High Energy Drinks

Effect Energy Drink Review

2009-09-02T16:09:00.002-04:00

I don't want to be mean, but with all the new flavors and different things happening with energy drinks, Effect Energy has some work to do.

It tastes like Red Bull and all those other ones.

If a drink company wants to differentiate and have chance of success, and if your packaging & branding are "business as usual", then the flavor is going to have to be different from what everyone else is doing.

Or shouldn't it have some other unique selling position? A normal sized can? More stimulants than any other drink? A new ingredient that no one else has?

The End.

Hardcore Energize Bullet

2008-11-24T15:09:00.000-05:00

Have you tried this energy shot yet?

This is a different spin on all the little 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 hour energy shot drinks.

It's a larger dose of sugar free energy in a very unique package. I guess you can safely say that no one else out there sells a drink that comes in a hard plastic vile.

It tastes like blue Cool Aid but with a slightly medicine flavor. It's pretty ok and not over the top like another energy shot I wrote about recently.

The energy rush is very good too. It'll keep you buzzing for several hours.

The ingredients are all the basic stuff. I just wish they had niacin.

I pick mine up from 7-11 stores. You can check out more at the iSatori site.

Redline Power Rush

2008-11-10T14:49:00.000-05:00

Holy Cow, this stuff is strong.

See the previous post about the normal sized Redline. This is very similar in taste and energy rush, etc. except in 2 areas.

First off, I find that the orange flavor is way better than the fruit one. This surprised me, but it really was much more palatable.

Second, I drank a full bottle all in one setting and felt a little funny...almost like I had too much caffeine. The next day, I got another and only drank half the thing. That's when I noticed that each bottle is TWO SERVINGS!

That's actually an awesome thing because you're getting twice as much value from this energy shot than you get with competing products.

Anyway, give them a try. They're awesome...except when they don't contain yohimbine.

Redline - The Ultimate Energy Rush

2008-11-10T14:38:00.000-05:00

Woo-hoo!

I'm so happy to have found Redline is back in my area. It used to be banned...I think because of the yohimbine...which is sadly missing...but it's still nice to have them back.

It now comes in an "Exotic Fruit" flavor, which is nice. The usual flavor, though unique and pleasant, is a little weird so this fruit version is a nice change.

Does it still pack the same punch? Not quite, but it's still quite good. It's too bad about the magic ingredient yohimbine being missing. I may just buy some pure off of ebay or something to make up the difference.

Awesome! I'm happy!

Intense NRG Energy Shot

2008-11-10T14:15:00.000-05:00

There are several flavors of the NRG Energy Shot. The pic here is for Pink Lemonade, but I've tried the grape & orange flavors. But I think you should avoid them all.

You have no idea how bad this product tastes; each one I tried was very similar to the last. They each have a really strange powerful chemical flavor that overpowers the entire experience. I think they taste like liquid death.

And the flavor lingers. Awful.

This is one of those "8 Hour" energy shots but I have rarely found any that live up to those longer expectations. Sure, there's a buzz and jump in energy, but I wouldn't say it lasts 8 hours.

NRG comes with the basic run of the mill ingredients...so it's a basic run of the mill energy experience.

Bawls G33K B33R, Bawls Cherry, Bawls Exxtra

2008-06-24T15:30:00.000-04:00

Isn't it nice when you pop into a store you've never visited, and then you find a bunch of drinks you've never tried?

That just happened to me and I finally found Bawls G33k B33R (their new root beer flavor), Bawls Cherry, and Bawls Exxtra.

The root beer comes in the same style of bottle, but it's a dark beer bottle color. The drink tastes like, hmmm, I dunno, like root beer! But it does have a faint hint of the cool fizziness that the normal Bawls comes with. The rush was like normal.

Bawls Cherry tasted like cherry! Amazing! But it came in one of those big cans, which I hate. The rush was ok.

Bawls Exxtra was a little weird and different, and has a hard to place flavor. The drink apparently comes with 50% more caffeine, so maybe that's where the different flavor came from. It's similar to normal Bawls, but much less fizzy. Again, it came in the huge big old can.

They're all worth a try. The old school Bawls is still one of my top 10 favorites. :)

Stoked Energy - Wind Chill

2008-04-15T15:54:00.000-04:00

Stoked seems to have come out of nowhere, and now I see their drinks all over.

I can't even keep track of the flavors I've tried. I see I did a review of their "Dragonberry" a while back, but there are a few others I've tried and haven't written about.

Anyway, this Wind Chill flavor is a bit different. The can gives a description of a certain type of dragon (I think all the cans do this), and it gives you the impression that the color of the drink is going to be blue, but it's really yellow.

So then I thought it would taste like the usual energy crap, but it's a little like Tropicana sparkling orange juice, without all the orange.

It's light and tastes ok, but after sipping it for 6 hours, it gets thick and yucky, just like all the drinks made with corn syrup, which Stoked says they don't use.

Funny how some drinks you can down in 10 minutes, but others take 6 hours, huh? Don't let that turn you off it this, though. It's good enough to drink more than once. :) Their other flavors are really good too.

The ingredients are the usual things, but guarana is a little low, at 5mg. Still, you do get a rush out of it.

Monster M-80 Energy Drink

2008-02-13T16:22:00.000-05:00

I finally got to try Monster M-80. (Sidenote: I find that you can find a lot of "hard-to-find" drinks in little mom-and-pop convenience stores)

I'd say by now, you already know what to expect with Monster in terms of energy levels and rush you'll get from them.

The one thing you may not know is that M-80 tastes pretty darn good. They tend to have some good smash hits with their drinks and it is so nice to see that they "get it"...unlike some other well-known energy brands.

You HAVE to make a product that actually tastes good!

M-80 is a very fruity punch kind of drink, with a pineapple flavor. It is pretty thick too, whatever that means to you.

I hope you can find some!

Mach W Energy Drink

2008-02-12T15:15:00.000-05:00

I tried the Mach W energy drink lately.

It tastes like Red Bull.

The "W" stands for Wawa, which is the name of the parent company. It's a 500-store company from Pennsylvania that's been around since 1803.

The 10 Worst Tasting Energy Drinks (IMHO)

2008-01-24T14:01:00.000-05:00

In my opinion, here are the ten WORST-TASTING energy drinks on the market.

1. Red Bull

2. Red Bull

3. Red Bull

4. Red Bull

5. Red Bull

6. Red Bull

7. Red Bull

8. Red Bull

9. Red Bull

10. And the 100 other drinks that taste just like Red Bull.

YOU KNOW I'M RIGHT!

Anyone else agree with me?

To Red Bull: it's time for a new flavor, and not just a copycat; it needs to "wow" everyone.

Arizona Energy Shot

2008-01-18T10:09:00.000-05:00

This is the "Low Carb" version of the drink, and it was pretty good.

It's similar tasting to one of those sparkling fruit drinks, but without the over-powering carbonation. This drink is only lightly carbornated, so you can down it pretty fast and not burp too loud.

I always expect low carb drinks to taste bad, but this one is better than normal. At least it's better tasting that any of those Red Bull copycats.

Some of the ingredients are honey, pear & apple & peach juices, mango puree. So you can see why I say it's like a sparkling fruit drink.

The energy ingredients are pretty usual.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Diablo Energy Drink

2008-01-18T10:00:00.000-05:00

I finally got a chance to try out the Diablo Energy Drink.

I've had my eyes on them for close to 2 years for some reason that I can't explain. Maybe I associate them with the Red Devil drink, which I consider to be one of the TOP TEN energy drinks.

But Diablo is a little different. In terms of flavor, this red colored drink didn't really taste the way I expected a red colored drink to taste.

It's hard to put my finger on it. It WAS good, but it had a funny after-taste that wasn't bad, just different. Maybe it was the lack of high-fructose corn syrup?

Ingredients:
Gurarana
White willow bark
Citrus aranthium (zhi shi): don't know what this is; there's nothing on it in wikipedia
Ginseng

BUZZ: it was a normal good-leveled buzz

You can see their site at http://www.diablonation.com/

Endorush

2008-01-03T14:06:00.000-05:00

I've been drinking EndoRush today; it is one serious energy drink.

In fact, I would call it a "sports drink", because it's really SERIOUS.

It's in the same neighborhood as Redline or Liquid Speed.

I bought it today at NRG for 5 bucks. I knew I had to get it when their label made me laugh out loud. Read this:

"DO NOT CONSUME AN ENTIRE BOTTLE OF ENDORUSH IN ONE SITTING"

I thought that was crazy funny. Then they say:

"...begin by consuming 1/4 bottle or less. Wait 30 minutes to assess your tolerance. If desired, after 30 minutes consume an additional 1/4 bottle or less and assess your tolerance again."

Wow. So you gotta drink it in quarters if you're not used to tons of energy products. I bet you that NO coffee drinker could handle this drink!

Even I'm having some trouble with it...but mostly because I've really scaled back my intake of energy products lately. If I were still taking strong supplements with ephedra I'd have a huge tolerance.

Anyway, it's a good sized bottle of 473mL, so you get a good supply to save for later in the day. I am drinking the "ORANGE FIX" flavor right now and I'll try their grape flavor another day. I can tolerate the orange flavor, but it's not super enjoyable. Can't wait to try the grape....

Their ingredients include...well, just go here
http://www.bsnonline.net/products/products_expanded.php?id=834266001309
and then click on Supplement Facts.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Stoked Energy - Dragonberry

2007-11-27T16:48:00.000-05:00

This is a weird drink.

It tasted really strange, like it was rotten or something, so I'll have to go and try that orange flavor to see if that weird taste transfers over. The expiry on the can is 2009.....

I did get a huge energy buzz, so that's great, but still....

Taurine is at 2000mg, ginseng at 400mg, caffeine is 160mg, niacin is 40mg (yeah!!), guarana is 10mg, and glucuronolactone is 1200mg.

You can read up on them at stokedenergy.com

Hiro Energy Drink

2007-11-22T16:50:00.000-05:00

HiRO Energy Drink

This one is interesting, except for the fact that they're sort of another Red Bull copycat.

The packaging is different, but the big thing here is that they have Tahitian Noni in it which makes sense, since it's put out by the company "Tahitian Noni International".

If you don't know what that is, just go Google it, but it's a drink that is supposed to have strong medicinal effects on the body.

Anyway, besides all that, they have a good mix of ingredients in good amounts. (taurine, guarana, inositol, niacin, etc)

Check them out at tahitiannoni.com

Rocket Shot

2007-08-31T16:00:00.000-04:00

Have you seen these little jobbies around? I pick mine up at the local 711.

If you want quick energy, this drink is for you. It's a shot. Get it?

The energy is surprisingly good with Rocket Shot, even if you're a seasoned energy-junkie like me.

I have only ever tried the berry flavor, and I like it. Some reviewers say they hate it and that there's crystals in the drink, but I didn't find that at all. If you know my blog, you'll know I HATE the same old drinks; I also do not like some other "shot" drinks, because they taste like old-style medicine.

But this one tastes fine...almost like Liquid Speed or Reline.

