Lucozade Cola

I’m not a big fan of colas, but I was pleasantly surprised. Lucozade’s tactic of watering down the flavours of their products actual pays off in this limited ‘black’ edition cola. It’s a mellow drink, very smooth and sweet, but avoids the pitfall of many cheap colas by not being too sweet and sickly or synthetic tasting. Grab it while you can because it’s only out for a limited time.

Blue Bear

Another own-brand Red Bull clone, this time from Spar. It reminded me of old Tesco Kick, with the sour aftertaste. Other than that it’s a bit none-descript to be honest. I reckon Spar could have done better than this, pretty much just changing the word red to blue, and altering the feature ferocious animal a little isn’t the way to make a new energy drink!

Rip It Shot – Citrus X

Yay! An energy drink brand with lots of different flavours of energy shots instead of the normal boring single flavour in full-fat and sugar-free. Rip It Shots are ALL sugar free, and they’re all based on flavours from the main Rip It line. This flavour sort of tastes like a bitter version of Rip It Citrus X – you can taste the oranges. It’s nice as energy shots go and can be downed without gagging which is good going compared to some energy shots (ahem, Target Urban…)

Crunk

At first I thought the drink to be quite watery, but it grew on me as I worked my way through the large can. This drink is not native to the UK and appears to be imported from the USA by the looks of the ingredients and nutritional information panels. I found it in a local independent supermarket along with three other flavours of the same brand which will all get their 5 minutes of fame on this site in good time.

Flavour wise, it’s very juiced up and fruity, but with no artificial taste to it. The can goes on about ingredients like Horny Goat Weed and so forth (check out the official site for full information on the ‘proprietary blend’) which may add to its potency, but as the can promises to invigorate and arouse me I decided to investigate a little further. It turns out a number of the ingredients are renowned for their aphrodisiac qualities. All I’ll say is you can definitely tell it has a very decent kick of caffeine or something similar because I was wide-awake!

Target Energy Shot – Urban

When I opened the bottle up, I was immediately hit with a nasty smell. It was like someone had farted in the bottle then closed the lid. Then I tasted it and that confirmed my suspicions. I’m pretty sure someone had infused a fart with this drink – it tastes awful. Seriously, go and buy one of these because you need to taste it to believe it! It’s a double strength version of the ‘life’ Target energy shot, and also boasts only 4 calories. Personally I’d have been grateful for an extra few calories just to improve the flavour.

Rockstar Energy Cola

I expected this to taste like a very cheap cola but was pleasantly surprised. It’s quite a mild flavour which means it’s not too sickly at all. I know, it’s a cola and the rules of Fizzy Wake-Up say that colas/cokes etc can’t be reviewed on this site because they don’t officially count as an Energy Drink. Well this one is different because it contains a pumped up amount of caffeine along with guarana and taurine which basically means it’s like a cola blended with an energy drink. As colas go it’s expensive, but as premium energy drinks go it’s reasonably priced. I’m classing this as a one-off purchase as there are better tasting energy drinks and better tasting colas out there.

Rip It – F Bomb

I love this flavour! The front of the can shows a picture of cherries, blueberries, a pineapple, and some other indistinguishable fruits, but the overall flavour that comes through is the cherry. It’s not a natural cherry flavour by any means and is very reminiscent of double-dips in the same way that the Cougar Lifestyle Shot is. The higher than average caffeine content plus the huge can size make this very awakeness inducing and that strength along with my high scores on taste will probably push this drink near the top of the ratings chart for a long time to come.

Red Bull Energy Shot

This reminds me of the Thai drink Kratingdaeng, probably because it’s still and quite strong. There’s a slight bitterness to it not found in normal Red Bull, but this is the same of most energy shots competing in this arena. It wakes you up pretty quick due to its high caffeine content, but given the choice considering the cost of this product I’d rather have an actual can of Red Bull. In fact, I could have easily bought two cans for the cost of this shot and had change left over.

Mountain Dew Supernova

I love Mountain Dew, so it’ll come as no suprise that I like Supernova. This variety is pale pink, as all Mountain Dews need a unique colouring, and tastes of strawberry. It also has melon flavouring but I couldn’t notice that coming through the strawberry. It’s a light and refreshing flavour, perfect for the summer and only available imported from the US as a limited edition so grab it quick!