Emerge Light

Like its calorific cousin, Emerge Light is another Red Bull clone. Maybe it was the mood I was in at the time, but I preferred this low calorie version to the full fat. Of course, this now means I need to do a side-by-side taste comparison to be totally sure. Sadly though, there still isn’t much to discuss about this drink as it doesn’t stand out at all from amongst the crowd.

Lucozade Energy Orange

Much better! It’s still a very watered down flavour, but the subtle orange masks the underlying fizzy sugared water taste of the original Lucozade nicely. Quite refreshing and pleasant to drink, but lacking the caffeinated kick of a conventional energy drink. I’d suggest this is suitable for drinking later in the day if you need a short-lived pick-me-up which won’t stop you getting to sleep later that evening.

Monster Ripper

I may stand corrected on this one, but I believe that this drink was Monster’s first attempt at making something a bit different. They’ve combined their energy drink formula with apple, passion fruit, pineapple and guava juice to give it a tropical flavour. Regular readers may already be aware that I’m not a big fan of tropical drinks, but this one is much more pleasant. Maybe it’s because they’ve managed to mask any sharpness to the flavour, it really is a very sweet and fizzy tasting drink.

As energy drinks go, this is quite refreshing and unique. There’s no doubt that it is a Monster drink – it still has that distinct Monsterness about it that sets this brand apart from the rest.

Emerge

A nice Red Bull clone with below average caffeine content. This drink has nothing particularly special about it to discuss, hence me padding out this review with this lump of words. It tastes okay and isn’t too expensive – would pass as a good mixer with vodka.

(Update 2012-02-18): Emerge was recently rebranded and the can now looks more like this. (click on the thumbnail for a larger image)

Relentless Devotion (Berry Juiced)

Ribena with a kick. That’s how this drink is best summed up. It’s described as being Apple and Berry flavour and the blackcurrant really stands out. It’s a very potent drink with all the fruit juice giving a powerful sugar rush, and the usual 32mg/100ml caffeine content helps of course.

It’s the first ‘berry’ flavoured drink I’ve tried so far which actually tastes like real fruit and not a synthetic approximation. On that basis it is getting reasonably high marks on originality because it doesn’t taste at all like an energy drink.

V

This drink is a bit different. It appears to take its primary flavour from the guarana berry (although the mysterious ‘flavourings’ ingredient appears in the list also). The taste is quite fruity but neither too sharp or sour striking a good balance. I’m not saying this is one of my favourite drinks, but it is certainly one of the better ‘natural’ flavoured drinks I’ve sampled so far.

The name is an unusual concept too. V for what? Vitamins? Variation? Vitality? No, inVigoration. Oooookay, they’ve even trademarked V… can you trademark a letter?

Red Devil

I was expecting another Red Bull clone from this one, but it’s completely different. The ingredients lists a key component as elderberry concentrate, now this could be the main flavouring but to me it tastes like the blue freeze-pops, or for the slightly older readers, WKD Blue (Devil… WKD… coincidence?). It’s very nice and completely different to other drinks on the market which probably explains why it is so widely available.

Playboy

This was the only can of its type sitting in the fridge. I think it had been found at the back of the stock room because it was battered and scratched to bits. Still, it needed sampling.

It is pretty much as I’d expected – another Red Bull wannabe. The taste is slightly less sweet though, but still nice. I was hopeing for something more original though given the branding! It’s still a nice drink however and deserves a rating in the middle somewhere given the special ingredients of ginseng, guarana and damiana leaf hidden on the back of the can – I’m not sure why they bothered sticking them in only to ignore them completely on the label’s main branding!

Relentless Libertus (Sugar Free)

This is the Sugar Free variety of the Relentless franchise. Instead of just marketing it as a low calorie version they’ve given it its very own name, and for good reason I might add. It isn’t just a de-sugared version of Origin, it is a whole new flavour. The bitterness of Origin is missing, but you can still tell that it is part of the Relentless brand. It tastes slightly watery compared to other energy drinks, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing as this is what stops it being too sickly or too sweet.

The balance is just right in this product and although it’s not the best flavour out there, it manages what I would consider a well deserved middle ground: decent kick, sugar free, no bad aftertaste, and a flavour that should be acceptable to most.