Blue Bear Cola

A potent cola under Spar’s own-brand Blue Bear label. It tastes like a cheap cola but isn’t as bad as others I’ve tried – personally, I’d stick to the normal energy drink flavours but if you’re after something different then give it a go.

Rockstar Punched Guava

This had a very refreshing fruity flavour and was a pleasure to drink, especially on the scorching day on which I did drink it. There was no sickly aftertaste, no artificial chemical taste, just nice and fresh and fruity. Rockstar have managed to get the combination of sweetness and energy blend just right and this drink, along with Rockstar Recovery are among two of my favourites of all time.

Red Bull Sugarfree Shot

This sugar free version of Red Bull’s Energy Shot suffers less from the bitterness problem. It’s still an acquired taste though, but more palatable overall. If you have to choose any particular energy shot to keep in your car for emergencies, this is the one to go for… it acts quickly despite the lack of sugar and doesn’t leave you feeling tired after half-an-hour when the sugar low catches you up.

Monster Energy Shot

You can definitely tell that this is a Monster drink. It has the distinct Monster flavour but concentrated and caramelly (is that a word?). It does sadly suffer from the bitterness associated with energy shots which is a shame, but it does the job of waking you up and that’s what matters most in a shot.

Lucozade Energy Cherry

I was very surprised when I drank this – going by the track record of previous Lucozade Energy products, I expected this one to also involve a subtle flavour. I was very wrong, it’s about as in-your-face cherry flavoured as you can get. It wasn’t a great cherry flavour either – far too strong and sickly. If Lucozade had carried on with their subtle flavouring techniques then this drink may have worked. As usual for Lucozade, high in calories, low in caffeine so sadly low marks all-round.

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!