Energy (34 reviews)
Monster Energy Ultra Blue
Quote direct from the can: "Ultra Blue is a little less sweet and lighter tasting with zero calories..."
They had me at less sweet. I love Monster energy drinks, but some are ridiculously sugary to the point that I feel like I’m developing a new cavity with every sip. Every word in their quote rings true. Well I can't scientifically prove that there are no calories in this, it tastes like a non-gross diet drink. My guess is due to them using erythritol to sweeten it. Not only does it taste good for a zero calorie sweetener, it's actually good for your teeth!
"Erythritol has been certified as tooth-friendly. The sugar alcohol cannot be metabolized by oral bacteria, so does not contribute to tooth decay. Interestingly, erythritol exhibits some, but not all, of xylitol's tendency to "starve" harmful bacteria."
So next time your mom or dad tells you energy drinks are rotting your teeth, as long as it's sweetened with erythritol you have a great argument.
Overall this is a great energy drink, it is delicious and light and the perfect amount of sweetness. The flavor is hard to pin point, it has a grapefruit taste to it but also has that classic "Monster" taste to it as well. The can is textured like they have been doing with their recent releases and I like it.
post script: Due to the name of this drink, "Ultra Blue", I thought it was beer at first and got really confused when it was next to the other Monster drinks.
- Website
- http://www.monsterenergy.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Erythritol
- Categories
- Diet, Energy Drink
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Derek Neuland 2 weeks, 2 days ago
- Comments
- View and Leave A Comment
Bulletproof Energy Sugar Free
In order to ensure that bullets don’t pierce your person there are a few things you have to sacrifice, limited mobility for one. Also, if you’re a sweet spy, the bulkiness of it all will ruin the lines in your suit. I also just learned that in order to become bulletproof, you also have to sacrifice flavor.
As with most energy drinks that don’t proclaim to be a specific flavor, I expected the generic energy drink flavor of sugary candy. Well, diet sugar candy. I actually prefer the sugar free Red Bull to the original variety, so I thought this was going to be a little bit of decent, but nothing out of the ordinary. That proved to be not the case. This definitely has the chemical energy drink flavor, but it also has a weird almond smell to it that comes across as something completely different and weirdly citrus in the flavor. It’s not something that I would ever purchase, as there are so many other varieties of energy drinks in every gas station ever. Maybe this will be your thing, but I couldn’t really enjoy it. Maybe I’ll unload a few rounds into it and see if it actually is bulletproof. My predictions: I’m going to tear this thing to pieces.
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Sucralose
- Categories
- Diet, Energy Drink
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 4/10/2013
- Comments
- View and Leave A Comment
Monster Energy Zero Ultra
First impression: this can looks like a "fancy" designer t-shirt you would find at a flea market for $9.99. Also, (much like the Monster Cuba-Lima) this can is textured, adding to the weird image I have of a 11 year old wannabe gangsta from the suburbs exclaiming "Whoa, that can matches my shirt!" which his mom bought him in the boys section of JC Penny. The name of this drink also seems like something said kid (let's call him Chad) would have made up 2 years prior as he was watching Power Rangers Ninja Storm.
Of course Chad will deny he made up his own Power Ranger named Zero Ultra when he's drinking this, even if he secretly still has the cover he drew of Zero Ultra Comics #1 in his closet. Six months from now he will also stop wearing this weird patterned shirt that matches this because his "cooler" friend will say it isn't cool anymore. But at least Chad had a moment where he was a trendsetter and Monster was behind on the times for once.
It's a shame the can and name of this drink are so bad because the drink is actually really good. It tastes like a Squirt snow cone. It's smooth and refreshing, and isn't as sweet as most energy drinks. My advice to Monster: keep making the textured cans, but design the cans better.
- Website
- http://www.monsterenergy.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Sucralose
- Categories
- Diet, Energy Drink
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Derek Neuland on 1/11/2013
- Comments
- View and Leave A Comment
Lucozade Energy Tropical
For those of you, like myself, who were unimpressed by the original flavor of Lucozade I urge you to try their tropical variety. While the sugar water taste of the original in just there, not offensive or great, this type I would actually go out of my way to drink. It has a nice passionfruit and pineapple combination of a taste to it. I expected it to taste like one of the more flavorful Gatorades, as to be comparable to their flagship flavor, but this is like a completely different product. It’s very sweet, but sometimes that is exactly what you’re looking for in a drink.
