously though, you seem to be doing pretty well for yourself, now if you can just stop writing yourself letters in the form of drink reviews the world will be a better place.

I can see the headlines now; “Such a daring portrayal of an energy drink” and “Never before have such bold flavors toyed with our emotions in mysterious ways.” With a name like Marquis I expect something fancy and highbrow. I thought that was going to be exactly what I was in for. It sounds so refined when you think of it as a combination of green tea, yerba mate and organic raspberry. Unsweetened this would have been a wonderful, dry treat that would stand out in a sea of copycat energy drinks. The problems started when they sweetened it with erythritol, and then continued to sweeten it even more with stevia. There are my two preferred zero calorie sweeteners, but it's just too much in this beverage. The result is that this tastes dry, and yet overly diet at the same time. I don't know how they achieved it, but they did. The diet overpowers the berry flavor as well, which is just unfortunate.

When I took my first sip of this I was immediately put off, but for the sake of the review I persevered. The more I drank the more palatable it became. I learned to ignore the dietness of it as much as I could. About half way through the can I started to enjoy it, but I couldn't give high marks to a beverage that I had to work to enjoy. It could have been a brilliant career beverage, but the general public wants things overly sweet, and companies make sacrifices to give them what they want and in the end sometimes flavor suffers.

After enjoying about half this can my ladyfriend came in the room and I handed it to her for a sip. She instantly asked if it was diet. I said yes, as I am not a known liar, but that it wasn't bad and overly diet. She took one sip and the look of utter revulsion crossed her face. I believe she then called it “diet death” and quickly handed it back to me.

My point here is that if you are not used to diet drinks you're not going to like this, or any zero calorie sweetened beverage. They are in an entire different universe from “normal” sodas. As much as I wish it wasn't true, it's a sad fact of life.

The opposite side of things is that once you become acclimated to these sweeteners, some of them (aka erythritol/stevia) aren't that bad. Sometimes for the sake of health you have to accept things that aren't initially attractive to your taste buds. For many people soda is a way of life, but those same people tend to end up overweight from consuming it far too much. This is a nice option for changing things. Yes, it does have a bit of a diet taste, but I assure you stevia is far better tasting then any of those other guys out there.

This is the most acceptable zero calorie orange soda I have ever tried. As a person who drinks far too many beverages you should probably take that as some sort of gospel.

Marshall, you are a good dude but you've got some faults. You are a great runner but you...well Marshall. I don't know any other way to tell you this, but you stink. I think, and this is coming from love, that the reason that you are winning all these races is because the kids you're racing against are coughing and they aren't hearing the signal to go off. Now, you're not obese but you could stand to lose some weight. Look, like I said, you're doing great. You are a fast runner but I don't know if you're fast because you are actually fast or you are fast because you are stinking all your opponents to high heaven.

I don't know what you eat or drink but I've got a suggestion. Two actually. One is that you take a shower. I can actually see a strand of spaghetti in your hair that has been there for three days at least. You're covered in what I can only assume are ketchup and mustard stains. Maybe you should cut back on the hot dogs, buddy. Since we're talking about cutting things out, a quick way to lose some weight is to cut out some of the pop in your diet. No more of this twenty-ounce pop before each race thing. I'm helping you more than you know. Here, try this. I've been drinking it for a while now and I like it. Sure it's a little "modern diet" because you can taste the Erytritol and Stevia but it's better than your mama's diet cola. It tastes like a pretty regular lemon lime pop which is saying a lot since it's zero calories.

Now look, today and today only. Stink up the joint and bring us to county finals. Then the change begins. Now get out of here before I throw up and if I see that spaghetti in your hair tomorrow you're off the team. You hear me, Marshall, off the team.

Life has been hectic lately; your job has been crazy and you're boss has been on you all week about the Johnson report, the snow melted and flooded your basement, and on top of that you're kid has been acting like a real jerk. You my friend need to stop and smell the proverbial roses. Actually, why don't you take that a step further and drink those self same botanicals. Blossom Water makes it easy for you with their lemon rose water.

