Krating Daeng

September 22nd, 2012

This is the original Red Bull. I won’t dish out a history lesson here, so check out the wiki page for that. I’ll just tell you that it’s a non-carbonated syrupy tasting version of Red Bull. Personally, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I enjoy Red Bull, but the actual kick you get from this drink is amazing and unrivalled. I’m not sure what they put in this exactly, but a small bottle was enough to send me flying for quite a number of hours. It’s been going for a long time, and was inspired itself by Lipovitan. You can get hold of it across Asia, or in Asian supermarkets here in the UK. To all energy drink connoisseurs, make the effort to try this one!

Overall Rating:
(3.6/5)
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Caffeine: 32mg/100ml Tags:
Calories: 46kCal/100ml
Size: 150ml
Sold By: Thai Supermarket
Web Site: Click here

Aspire – Cranberry

September 15th, 2012

We have a new contender for the worst tasting energy drink! To be fair though, it isn’t branding itself as tasting nice, but it does claim to burn 200 calories for every can you drink… really, it reckons it will help you lose weight. The can contains 12.5 calories, so I guess overall you’d be 187.5 calories down after drinking this. That’s if you can stomach it through to the end. The drink is bitter, and I’m talking about pint-of-bitter bitter, there’s something very earthy and real-ale tasting about the drink. Maybe that’s what unsweetened cranberries taste like? Anyway, it’s sold in health stores and premium supermarkets in the weight loss sections so keep your eyes out for it in case of a doughnut craving. That way you can cancel the doughnut out by drinking one of these, I’m sure that’s how it works…

Overall Rating:
(2.4/5)
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Caffeine: 30mg/100ml Tags:
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Calories: 5kCal/100ml
Size: 250ml
Sold By: Holland and Barrett
Web Site: Click here

Black Energy

September 8th, 2012

This appears to be a re-branding of a drink I tried a while back called Black Tiger. I have to say, on revisiting it, I’m enjoying it more than I did last time. But forget about the taste on this drink – it’s clearly about the branding. It’s a Polish drink endorsed by none other than Mike Tyson and has the slogan “Black Power!” emblazoned all over it too. It looks like we’ve discovered the secret of Mike’s success.

Overall Rating:
(2.1/5)
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Caffeine: 32mg/100ml Tags:
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Calories: 46kCal/100ml
Size: 250ml
Sold By: Tesco
Web Site: Click here

Lipovitan-D

September 1st, 2012

The grand-daddy of energy drinks! Lipovitan can apparently lay claim to being the inspiration behind a Thai drink known as Krating Daeng, which in turn is the predecessor of a little known drink called Red Bull. Lipovitan is bright yellow in colour and sold in a small 100ml brown medicine bottle. It tastes very synthetic, almost like the grape flavoured energy drinks popular in the US. It’s non-carbonated, and although high in caffeine per 100ml, it’s overall caffeine content per bottle is about half that of a standard can of Red Bull. It’s unique and works. If you can get hold of this, you have to try it!

Overall Rating:
(3.6/5)
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Caffeine: 50.1mg/100ml Tags:
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Calories: ? It's in Thai!kCal/100ml
Size: 100ml
Sold By: Thai Supermarket
Web Site:

Lucozade Revive – Cranberry with Acai

August 25th, 2012

Possibly one of the strongest flavoured Lucozade drinks I’ve ever tasted. The cranberry was quite powerful, although that is to be judged by Lucozade standards. Once again there is no mention of the caffeine strength on the bottle so I’ve had to make it up. I think it’s quite low as there wasn’t much of a hit. The cranberry made the drink a bit too sickly to be refreshing and therefore this is definitely not my favourite of the new Revive range.

Overall Rating:
(2.1/5)
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Caffeine: 1mg/100ml Tags:
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Calories: 13kCal/100ml
Size: 380ml
Sold By: Tesco
Web Site: Click here

Mountain Dew Sugar Free

August 11th, 2012

Finally, the great flavour of Mountain Dew, without the calories that go with it. Sadly, this is a low calorie version of the UK version of Mountain Dew (dubbed Mountain Dew Energy), but nevertheless it’s nice and refreshing on a hot day. The flavour is identical to Mountain Dew Energy – I couldn’t even tell that they’d used sweeteners instead of sugar, so the flavours they added must be pretty potent.

Overall Rating:
(3.5/5)
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Caffeine: 19mg/100ml Tags:
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Calories: 0.6kCal/100ml
Size: 440ml
Sold By: Hillend, Llangennith
Web Site: Click here

n-gine

August 3rd, 2012

When I opened the can I initially thought, uh-oh, another Red Bull clone. But, once I’d tasted it I changed my mind. Yes, there’s a definite whiff of the expected energy drink flavour to it, but it’s more sour and metallic than expected. It’s trying to be different, even if it doesn’t taste brilliant – but having said that it’s a lot better than many other drinks I’ve tried. It was only 25p after all…

Overall Rating:
(2.5/5)
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Caffeine: 32mg/100ml Tags:
Calories: 46kCal/100ml
Size: 250ml
Sold By: Tesco
Web Site:

Pink Bolt Zero

July 27th, 2012

Do you see what they did there? They took ‘Blue’ and replaced it with ‘Pink’ cuz it’s a pink drink, so funny, the marketing department at Sainsbury’s must’ve been in stitches over that for hours… <end of sarcasm>. As a drink though, it’s rather bland. There’s a nice taste of strawberry and kiwi in there somewhere, but it’s so watered down that you don’t get enough of the flavour coming through. That said, it’s refreshing and light.

Overall Rating:
(2.8/5)
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Caffeine: 30mg/100ml Tags:
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Calories: 3.6kCal/100ml
Size: 250ml
Sold By: Sainsbury's
Web Site:

Red Alert

July 21st, 2012

Not too sweet or watery or sour or bitter… just right! It’s a shame it’s another Red Bull clone because the balance of flavour is ideal. I purchased Red Alert from my local shop, and looking at the can it seems to have been produced for Booker’s cash and carry therefore I am assuming this is their own brand product. Looking at the can however you’d be forgiven if you assumed this was a premium brand and the taste lives up to the assumption. Overall, a great product but still not as good value as either the Euro Shopper, Aldi or Lidl drinks.

Overall Rating:
(2.5/5)
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Caffeine: 32mg/100ml Tags:
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Calories: 46kCal/100ml
Size: 250ml
Sold By: Premier Stores, UK
Web Site: