Isomaltulose - 3 Reviews

You're probably thinking the same thing as I am, “Why would someone create a new sports drink when there are so many on the market that no one seems to drink?” This is true. For decades Gatorade has had the market on lockdown. Sure Powerade tried to step up, but it always seemed like a lesser version of the original(?). In recent years Body Armor has been making a big push to steal the crown, but I'm not sure how far they have gotten. I mean you don't see a cooler of Body Armor getting dumped on the coach when a professional team wins. I'm not trying to talk down on these companies, well maybe Powerade, but it seems like people like to stick with what they know, and in this niche market they certainly know Gatorade.

The thing that makes Nth Degree stand out is that they use Palatinose aka Isomaltulose as a sweetener. The benefit of that is that it is fully digested slower than most sweeteners so the energy from the “sugar” is spread out over a longer period of time. It also has a low glycemic index and supports fat oxidation. All of those sound like good things to me. They also sound like the things that would help them fight their way to the top of the sports drink empire. It's full of B vitamins and electrolytes, so it should be a full service sports drink. I will say that it has a decent taste to it as well. It has the familiar taste you would expect from such a drink but there's something else there as well. It has a slightly different texture than I expected. It's a little thick, but not in a corn syrup way. The raspberry flavor tastes artificial, but it's not offensive. To top it all off the taste of the stevia doesn't run rampant.

Do I think this will kick Gatorade out of top ranking? No, I think the company has been far to ingrained in American sports. I do think that if they had come out at the same time that the coolers wouldn't be orange or green anymore with a G on them.

It was a nonstop week for me doing band stuff. There was a lot of driving, late nights and early mornings. I drank more energy style drinks in the past 5 days than I have in the past 2 months. The thing is that most of them weren't very good, and unfortunately this falls into that category. As with a lot of bad energy drinks the problem stems from the sweetener. In here they use Isomaltulose (beet sugar), stevia, and monk fruit. It so happens that the only one of those sweeteners that most people would be familiar with is the one that did the most damage. I understand wanting less sugar (aka less calories) in your beverage. There is so much sugar in things now a days that it's no surprise the obesity levels are so high in this country. To fight that companies are compromising the taste of their beverages and using zero calorie sweeteners. At least it's stevia instead of sucralose or one of its garbage counterparts.

This could have been a great drink. At its core it is a carbonated citrus flavored green tea. I can make it out in there and I think it would be wonderful. The sweeteners make that flavor take a back seat. When will companies realize that it's probably not a good idea when the taste of the sweetener is stronger than the actual intended flavor? This just tastes wrong. I feel like I'm a little kid who figured out the child proof lock on the cabinet under the sink and I'm just chugging away on whatever liquid I find down there.

That sun man. What a jerk. Beaming down on you all of the day. You've got to put on thick layers of creams and salves just to go outside. Das Racist knows what I'm talking about. White man can't even go outside without getting a disease. I feel it. I spent my youth inside playing Ultima on the computer with my friends because I didn't want to squint anymore and it was too hot and his house was air-conditioned. My mom would call down and have my friend's parents kick us outside. My friends hated me because of it.

Max, my little dude, needed a pair of sunglasses. I feel so bad for him in the backseat because apparently they have outlawed tinted static clings. I can't find them anywhere and because of that I had to get him some glasses. I bought some for him, he liked them, liked to wear them for three seconds, take them off, eat them, and throw them on the ground. When I found those glasses, I also found this drink.

I like melon. Love it, really. Pear? We all know where I stand on pears. Whocaresville. I don't hate the taste of pears, though. This was good. I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't terribly sweet and actually had a pretty strong melon flavor. Pear is there, but not as much as melon and for that, I thank you, Gatorade. I would buy this again and the whole bottle is only 20 calories.

Next time you go to the store to buy sunglasses, sunscreen, suntan lotion, or a giant sun hat, pick this up, too and you'll be sure to survive one more day out in the sun.