I've been putting off drinking this for a few weeks, because my head was filled with thoughts of old lady perfume, and I certainly don't want that in my mouth. I finally sucked it up today, quite literally. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that while this did not taste like formal date night at the local seniors home, it did taste exactly how a rose smells. I've never actually tasted a rose before, but no one can argue that they do not have a very distinct smell. This beverage is that smell distilled.

It's strange that this smells more of lemon than any sort of flower, but the taste is all rose, with a little bit of erythritol to sweeten it up. The lemon is completely overshadowed by the creepily accurate (at least I assume) rose flavor. The first couple of sips leave you feeling like there is no way you could drink an entire bottle, even though the taste is surprisingly pleasant. I thought that maybe I'd get through a third of the bottle, but now that I'm there I've become acclimated to it, and I just want to keep going. There is something with these Blossom Water drinks that is right on the money, and I hope their empire grows and grows.

Steaz has their heart in the right place, and for years they have been working at creating perfect harmony between soda and green tea. Unfortunately they are not quite there. I would never say any of their creations have been gross, and I had no problem drinking them, it's just that they never reach their potential. Tea pop should be the greatest thing ever, but they always see to fall short. The soda flavor is always far too light. I'd like to say that was because they were more concerned with the flavor of the tea, but that also gets lost most of the time. Take this drink for example; cola is one of the strongest flavors a soda pop can have, and there is no excuse for its weakness in this beverage. I want crisp, dark cola flavors. This tastes lighter than the most diet of diet bogus colas. The taste of the green tea is there, but it's muddied by the erythritol, which they used to sweeten this.

My final verdict is that while this is a completely acceptable beverage, it could be made much better if they either used cane sugar (it's a zero calorie beverage, so that won't happen) or make the cola flavoring stronger. I bet they could make it could even mask the sweetener. The tea flavor would probably be lost even more though. Let's get a team of scientists on this. I want this to be so good, and I know it can be.

Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Professor. Wait…€¦what? I thought we were a group of esteemed physicians here giving each other nice salutations. Now there's this professor in the mix. He doesn't even have a doctorate, just a measly masters degree. Like someone with an inferior education to us could ever show us a thing or two about a thing or two. Fine, I'll try your stupid soda that you created with your lower level education. Hmm, this is actually…€¦kind…€¦of…€¦good. I didn't expect that. I saw the cherry on the can and I didn't even process the implications of the name you gave it, since you know I have a doctorate and I need not pay attention to lowly professors. This isn't cherry at all, not even black cherry. Okay, I lied there's cherry in there, but it's the way that my college over there Dr. Pepper has cherry in it. It's a close facsimile to his product, but why would the market need this? Wait you're telling me there is no sugar and zero calories in this beverage? How can that be so, it doesn't taste like diet poison?!?! It's sweetened with erythritol and stevia? Well then, I really wish you possessed that sheet of paper that would allow me to be friends with you because you have created one heck of a beverage there. I normally detest all things diet, but this really tastes wonderful. I don't know how you've done it. Perhaps we can get Pepper's degree transferred over to you for your scientific breakthrough in the world of soda. He's been working on cracking this code for decades and has never even come close to your products.

We've been hard on ol' Rob in the past and he has been very good to us. I should say, and we should say more often, that they gave us these drinks to try and they are glass, plentiful, and heavy so that was probably no easy task. It's hard to dis companies that are so nice to us that might put out not-so-good drinks. Credit where credit's due, Rob's is pushing the envelope when it comes to some of his flavors and he has to know that they're not going to be for everyone.

Now, on to this coconut water. Everyone knows the pains of coconut water. You have to drink it when it's ice cold otherwise it gets chalky and gross. Append that to the fact that they use Erythritol and you could have a dangerous mix on your hands. Was Rob able to man the wild horses, save the town and get the girl? Yes. Rob rode the blackest steed in all the land, tamed it and then fed it a friggin' carrot. He gave the bad guy a wedgie and also took his lunch money. He got the girl and the girl had a ten face, ten body and liked playing video games. This might be the best coconut drink I've ever had. It's got a good mix between real coconut and candied coconut shavings you would get on an ice cream or a Mounds bar. The Erythritol just kind of cools it all down while sweetening it up.

Rob deserves a pat on the back and all the gold in the land for taming that beast.