Ingredients: caffeine 50mg, taurine 50mg, inositol 30mg, niacin 20mg, etc

Rating: 8 out of 10

See more at their site premiernutrition.com

Full Throttle Blue Demon Energy Drink

2007-07-31T11:24:00.000-04:00

I've been drinking this one for a while now...and I have so many other drinks to review....

Have you tried Blue Demon?

A subtitle they have on the can is "Blue Agave and Fruit Flavor".

I like this "agave".

It tastes great, and I think the world NEEDS MORE BLUE ENERGY DRINKS.

Keep in mind that the ingredients of Blue Demon are basically the same as the usual Full Throttles...but, OK, here's the breakdown:

Taurine: 1892mg

Caffeine: 141mg

Niacin: 30mg (yeah!)

Vitamin B's

Buy it.

It's good stuff. :)

RATING: 8 out of 10

Review of Frank's Energy Drink

2007-06-25T11:58:00.000-04:00

Have you seen these guys all over the place? They seem to have started a huge promotional blitz in many stores. It's an incredible feat, especially when you consider they're marketing 4 different drinks at once!

I can understand a newer company asking stores to clear some space for ONE drink, but FOUR?

Anyway, here's the breakdown:

Ingredients: taurine 1000mg, caffeine 80mg, niacin 20mg, etc.

Buzz: On a level of 10, I give them a 7.5.

Flavors: Pineapple, "Normal", Lime, Sugar Free

Normal: Seems like a slightly better-tasting copy of Red Bull. C'mon guys.
Pineapple: Again, a Red Bull copy, but with a very FAINT flavor of pineapple; it was almost imperceptible.
Sugar Free: See above. Wasn't THAT bad.
Lime: WHAT A SURPRISE!! I thought I would hate this, but it was SO good! I'm glad I took the plunge and tried it. I will definitely buy it again and I encourage you to try it too.

Find out more at franksenergy.com

Guru Juicy Tangerine

2007-05-15T12:44:00.000-04:00

I'm drinking one of Guru's new drinks right now; it's the "Juicy Tangerine" flavor...but there are a couple other new ones I've seen around too (Green Tea & Citrus)

This one is pretty good. If you're familiar with Guru, you might know about their trademark sort of "olivey" taste their drink has; well, this one has it too.

But don't get me wrong; this olive-aftertaste is not bad...and I HATE olives. But this DOES tastes good.

The tangerine taste reminds me of popcycles and Tropicana, which might come from their "13% orange juice". I usually take 8 hours to drink a full 473ml drink, but I'm ALMOST FINISHED THIS ONE AFTER LESS THAN 1 HOUR. I guess this means I like it.

My energy level is climbing steadily, so I guess the energy factor works too! The can advertises "100% NATURAL ENERGY DRINK" (which is usually code for "our ingredients suck"). :)

BUT they have guarana, which is a good sign. They also have ginseng, ginkgo biloba, and echinacea. So...I'm feeling some energy starting. Too bad they don't have niacin.

Good job Guru!!

Rating: 8 out of 10

Rockstar Burner

2007-05-01T14:36:00.000-04:00

Rockstar Burner is their newer sugar free drink, with a blueberry twist.

Now, I say "blueberry" just because the can is blue and so you'd expect the drink to be blue, but it's really more of a purple color.

It actually tastes pretty good...maybe even better than the pomegranate flavor I just reviewed. That surprised me since most sugar free energy drinks taste WORSE than when they do contain sugar.

Unlike the pomegranate drink and their orange drink, this one does not appear to be made with real juice.

The other ingredients consist of taurine (2000mg), green tea (200mg), caffeine (160mg), yerba mate (50mg), niacin (20mg), etc.

It's good. I will be drinking more of it.

Red Devil Energy Drink

2007-04-23T11:14:00.000-04:00

Red Devil is an interesting drink and brand.

They've got history, experience, a strong brand, and a taste that's better than other energy drinks with bigger advertising dollars.

Go to reddevilusa.com to get an idea. They've been around for 12 years and are in over 30 countries. They're just now hitting the U.S.

One thing I like about them is that they're open & upfront about the inferior-tasting bitter energy drinks out there. They actually say what most sane people are thinking. Most mainstream drinks taste terrible. It's a fact.

Red Devil, however, tastes good.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the color of Red Devil seems to be orange! Big deal, though, right? It tastes good! That's what counts.

It comes off with a bit of a berry/candy-like flavor. There is a hint of the "mediciney" flavors that you often get in a lot of the weaker or "real juice" energy drinks; to me, that just means the drink is going to work better!

The ingredients are pretty much the usual line-up...caffeine, taurine, niacin, B vitamins, etc.

My only beef is that they only have 6mg of niacin; I think it would be better if they had 18 to 22mg...enough to really feel the heat flash.

All in all, it's a great product and company.

I can't wait to see what they accomplish here across the pond.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Redline Energy Drink

2007-04-17T11:07:00.000-04:00

I have so many empty cans in my desk, but I thought I had reviewed them all.

Imagine my surprise when I realized that I have never reviewed one of my FAVORITE drinks of all time:

The Redline Energy Drink by VPX.

Man, oh, man. You have got to try this drink! I used to drink this quite a bit, especially before going to the gym. It's a real bonified sports drink designed to give you a huge rush & energy buzz.

It has zero carbs, I guess because they use sucralose, but it still tastes good. But it is unlike anything else you've ever tasted. I would compare it a bit to Liquid Speed.

This stuff is strong. Man, you need to try it! Here's some of the ingredients:

Yerba mate, green tea leaf, vinpocetine (for cerebral blood flow and metabolism), n-acetyl tyrosine (for alertness, mood elevating, appetite control), caffeine, etc.

I don't see it on the bottle now, but I used to hear the health store employees say that the main ingredient was yohimbine, which increases your heart rate. (although, if you search it on ebay, it really seems to be marketed as a male sexual performance or enhancement product...but under "yohimbe")

This drink usually costs between $4 and $5, so it's really not that realistic to drink every day.

I once bought Redline in its concentrated liquid form, which tasted terrible, but got into your system faster than a pill (which I'd like to try one day). The rush was awesome with that too, but it became a syropy mess after a while (I carred it in my backpack, so it bounced around a lot).

Rating: 9.5 out of 10!!!!

Find out more at the VPX website.

Rockstar Juiced: Pomegranate

2007-04-04T16:33:00.000-04:00

It looks like Rockstar is promoting some other flavors recently. I think they've been around for a while, but they were not "pushed" as much.

I just tried 2 cans of their new Pomegranate version and I have heard of another blueberry-like flavor coming soon, but I have not yet seen any.

Remember the previous review I did for Rockstar? http://highenergydrinks.blogspot.com/2006/10/rockstar-juiced.html

They advertise on this can that they use 50% juice. It tastes ok, but the first few sips are hard to handle. After a minute or two, it grows on you. After a few hours, it goes down easy.

Ingredients:
Taurine 2000mg, ginkgo biloba 300mg, caffeine: 160mg, guarana 50mg, inositol 50mg, ginseng 50mg, milk thistle 40mg, niacin 20mg, and some vitamin B's....

Pretty good line up, huh?

Rush: pretty good.

I'd say I prefer this to Rockstar's orange flavor.

Rating: 7 out of 10. They'd score a little higher if this had more of a berry flavor. It's too much of a niche product; how many people run out there looking for a pomegranate drink?

Screamin Energy

2007-03-09T16:43:00.000-05:00

I have been meaning to write reviews for these guys for a long time.

I've had a chance to try several of their products, and they all pack a HUGE punch.

Their products come in plastic pouches, small plastic sleaves, and small bottles. I only had a chance to try one flavor: "Mocha Madness", which is wasn't too pleased with.

Personally, I can't stand the taste of coffee or anything like unto it. So I gagged and coughed and grimaced my way through these 3 different drink formats.

BUT...MAN OH MAN...they filled me with TONS of incredible energy. They contain 2000mg of Ginseng, Niacin, and several B vitamins.

Screamin Energy is more of a sports product, as you'll see if you check it out at www.screaminenergy.com They have a lot of other products there I would love to try....

NOS Energy Drink

2007-02-22T15:38:00.000-05:00

NOS has a few different products, and I've tried the one with cool bottle and a cool logo and cool colors.

But it doesn't taste that great.

It's not THAT bad, but it is one of the old-school boring "we-haven't-caught-the-vision-yet" flavored drinks. I KNOW they have other flavors, but I can't find them being sold anywhere.

With that out of the way, I can say a few other good things about them. Again, the bottle is cool...and I like bottles more than cans now, mainly because you can close them up and take them along somewhere. (plus, if your drink tastes bad, people are going to have to carry it around for a while so they can take their time drinking it...ENERGY DRINK COMPANIES: ARE YOU LISTENING?????)

Ingredients: Taurine is 2750mg, caffeine is 343mg, and a bunch of vitamins.

You can check them out at http://www.drinknos.com/ I hope to give them a glowing review if I can get my hands on their Fruit Punch version....

Cheetah Power Surge

2007-02-21T16:34:00.000-05:00

I finally got to try Cheetah Power Surge.

I've heard their radio commercials for at least 6 months, but couldn't find them anywhere. Here's one thing I learned in college about the 4 P's of Marketing: "PLACE" is the most important.

If someone wants to buy your product, but you don't tell them where to do it, how are they going to buy it??!!

Anyway, the can is HUGE. 710mL I guess it has to be big; it's so that you can get a bigger dose of the weak ingredients.

Ready? Here ya go: royal jelly, ginseng.

Yup.

Did it do anything for me? Maybe. Not sure. I'll have to try another one...if I can find it.

Taste: pretty good. Sweet, candy-like, not stupendous, but good.

Nitro Energy Drink

2007-02-20T15:03:00.000-05:00

Nitro is nice-o.

It comes in a cool sports-type bottle, with a convenient finger-hole ring on the top. In fact, it tastes just like one of those sports drinks, like Gatorade and the like. It's not carbonated.

BUT...does it *feel* like an energy drink? No. I give them high marks for an easy-to-drink formula. It tastes good, that's for sure. I flew through TWO bottles in a few hours; I drank the "Red Berry" version and the Grape one too.

But even after drinking them, I didn't really feel much of anything. Am I too immune? Let's look at the ingredients:

Taurine: 1000mg, Caffeine: 80mg, Niacin: 18mg, Glucuronolactone: 600mg, and a bunch of B vitamins.

Strange that I didn't feel much with such a good line-up of stimulants, etc. I will definitely give them another chance, just because they taste so good.

Check them out at Trek Energy.

Go Fast! Energy Drink

2006-12-05T11:06:00.000-05:00

I'm very pleased with Go Fast.

The taste is good, the rush is good, and the marketing is good. Take the can for example. They list all the medicinal energy producing ingredients *on the front*, and it's a good list. Then, on the back, they also tell you about each of those ingredients! These guys have nothing to hide.

In fact, they should be extremely proud about this product. It's not a "Me-Too" drink. They really differentiate themselves as being a sports drink by and for athletes.

Look at this list of ingredients: taurine (1400mg), ginseng, ribose, vitamin b-6 & b-12, ginkgo biloba, guarana, riboflavin, niacin (28mg), milk thistle, caffeine. And no perservatives OR high fructose corn syrup!

I've tried all 3 of their cans/versions (the flagship can, the outdoorsy can, and the "Light" version). The drink in the camouflage can is NOT any different from the main drink; they both taste the same. As far as I can tell, it's a branding thing, for targeting hunters & fishers; it does say "The Sportsman's Energy Drink", so I guess that's it.

As for the taste, it smells and tastes quite good. There is a bit of a cherry flavor with Go Fast, and I sometimes I get some kind of aftertaste that's similar to cotton candy, but maybe that's just me. The can does say they use Australian Honey for flavor, so perhaps honey from Down Under is different in that way.

By the way, the cans are a bit larger than the usual 250ml norm; they're 352ml, so Go Fast packs a punch if you drink it all down in a short period of time. So, yes, the rush is awesome. With the combination of great ingredients and great taste, Go Fast is a joy to gulp down fast.

Check them out at http://www.gofastsports.com/

Vault Energy Drink

2006-11-30T16:36:00.000-05:00

Vault is a new energy "soda" from Coca-Cola.

It's a lot like Mountain Dew. And it tastes ok.

It's got 100mg of caffeine. That's it. So to me, it's not really an energy drink.

But I thought I'd tell you about it anyway. You decide.

HYDRIVE

2006-11-28T15:01:00.000-05:00

Wow, oh, wow.

HYDRIVE is one awesome company with an amazing drink. I got my hands on all 4 of their flavors and downed 3 of them in less than 24 hours.

These are people who "get it". They understand that an energy drink needs to taste good for people to buy it. Their flavors are "dragonfruit", "pomegranate", "acai berry", and "casaba lime". They all taste great. HYDRIVE is a clear, sort of "flavored water" kind of drink. But the color of the bottle's labels give you a hint of what each drink is going to taste like. I really enjoyed the blue acai berry and it surprised me that the lime flavor was actually very good!

On the back of the labels it says: "HYDRIVE is specially formulated to boost energy, improve concentration and heighten alertness, without leaving you jittery. Made with electrolyte enhanced spring water, its light, healthy flavor hydrates, refreshes and restores. Drink HYDRIVE any time you need a sustained energy lift."

Each bottle comes with niacin (which I think all energy drinks should have), caffeine, taurine, etc. The rush was good and I could definitely feel the niacin kicking in. :)

All in all, HYDRIVE tastes great and feels great. You can read more about their company at http://www.hydriveenergy.com/

ENVIGA

2006-11-23T16:59:00.000-05:00

Enviga is by Nestle and CocaCola. Their tagline is "The Calorie Burner", and the base of the drink is Nestea. Also on the cans is "Sparkling Green Tea".

I have tried the peach flavor and the berry, and I think the peach one is a TON better. I found the berry version to be very bitter and "old-school energy drinkish". The after-taste just disagreed with me so much, I could not finish it. Also, it took me all day to drink 90% of it. It doesn't help that they have no sugar....

Now, the peach one went down a lot faster. It had less of that crazy after-taste which is contrary to nature that so many energy drinks have.

Can you call Enviga an energy drink? They say it "invigorates your metabolism to gently increase calorie burning". How? With 100mg of caffeine and 90mg of EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate) . EGCG is an antioxidant found in green tea. Apparently EGCG and caffeine together work to stimulate thermogenesis. But there's no taurine, niacin, inositol, guarana, ginseng, etc.

Did I get a rush? No. The cans are 355ml instead of the usual 250ml, so the caffeine is spread out more, and if you can't even drink it all in 10 minutes because of the taste, how are you going to get the maximum effect? They say you should drink 3 cans a day to burn 100 calories.

There are also citris and greet tea flavors. I'd say they're worth trying, especially if you don't want a hard-core energy drink with sugar. Among the 4 flavors, you should find one you like. Like I said, the peach one was OK, and I find myself wanting one right now. Here's their link: http://www.Enviga.com

Fluid Fuzion

2006-11-10T16:16:00.000-05:00

Fluid Fuzion is a Toronto-based drink company. I used to see them all over the place, but not so much lately.

They were probably the first "juice" drink I ever tried, so it was such a surprise to find one that broke from the norm. They advertise 75% juice on the can & no sugar added. The one I tried is called "tanago" which is tangerine & mango.

The flavor is quite good considering there's no sugar, and it's not over-powering like some "juice" energy drinks can be. RockStar Juiced can sometimes be like that; a little thick.

They have a cranberry version too which I'd like to try.

Some ingredients: guarana, ginseng, ginko biloba.

Rush: average

Rating: 6 out of 10

You can find out more at http://www.fluidbev.ca/

Liquid Ice

2006-10-20T16:56:00.000-04:00

Move over my Top Five Energy Drinks.

I have a new addition to the list, and that's Liquid Ice.

What a good tasting drink! With all my complaining of bad-tasting drinks, it really seems like things are a-changing in the industry.

Liquid Ice is light blue in color and tastes somewhat similar to Bawls Gurarana, because of it's light carbonation. It has that "cool" flavor. With each sip, I'd get a nostalgic memory-blast of some candy I used to eat as a kid. That's how good it is.

It comes with caffeine, inositol, niacin, and taurine, etc. so the rush was pretty good. But I'm just too immune these days.

All in all, I give this product a 9 out 10.

I really wish more stores & gas stations would pick it up!! See more them at http://www.liquidiceenergydrink.com/ and www.liquidicecanada.com

RockStar Juiced

2006-10-12T16:51:00.000-04:00

I'm so happy RockStar finally came out with something good. This Juiced product has 70% real juice, so it actually tastes good. I've even bought it more than once, which says a lot for their product.

They use mango, orange, and passion fruit. They've got taurine, guarana, and ginseng. They even have the others, like niacin, glucuronolactone, and milk thistle, and all these ingredients come in huge amounts.

Rush: good

Rating: 6 out of 10

Everlast

2006-10-11T14:57:00.000-04:00

I had this one several months ago.

It's sugar free
It was "citris blast" so I didn't like the taste, of course
It had caffeine, taurine, niacin, glucuronolactone, etc.

Rush: Average
Rating: 3 out of 10

6 Hour Power by Stacker2

2006-10-03T16:54:00.000-04:00

Oh, boy.

I have so many drinks to write about. Let me do 2 here:

I tried the small little bottles of "6 Hour Power" by Stacker2. They were:

Yellow Jacket, and
Black Jax

Now, I love Stacker2. I've written about them before because they're one of the only energy drinks out there that TASTE GREAT and still give you a rush if you're "used to" energy drinks.

But these 2 little shot-drinks are very different. They taste sort of like Redline or Liquid Speed, all of which say they have low or no calories.

The taste is very weird; you usually go through 2 or 3 after-flavors, and you can't quite tell if they taste good or not.

RUSH: ok. I imagine if I wasn't so used to energy products that these drinks would give an awesome buzz.

PRICE: $3 to $4 is a bit steep.

RATING: 7 out 10

"5-hour ENERGY"

2006-09-07T16:49:00.000-04:00

This is one of those little, pocket-sized blasters of energy drinks.

It says: "Hours of energy now"
-No crash later
-Sugar free
-0 net carbs

Now, it tasted just like one of those Liquid Speed drinks, but it is much smaller. When I say this is pocket-sized, I mean it.

And the rush only lasted for *4 hours*. :)

This is a good product, but at $4 or $4.50, I don't think it's worth it, unless you want to carry them around for emergenices.

Ingredients: nicacin, taurine, caffeine, etc.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Liquid Speed

2006-08-23T11:46:00.000-04:00

I first tried Liquid Speed in August 2005.

It was the lime flavor, and it tasted so bad. But the rush was really good; maybe almost as good at VPX's Redline.

This drink is actually more of a health food store/serious work-out drink. It has no calories, which is cool. Today I tried the one in the grey bottle...called Tropical Ice. I laughed when I first opened it because the liquid was the color of swamp water! :)

Now, the taste was like sweet swamp water. LOL!

I figured since I had just brushed my teeth and I wasn't thirsty, and since it didn't taste that much better than the lime flavor, I should mess with my palate. I started eating chips so the salt would make me thirsty. But this made the taste worse. So then I thought I'd eat a chocolate bar, so that the sugar could help maximize the sugary flavor of the drink. It actually helped!

I also found it helped to just gulp it up, swish it around, and keep my mouth closed so the lack of oxygen would help me to NOT taste it better.

THE RUSH was quite amazing since I am very accustomed to energy products AND I'd only drunk half the bottle! It was very stable and I could feel it rushing through me all at once.

At $5/bottle, it had better have this effect!

Some ingredients: taurine, caffeine, bladderwack, green tea, NAC, L-phenalaianine.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Full Throttle Fury

2006-08-11T16:35:00.000-04:00

This Full Throttle is not like the usual junk that I can't bring myself to drink anymore.

Coca-Cola got the message; and they did good.

This is a "Tropical Flavored" version. Red. Or more orange. And it's a good orange, better than the other similar one...what was it? Rock Star? I can't remember.

Anyway, the rush is very good (because I can actually drink a lot of this one in one sitting).

Ingredients: Taurine: 1892mg Caffeine: 141mg ETC.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Jolt Silver

2006-08-11T16:29:00.000-04:00

Wow, I love Jolt.

I finally got to try one of these "silver" versions, and I liked it a lot.

Instead of being like 7Up or Sprite, it was much better than the taste you'd expect to come from a clear soft drink. It's hard to explain...but I guess you could say it was "sugary"...but not too sugary. It tastes amazing!

The rush was awesome too, like usual with Jolt. This silver drink was much like the blue guarana version. Go try it!!

Rating: 9 out of 10

BOO KOO

2006-07-28T17:23:00.000-04:00

This is one HUGE drink: 710ml. I guess they say it's the size of 3 normal drinks.

I bought the wild berry flavor and it was just OK. The rush was good all day long. I stayed up to 2am.

From the can: "BooKoo Means Big! Big energy and great taste in a huge 3-serving size. BooKoo is extreme power for extreme people. It's a big world out there... Power up with the biggest, baddest, best tasting energy drink."

I couldn't resist that ad copy.

Ingredients: taurine: 3000mg, caffeine: 360mg, and a bunch of vitamins.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

EAS Piranha Energy Drink, volume II

2006-07-27T12:36:00.000-04:00

I bought the above drink again, but this time it was the "phunky fruit punch" flavor.

I actually got the normal and sugar free versions and they were both good, but of course the normal sugar version was better.

The rush is good with this drink and it really does taste good. The other flavor (pineapple punch?) version is also really good (which I reviewed lower down). Again, the price is right because you can get these at Wal-Mart.

I love the ingredient line up too: caffeine, taurine, green tea, and guarana. Try it.

Shark Energy Drink

2006-07-10T13:19:00.000-04:00

I knew this one was going to be the same old formula...but I bought it over another drink that day because Shark says they've been around since 1965!!

The taste was a bit more mild that the usual stuff, so it didn't taste too bad. Have you ever noticed if you leave that kind of drink sitting around for a few hours, it tends to turn THICK? It sort of becomes like syrup. Weird.

Rush was average.

Ingredients: taurine: 1000mg, caffeine: 80mg.

Rating: 4 or 5 out of 10.