This is marketed as an energy drink, but as far as I can tell the only things in here that would give you energy are sugar and caffeine. In reality it’s as much of an energy drink as a can of Coke. I guess that’s way healthier than the amount of chemical junk Americans put in their bodies in the name of being a little more awake.
One great thing about this label is that it is made in China, but the text is half in English and half Spanish. A lot of the text is there in both forms, but there is some that is only in one of the languages. It’s not a big thing at all, but for some reason it made me laugh.
- Website
- http://www.lucozade.com/
- Country
- China
- Sweetener
- Glucose Syrup
- Categories
- Energy Drink
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 12/16/2012
- Comments
- View and Leave A Comment
Sambazon Energy Acai Berry + Yerba Mate + Guarana
I can’t get over how great it is that this company was started by a couple of surfers. Even better is that they decided to start the company after a surging trip to Brazil when they were given a bowl of acai juice to drink…A SURFING TRIP TO BRAZIL! If you ask me I’m gonna have to wager that we have a Point Break type scenario here. These dudes pulled some bank heists in order to fund surfing expeditions (to this day this is still the greatest movie premise of all time). The thing is that instead of all either ending up in jail, dead, or lost at sea on the coast of Australia these dudes changed their lifestyle and put their heist energies into making juice. Now they just use their profits from the business to fund their surfing trips. I mean these guys aren’t crazy adrenaline junkies or anything.
Not only do these guys have a great bad guys gone good life story, but they also know how to make one hell of a beverage. I think we can all agree that a lot of companies’ acai juice can be a little much to handle. It always tastes like you’re drinking concentrate. Sambazon knows how to smooth it out and make it an enjoyable, healthy drink. You can taste the acai, but it’s not in your face with every sip. I think it’s the apple juice that they mix in that solves the harshness problem. Either way this drink is great. It’s smooth, fruity and all of the flavors blend together seamlessly. You can tell that there is yerba mate and guarana in the drink if you think about it, but if you were given a glass with no indication of what was in it, it would just taste like a general blended smoothie. You would have no idea of the caffeine kick you were about to receive.
- Website
- http://www.sambazon.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Organic Cane Sugar
- Categories
- Energy Drink, Iced Tea, Juice
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 12/15/2012
- Comments
- View and Leave A Comment
Hype Energy Enlite
What we have here is a better tasting than most diet energy drinks. I would say that it is actually borderline diet. It still has regular sugar in it, but it’s not as much as the regular version. Replacing it is some sucralose, but the mixture of the sweeteners doesn’t give it the diet death taste. It’s still sweet and candy like, as your typical energy drinks are, with just a hint of a diet flavor to it. There is nothing particularly surprising about this. It tastes like an energy drink, but just a little bit better than other diet ones I have had.
ps. The pink can is a little bit too obvious for a diet drink. Come on Hype, you have to have a better marketing team than that.
- Website
- http://www.hype.com/
- Country
- Netherlands
- Sweetener
- Sugar
- Categories
- Diet, Energy Drink
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 12/7/2012
- Comments
- View and Leave A Comment
Hype Energy Original
The text, much like the whippets at the Gathering of the Juggalos, don't stop. Non-stop text on this can. You want some ingredients? What languages don't you speak? This can't got 'em all, son. That's just number one right off the bat. I'm not penalizing Hype for it, just pointing it out. Oh, see that can with all the text on it? Yeah, don't worry about reading it. It's an energy drink.
Taste: Not terrible. I like it more than Red Bull. It's an energy drink so you know the overall flavor. This has a bit more, dare I say, "fruit." They have an organic version that Jay reviewed that might allow fruit not to be in quotes. I went to lunch and came back and took another sip and it was pretty vile. I'm not penalizing them for that, either. It wasn't refrigerated so that was on me. That's a free poisoning from me to you, Hype.
Honestly, I didn't hate it. If hype men like Flava Flav, Dapwell from Das Racist, or Bushwick Bill pushed this drink on me, I would say, "Gentlemen. No need to yell. I'm on board. Stop drinking this energy drink and maybe sit down with some tea. You need to relax. No, Dap, that was not a pun on your group's fantastic major label release."
- Website
- http://www.hype.com/
- Country
- Netherlands
- Sweetener
- Sugar
- Categories
- Energy Drink
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Mike Literman on 11/13/2012
- Comments
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Hype Energy MFP
In 1998 Public Enemy released the album “It Takes a Nation of a Million to Hold Us Back.” In the lyrics of the second single from the album Chuck D very emphatically tells to listeners not to believe the hype. Very wise words from a wise man. Listen to Chuck because he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to socio-political topics and those same sentiments can also be used when reviewing energy drinks. Hype Organic was great, this one, not so much. It has a traditional energy drink flavor (aka Red Bull/every generic energy drink ever), but it has less candy flavor and more “energy flavor.” It makes sense because it is their maximum energy blend. I could have used more on the flavor side of things, but if I had to trade off some flavor for an energy drink that works well, I can handle that.
Hype will probably focus on some particular lines from the previously mentioned Public Enemy song: “All the critics you can hang'em, I'll hold the rope.” Lucky for me they are in the Netherlands.
- Website
- http://www.hype.com/
- Country
- Netherlands
- Sweetener
- Sugar
- Categories
- Energy Drink
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 11/7/2012
- Comments
- View and Leave A Comment
Lucozade Energy Original
I saw this in every rest stop and convenience store that I went to while in the UK. Nothing about it looked appealing to me, so I passed it by every single time (take note that this was before Thirsty Dudes, so I had no contractual obligation to drink it). The label looks childish and not appetizing. As my ladyfriend pointed out something about it is reminiscent of Irn Bru, which I am also not a fan of.
I don’t know where Mike got this from, but when he handed it to me I sighed and said, “Fine I’ll do it.” I really expected this to be bubble gum flavored, which would have been infinitely worse than what it actually tastes like. It really tastes like carbonated sugar water with a little bit of lemon in it. There is that weird Gatorade flavor in there as well. What I expected to be some sort of weird, crazy British energy drink turns out to be a slightly carbonated sports drink. There isn’t even any caffeine in it. All of its “energy” seems to come from sugar and lactose acid. Now I have no idea why athletes would want to drink something carbonated immediately before or after crushing it on the field, but I guess that’s what people do “across the pond.” Man I hate that phrase.
- Website
- http://www.lucozade.com/
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Sweetener
- Glucose Syrup
- Categories
- Energy Drink, Sports/Dietary Supplement
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 10/28/2012
- Comments
- View and Leave A Comment
Speed Energy Fuel
This is an energy drink that is put out/sponsored by NASCAR driver Robby Gordon. Is that even close to a good idea? I feel like driving in a circle at high speeds requires intense concentration. All of the garbage in energy drinks tends to make people jittery or jumpy, at least I know that’s how I get. This doesn’t seem to be a specially formulated drink that helps with concentration like NERD (aka the steroids of NASCAR). It’s the opposite actually. This was the cheapest energy drink the gas station had, and I was expecting the taste to reflect the cost. I was happily wrong and this has a decent citrus taste. It’s reminiscent of the Monster Khaos drink, except this one has no actual juice in it. It has a flavor that I would describe as orange drink and tangerine drink mixed together, but not as thick. There’s something about citrus flavor in energy drinks that helps to block out the chemical flavor in them. I’m very surprised that I liked this as much as I did, and I would drink it again if I found myself in a gas station needing a pick-me-up. Let’s just hope the number of crashes in NASCAR isn’t proportionate to the spike of energy drink use. I know the crashes are probably the only exciting thing about a race, but there are real people in those cars and I don’t want to see anyone getting seriously hurt.
- Website
- http://speedenergy.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Sucrose
- Categories
- Energy Drink
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 10/14/2012
- Comments
- View and Leave A Comment