Popeye and the crew from Sweet Haven are back with their first foray into diet energy drinks. You see everyone thought that Wimpy had put on a bit too much weight with all his cheeseburger conniving ways. Seriously, how long does one man expect to live when all he consumes in beef patties smothered in cheese? Since his blood work came back last month he's been on a kale diet. He claims that it doesn't give him enough energy to make it through all of the whining he has to do on a daily basis, so they formulated him this lemon mint beverage. Being the health conscious team that they are, they help back on using taurine and it's friends and stuck to vitamins and caffeine. Also knowing that their friend was doomed to some burger related cancer they didn't want to speed on they also chose to sweeten the drink with erythritol/stevia.

The results of it all are a nice lemony beverage with notes of mint in it that aren't over powering. It has the stevia coolness to it, but with the lemon and the mint it's not bad at all. In fact it's fairly enjoyable, even for those of us who don't like diet drinks. Calories to flavor this can't be beat.

For those non-teetotalers out there, when my friend Steve tried this he instantly proclaimed that it would taste amazing as a mixer with vodka. This is a win-win-win for everyone right here.

It's no secret that us here at Thirsty Dudes are very large fans of root beer. I was going to say junkies, but then I realized that we're not guzzling any version of the stuff we can find to get that sweet, sweet (literally) fix that we need. We have a bit of a refined palate when it comes to this particular beverage. Sure, if we're at a party and someone offers us store brand, we will drink it, but we search out those sodas whose companies have spent some time perfecting their brew. With all of that in mind, I would like to inform you that diet root beer is the devil. It is the liquid form that the dark lord takes to steal souls from the living on this planet we call Earth. It is always the lowest grade of root beer that has had its sweetener swapped out for something zero calorie; usually aspartame or sucralose. It's blasphemy and I want nothing to do with it.

All of the above is what I would have said to you until I tried this can of Honest Fizz. This product went up against all of the odds and came out victorious. First off, it's in a can and not a glass bottle, which does not bode well for it. Properly brewed root beer simply does not come in cans. Yes, that is the snob in me coming out. Of course it's also fighting again being the most unholy force in the universe. The thing is Honest did the unthinkable and they made a zero calorie root beer, that I not only could stand drinking, but that I down right enjoyed. I think the secret is that they started with a quality product before adding the sweetener (erythritol). This doesn't taste like an everyman root beer. This tastes like something that was microbrewed. It has a darker taste than something your local supermarket would produce. Sure, once they added the erythritol there is a bit of diet flavor in the aftertaste, but the superb quality of the root beer does a nice job of covering it up, unlike all of the rest whose products taste more like diet than root beer.

I liked this so much that I could see myself drinking it on a semi regular basis. With zero calories and no sugar, my body will be sure to thank me for that.

Why is it these days that when energy drink companies decide to make add a diet version to their line that uses either erythritol or stevia it has a fruit punch flavor? Why not just go with your flagship flavor, and not something that is not a staple in your line? Are people out there really clamoring so much for new fruit punch drinks, especially those of the diet variety?

This isn't all that terrible for a diet fruit punch, but as a friend pointed out, if you can't take the sugar, leave the punch on the shelf. It doesn't matter how many pennies you throw in the wishing well, it will never taste the way you want it to. Luckily for everyone involved this is a Hawiian Punch style fruit punch, but more of the classic not a mouthful of syrup variety.

Here are a few final thoughts for you that are a bit disjointed. Fruit punch is a beverage for children. Children shouldn't consume energy drinks. Energy drinks shouldn't be flavored like fruit punch. Diet and fruit punch have no place together. This doesn't make me want to die drinking it, yet I stand by my previous statements.

The road trip is one of the greatest joys that life can give you. Hanging out in a car with friends on a warm summer day speeding down the highway with the windows down and the radio up. I think one of the main reasons I wanted to play music was to always have extended road trips in my life. According to the little blurb on this can, Monster feels the same way. They talk about being young and working dumb jobs to pay for your summer excess, but then save enough for one last blow out trip at the end of summer. I know what they were talking about and I can fully relate. My confusion comes in the form of that statement being on a “diet” energy drink. Sure I'm sure many a road trip are fueled my caffeine and taurine, but when was the last time you or anyone you knew were at a little gas station in the middle of nowhere and someone in the car said something along the lines of, “Oh make sure you grab me a zero calorie energy drink and some yogurt”? The people they are trying to reach out to with that statement more than likely don't care about their sugar intake. They are pounding bags of Doritos and roller dogs by the gallon. Perhaps they were shooting for a nostalgia angle though; people who are older, whose metabolisms have slowed down. They have fond memories of trips past, but now they need to watch what they eat so they don't end up looking like Pizza the Hut.

Whatever their intentions, they did a good job with this energy drink. They did the unthinkable and made a diet fruit punch that doesn't taste like complete garbage. I think the secret was that they kept the punch pretty mellow, unlike the Hawiian Punch taste-a-likes in the world. Also, they used erythritol as the sweetener, which taste less like poison than sucralose or aspartame. The end result is a drink that just tastes fruity without being overbearing and only tastes mildly diet.

It's rare that I find a diet drink that I don't mind, and I could see myself purchasing again. Well done Monster Corp.

Why don't you go ahead and make yourself a milkshake? Dump some vanilla ice cream in your blender. Then instead of adding cow milk, add some almond milk. You know what you had a nice workout at the gym, why not add a scoop of whey protein to the mix. Blend it up nice and smooth. Oh crap, you forgot to let the dog out. You better do that before he has another accident on the new carpet. Oh you're dog will only go toity if you walk him on a leash? You know what? Go ahead give him the walk he needs, I mean it will give your carpet the peace of mind it deserves.

Well, I'm sorry to say that I forgot to tell you to put your milkshake in the fridge. I mean I didn't think I had to dictate everything you did today. Oh wait, you did remember to pick up after your dog right? Man, your neighbors must really hate you. I suppose you should drink the shake anyways. It's a little melted, but it's still cold, and I'm sure it tastes exactly like a Coco Libre almond protein coconut water. Yes, I know that is the longest title for a beverage ever, but it tastes good, and so does your shake, so lay off.

Did mango make some back door deal in order to blend so well with erythritol? While it is one of the least offensive zero calorie sweeteners on the market, it normally has a very distinct taste. When it's hanging around mango, it's not as apparent. Did they meet to exchange documents for cold hard cash in some dirty, dark parking garage? Did they use fake gruff voices until one of them inevitably coughed? Were Nixon masks worn? Was it all done to finance a surfing expedition? Find out the answers to all of this and more next week on the Adventures of Sneaky Pete (and Pete).

I have surprisingly been a fan of this line of beverages. The concept of oats, fruit juice and zero calorie sweeteners being mixed together didn't exactly produce a Pavlovian response from me. I guess that is because I haven't had the proper conditioning, which as it turns out simply means trying the drinks.

This tastes like a decent mango juice with a slight hint of erythritol, but as I said it's not all that bad. There is a very light oat taste to it as well. I originally expected some sort of texture, but it's as smooth as can be. The amount you taste the oats is similar to how any drink would taste if you drank it while hanging out in a horse barn. The association of the smell of that dwelling would impact your taste buds as much as the oats in this juice do.

Oh and the spoiler is that Pete is sneaky because he added oats to his drinks and you wouldn't know unless you were told. You should still watch the show though, from what I hear there will be “sexy results!!!”

I like sparkling beverages and I love green tea. I also prefer lower calorie beverages when it's due to less sugar instead of zero calorie sweeteners. That is where Steaz went wrong. This would have been great with just a pinch of sugar, or better off no sweeteners at all. A sparkling unsweetened tea would be wonderful. Instead they used Erythritol, which is normally an okay choice for zero calorie sweeteners, but they seemed to have used ten times the recommended amount. The fluid in this can tastes more like sweetener than it does blood orange or tea for that matter. It would be bad enough, but still somehow acceptable if the diet taste was only there when you sipped it, but it leaves a long lasting diet aftertaste that lingers for minutes after each sip.

Steaz took a swing for the stars, and they unfortunately struck out. Actually the more I think about it I can hardly taste the blood orange at all. It's truly a shame.