Hype Energy Gold

2006-07-06T16:47:00.000-04:00

I see this drink everywhere. Here is what I wrote down a year ago when I first tried this one:

"Usual bitter taste; copy-cat drink; same old thing; energy is average; no ingredient info on can; some funny statements, though. hype.com/canada 'HYPE is like happiness; the more you share it, the more you enjoy it. Hype Gold is a precious commodity, a great tasting energy drink that gives you more. Look for Hype wherever things are happening. Open, sip, stay Hype.' "

Rating: 2 out of 10

Piranha Energy Drink

2006-06-28T11:12:00.000-04:00

I have tried the 2 Piranha drinks and I like them a lot.

I just tried the "outrageous orange pineapple" version and it was so GOOD! It was very nice to find someone doing something different. I don't remember the other flavor now; I gotta buy another one.

It's made by EAS (big company). I like that I can buy it at Wal-Mart because it's cheaper than at a convenience store.

Caffeine: 85mg, taurine: 1300mg, green tea: 1300mg, guarana: 1300mg. WOW!!

Rush was good.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Tab Energy

2006-06-28T10:53:00.000-04:00

Wow, another big disappointment from the Coca-Cola Company.

This time, one of their drinks had some potential with a different flavor; this Tab drink is red..."Cherry Flavored", but I took ALL DAY to drink it. I bought it before work, cracked it open in the car, drank it all the way to work, and STILL had a bunch left at 5pm, which I had to force down.

Now, maybe I was "off" that day. Maybe the problem is with the "Sugar-Free" mix they use.

Regardless, I did feel a good buzz all day from it. Taurine is 1076mg, caffeine is 80mg.

Rating: 5 out of 10

Beaver Buzz: Saskatoon Berry Energy

2006-06-28T10:44:00.000-04:00

There are two versions of this drink, which is made in B.C.

There's a red can, which tasted pretty good; it was a usual citris version...but again, it was good. But the blue can has a blue berry-flavor and it was REALLY GOOD.

Ingredients: taurine 1100mg, caffeine 110mg, guarana 60mg, ginseng 100mg.

Buzz/Rush? It was pretty good; didn't seem to last too long, though.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Red Rave

2006-06-13T14:09:00.000-04:00

I pick up Red Rave from time to time, just since it's easy to find, cheaper than the other drinks, and it tastes ok. The after taste is not as strong as the usual suspects.

I think that years ago it came in a cherry flavor...but maybe that was a different drink or brand which I'm told is discontinued. I really think that the one I am drinking must be the Canadian version and the actual RED drink is in the states.

The rush from it is pretty OK or average, but better than some of the other lower-priced drinks out there.

Ingredients - taurine: 1000mg, caffeine: 80mg, etc.

Rating: 5 out of 10

You Will Obey Stewie's Domination Serum

2006-05-25T16:35:00.000-04:00

Yahoo!!!

I found another good-tasting, good-rush energy drink! Have you ever seen those Stewie from the Family Guy drinks? I had seen a yellow canned Stewie drink once, but couldn't find it until today. I figure that was a citris copy-cat because of the yellow can...and it goes by a different name...but the above name is in a red can.

Imagine my surprise when I popped the can and saw red liquid come out. IT TASTES GOOD!

Also, it has taurine (1000mg), guarana, caffeine, and ginseng. A winning combination!

The only drawback is the price: $3.00.

I give it an 8 out of 10.

Lost Energy Drink: Five-O (Orange Flavor)

2006-05-24T10:19:00.000-04:00

Now, I reviewed the Lost Energy Drink in an earlier post. I didn't like it.

But it's one of the more popular drinks; you see it in many stores and many gas stations. So they have money behind them.

Anyway, this "Five-O" version is very similar to the Monster Khaos drink which I also reviewed earlier. It's the orange flavored drink and it tastes pretty good. Thank goodness it's not another bitter citris drink!!

Taurine: 2000mg. Caffeine: 160mg. Guarana: 0.5mg. Lots of vitamins. The rush was ok.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

Lost Energy Drink: Five-O (Orange Flavor)

2006-05-24T10:18:00.000-04:00

Impulse Energy Drink

2006-05-23T11:16:00.000-04:00

I tried the normal and low-cal Impulse drink.

I like the can designs. But it's the same old formula and taste. Blah.

Main ingredients: caffeine and taurine. No guarana. Regardless, the rush was ok. It seems like they stick a lot more vitamins in it than some of the other drinks.

Rating: 4 out of 10

Bawls Guarana

2006-05-17T16:40:00.000-04:00

I guess it's about time to talk about another of my top 3 favorite drinks of all time: Bawls.

For a beginner-energy-drinker, you'll be delighted at the feeling Bawls gives you. The guarana just carries just a good and stable buzz, unlike caffeine. Who know how much is in this drink? They don't really say much on the ingredients.

Bawls tastes great. And it comes in a glass bottle. How nice is that??!! It is designed to have a bit of a fizzy flavor too. It's similar to that hard candy with the fizzy stuff inside...just not as potent.

Bawls even has their own candy, which tastes pretty good too. You can pick it up at 7-Eleven. It says you need to consume 7 candies to equate 1 bottle...but so far I haven't really had great rush/buzz-luck with it.

Also, the drink comes in a low carb version. Check out their site at bawls.com.

All in all, I give them a 10 out of 10.

Full Throttle

2006-05-12T15:58:00.000-04:00

This is a drink with a lot of money and clout behind it, as it's owned by Coke.

Now, of course, the taste comes from the usual copy-cat formula, so it doesn't taste good. Sorry.

It's a big 473ml can. Caffeine is 141mg and taurine is 1892mg, which seems like a lot.

The rush was ok. 4 out of 10 is my overall rating.

Mad Croc

2006-05-08T15:02:00.000-04:00

Mad Croc is a drink I've seen around from time-to-time and finally tried it today.

Now, from a "rush" standpoint, they do very well. I feel great drinking it. They have 50mg of caffeine, 7mg of taurine, B vitamins, etc. You can read more at http://www.madcroc.com/products.htm which is also pretty informative about how caffeine works and its benefits. Kudos for them for good website.

Another great thing about Mad Croc is that they offer energy gum, so you know these guys are going the extra mile. I hope to get my hands on some very soon. (It also comes in 3 flavors)

Speaking of flavor, I'm sorry to say that the drink appears to be the yellow/citris formula, but it's not bad. Maybe I'm getting used to the citris flavor?

Out of 10, I give Mad Croc a 7. I hope they come out with a berry flavor. :)

Blue Jolt

2006-05-04T16:50:00.000-04:00

Blue Jolt is definitely in my TOP 5 preferred energy drinks...maybe even top 3.

I'm not too big a fan of their cola or cherry cola, cause they just have caffeine...but Blut Jolt has guarana...and lots of it.

If you're new to such drinks, half a can/bottle of it will blast you into space. It tastes amazing...just very sweet; it's full of sugar...but at least it doesn't taste like all the other copy-cats out there.

There's some other flavors out there too...but I can't find them anywhere. The website doesn't have much info. See joltcola.com

Monster: Assault

2006-05-01T12:20:00.000-04:00

So I decided to try the Monster Assault drink since I reviewed their orange one below the other day.

It's basically the same ingredients...so that equals the same rush. The only thing different that I wanted to experience was the taste.

What will surprise you is the color; it has a dark red/rust look. This was a nice break-away from the all too common "citris" yellow-green look.

As for taste, it's better than normal, so that's a bonus. I can't really relate it to anything. You'll just have to try it out.

Dew Fuel and Mountain Dew Energy

2006-04-28T16:44:00.000-04:00

Now, I don't really consider these drinks to be "ENERGY" drinks, per se.

All they have is a little extra caffeine. Big deal. They just keep you "up" enough to get by. Dew Fuel has 109mg of caffeine; how much does a cola have? I dunno. I'll look it up sometime.

Anyway, they taste like normal Mountain Dew and they have a light version too, which I've had several times. I can barely tell that I'm having an energy drink when I consume them. Maybe I'll have to "clear my palate" sometime by refraining from any energy products for a few days and see what they do for me.

Stacker 2: Stinger

2006-04-28T16:36:00.000-04:00

This drink is in my top 3 drinks because it's awesome!

Top marks for taste and rush.

But it's darn hard to find. I have only ever had the "pounding punch" flavor, but I know there's a blueberry version out there too.

Caffeine: 100mg, taurine: 12mg, yerba mate: 2mg, guarana: 2mg, ginseng: 2mg, etc.

Why does it taste so good AND give you a rush and so few other drinks can accomplish that?

Monster Energy: Khaos

2006-04-27T09:19:00.000-04:00

Now, you have very likely already tried one of the Monster energy drinks. This was one of my first that I ever tried. Yeah, the one in the green can tastes bad. But I still remember how my whole body shook and I had that crazy buzz for hours. That's if you're not used to it.

The blue can is for the low carb version. Still doesn't taste good.

But today I tried the new orange one...and it tastes good!

They've got the following inside it: apple, orange, pear, peach, tangerine, pineapple, white grape. It also has taurine, ginseng, caffeine, and guarana. Another winning line-up.

Check them out at monsterenergy.com for more info.

Guru Energy Drink

2006-04-26T10:47:00.000-04:00

I have bought the Guru drink several times, so it must be ok.

The only problem is that it has the usual bitter taste...but sometimes it seems to me that it's not as bad as other drinks...which is why I drink it more often than some of the others. Maybe that comes from being "100% Natural" as they say on the can.

The rush is really good...which all guarana-based drinks have. It makes sense, because Guru comes with 1629mg of guarana. Wow. That's huge compared to many other drinks. It also comes with panax ginseng, ginko biloba and echinacea extracts. This is a really good mix. They say the ingredients work "in perfect synergy" with each other.

It also comes in light (low cal) form and you can buy it online; they're based in Montreal.

Check it out at guruenergy.com.

Lost Energy Drink

2006-04-25T16:03:00.000-04:00

The first to review is "The Lost Energy Drink".

Now, I didn't keep great notes, but here's my first impression:

It was very bitter, like usual, and I thought the can was way too big. What's with all these giant bitter drinks? It was a pain to get through.

What about the rush? I don't remember well enough, but it wasn't anything to write home about. It might be ok for someone not used to these drinks, but not for me.

The main ingredient was caffeine. I didn't write down that they had any guarana or taurine, so they must not have had any in it. The website on the can is lostenterprises.com, but it's for a surfing/skateboarding company and I couldn't find any links for the drink. Obviously, it's this company selling a drink as a marketing method and I'm sure it helps them. Kudos to them for trying new things.

Does bitter give a better rush?

2006-04-25T15:49:00.000-04:00

Why is it that all the energy drink companies out there think bitter is better?

They must think that, since most of the drinks taste terrible. They're all the same!

On top of that, they don't give good energy rushes either.

There are a select few that taste good and give you a rush. I will tell you which ones.

But I will give everyone a fair chance anyway. I've tried a lot of these drinks, mints, pills, etc. For instance, Red Bull is by far the most recognized brand out there. But...they taste bad. And after you get used to these drinks, Red Bull doesn't pack a punch anymore. All it has is a bunch of caffeine anyway. That isn't enough to do the job anymore.

Stay tuned. I'll start reviewing all kinds of drinks for you.