Amp Energy

March 24th, 2012

Thanks to Americandy in Cardiff and their extortionate prices, I have now sampled an imported can of Amp Energy for the tidy sum of £4.50 per can. Of course, I expected big things for this big price and I was not disappointed. At first I believed it tasted like no other energy drink out there, then I decided it had certain qualities similar to Mountain Dew. It was smooth and not too strong in flavour, yet very, very sweet. And then I noticed the big Mountain Dew logo on the side of the can. It turns out that Amp Energy is a US Energy Drink spin-off brand of Mountain Dew.. basically Mountain Dew with Taurine and bumped up caffeine content. This isn’t a bad thing because it’s really nice, and I hope that Pepsico consider bringing this brand to the UK – it’s very different to anything we have on the market here so I reckon would do very well.

Oh, yes, and the review of this product! Fruity and sugary and smooth and very sweet. A massive buzz from the caffeine and sugar.

Overall Rating:
(4.1/5)
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Caffeine: 29.58mg/100ml Tags:
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Calories: 45.8kCal/100ml
Size: 480ml
Sold By: Americandy, Cardiff
Web Site: Click here

Monster Rehab: Tea + Lemonade + Energy

March 17th, 2012

This drink surprised me: it didn’t have the usual Monster flavour that I was expecting. Being non-carbonated, it shares more in common with some of the Rockstar drinks instead, but is still very nice. It mostly tasted like still lemonade, but did have a note of tea about it even if it was very faint. There’s nothing else out there on the market quite like this, so full marks for originality, but I am a little disappointed that it didn’t jump out as being a Monster Energy drink from the taste.

Overall Rating:
(3.9/5)
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Caffeine: 32mg/100ml Tags:
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Calories: 10kCal/100ml
Size: 500ml
Sold By: Tesco
Web Site: Click here

Rockstar Punched Fruit Punch

March 14th, 2012

Nice at first, but the taste got tiring quickly. In fact, the aftertaste hung around for the rest of the day. It’s not refreshing, but sickly and sweet, and I can’t quite put my finger on what the taste reminded me of.

Overall Rating:
(2.9/5)
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Caffeine: 32mg/100ml Tags:
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Calories: 64kCal/100ml
Size: 500ml
Sold By: Premier Stores, UK
Web Site: Click here

Lucozade Revive – Lemongrass & Ginger

March 10th, 2012

Mmmmm nice. Lemongrass and Ginger flavoured sparkling water according to the label, and it’s like drinking a Chinese takeaway. That’s not as minging as it sounds because the drink is really refreshing and more-ish. At only 50 calories it also fits in to the diet category of drinks too. Sadly though, the wake-up factor is low, with no caffeine content listed on the label leading me to assume it must be very low. The caffeine actually in the product is naturally sourced from coffee beans but wasn’t enough to give me the required hit. Still, a very nice product and well worth a try.

Overall Rating:
(3.4/5)
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Caffeine: 1mg/100ml Tags:
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Calories: 13kCal/100ml
Size: 380ml
Sold By: Sodexho
Web Site: Click here

Power Horse

February 25th, 2012

Ultimately, it is just another Red Bull clone. It gains an extra originality point though for its packaging – still weighing in a 250ml, but in a much stouter can than normal, like a normal soft drink can but shorter instead of tall and thin. For 39p though you can’t really go far wrong, and it tasted very nice with none of the usual bitterness or sour aftertaste associated with cheap energy drinks.

UPDATE: A bit of research on this product has shown that it may actually pre-date Red Bull, and therefore be more original than originally thought (?!) Check out its mention on Wikipedia.

Overall Rating:
(2.5/5)
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Caffeine: 32mg/100ml Tags:
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Calories: 48kCal/100ml
Size: 250ml
Sold By: B&M's, UK
Web Site: Click here

Burn Day

February 18th, 2012

Thanks to a temporary France-based contact (someone went on holiday), you’ll be seeing a few French energy drinks on this site over the next few weeks. Burn Day is the first of them. It contains less caffeine than you’d normally expect, but it brands itself as Energie Rafraichissante. And rafraichissante it is indeed. My first opinion of the taste was lemon and strawberries. Checking the ingredients though reveals carrots and blackcurrants… strange, I still reckon it tastes very strongly of strawberries. It gets top marks for originality and taste because it’s lovely, fruity and different.

Overall Rating:
(3.6/5)
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Caffeine: 20mg/100ml Tags:
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Calories: 49kCal/100ml
Size: 250ml
Sold By: Carrefour, France
Web Site: Click here

Hell Sugarfree

February 11th, 2012

As I expected, an improvement on the regular Hell but sadly still not original. It is a Red Bull clone through and through which is a shame considering the great can design and product image. They could have done so much more.

Overall Rating:
(2.1/5)
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Caffeine: 32mg/100ml Tags:
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Calories: 2kCal/100ml
Size: 250ml
Sold By: Filco
Web Site: Click here

Rip It – Stinger Mo

February 4th, 2012

This is very interesting…. it’s basically what you’d expect from a normal energy drink. But… it’s not a Red Bull clone, it’s a Monster Energy clone! I don’t even have a category for Monster Energy clones because as far as I’m aware this is the first, so I’ll just have to mark it down on originality. Or is it more original because it has copied someone other than Red Bull? That aside it’s a great tasting drink and has all the sweetness and flavour of Monster Energy so if you like that you won’t be disappointed. What’s with the name though? Maybe I’m just too old now and don’t get it, but it would be nice to have a clue as to what the flavour of the drink is going to be written somewhere on the can, and the Stinger Mo name doesn’t give me any clues either.

Overall Rating:
(2.9/5)
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Caffeine: 35.4mg/100ml Tags:
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Calories: 45.8kCal/100ml
Size: 473ml
Sold By: www.americanfizz.co.uk
Web Site: Click here

Blue Bear Light

January 28th, 2012

I’m still not sure what it is about sugar-free energy drinks that makes them taste (usually) considerably better than their lard enducing counterparts, but Blue Bear Light follows the same trend. Spar’s own-brand diet energy drink is a nice little Red Bull clone but sadly a tad overpriced in my opinion.

Overall Rating:
(2.1/5)
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Caffeine: 30mg/100ml Tags:
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Calories: 4kCal/100ml
Size: 250ml
Sold By: Spar
Web Site: