Lipovitan-D
September 1st, 2012The 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!
Lucozade Revive – Cranberry with Acai
August 25th, 2012Possibly 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.
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| Caffeine: | 1mg/100ml |
Tags: Bottle, Cranberry, Low Calorie, UK |
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| Calories: | 13kCal/100ml | ||
| Size: | 380ml | ||
| Sold By: | Tesco | ||
| Web Site: | Click here | ||
Spar Budget Energy Drink
August 18th, 2012Standing out in the shop cooler with its bright green label covered in Spar’s trademark arrow logo, this energy drink had to be purchased – any product brave enough to use the word ‘budget’ in its name must be interesting! It’s a Red Bull clone, so no real surprises there. The taste is watery but sweet like many of the French and German own-brands I’ve tried over the years. It was very nice and left no nasty aftertaste, and it wasn’t bitter at all and at less than 50p per can it won’t feel like you’re being ripped off either. They do say it’s the small details that stand out, and like Red Bull and their ring-pull with a cut-out of a Bull, Spar have also customised their ring-pull with a cut-out of the Spar logo – although I have to say I thought it was a Christmas tree at first.
n-gine
August 3rd, 2012When 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…
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| Caffeine: | 32mg/100ml |
Tags: UK |
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| Calories: | 46kCal/100ml | ||
| Size: | 250ml | ||
| Sold By: | Tesco | ||
| Web Site: | |||
Pink Bolt Zero
July 27th, 2012Do 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.
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| Caffeine: | 30mg/100ml |
Tags: Kiwi, Low Calorie, Strawberry, UK |
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| Calories: | 3.6kCal/100ml | ||
| Size: | 250ml | ||
| Sold By: | Sainsbury's | ||
| Web Site: | |||
Red Alert
July 21st, 2012Not 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.
Blue Bolt Mango and Passion Fruit
July 14th, 2012Tart, sharp and sweet – it’s like a can of fruit juice more than energy drink. The tropical flavour is very strong and makes you draw back the corners of your mouth like you’ve sucked on a slice of lemon. It’s very sugary and I can’t say it’s one of my favourites – I do prefer a more traditional energy drink flavour if I’m honest!
KX Red Berry
July 7th, 2012It doesn’t taste like a normal energy drink, so for those people who don’t usually like energy drinks, this could be for you. It wasn’t for me though. The berry flavour was extremely strong and not to my liking at all. It was like it had been made using a fruit squash mix to be honest, with a large squash to water ratio. If you like your energy drinks, then choose a normal energy drink instead.
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| Caffeine: | 32mg/100ml |
Tags: Berry, Guarana, UK |
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| Calories: | 42kCal/100ml | ||
| Size: | 250ml | ||
| Sold By: | Tesco | ||
| Web Site: | Click here | ||
Nalu
June 30th, 2012Another foreign import, this time thanks to a friend who had visited Belgium. This ‘Fruity Energizer’ claims to have a ‘Reinforced Formula’ and gets its caffeine hit from green coffee beans. Although claiming to be low calorie, I’d really classify it as ‘a bit lower in calories’ because it still packs in almost 20 calories per 100ml.
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| Caffeine: | 32mg/100ml |
Tags: Belgium, Low Calorie |
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| Calories: | 19.8kCal/100ml | ||
| Size: | 250ml | ||
| Sold By: | Belgium | ||
| Web Site: | Click here | ||
