Red Bull: Zero Calories
April 9th, 2014There are two things I need to say about this drink. Firstly, it doesn’t really taste like Red Bull, and Secondly it is not zero calories! It’s close, at 1.8 calories/100ml, but that’s not ZERO in my opinion. It tastes sharp and tart, but not like the usual smooth Red Bull flavour in the regular or sugar free varieties. I’d go so far to say that I’d class this as a bad clone if I didn’t know better! They’ve chosen a dark grey colour for the can which looks pretty cool, but to be honest for the difference in calorific value of about 6 calories, you’re much better off going for good old sugar free – it tastes like actual Red Bull for starters!
| Taste: | Originality: | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Strength: | Visitor Ratings: | ||
| Caffeine: | 32mg/100ml |
Tags: France, Low Calorie, UK |
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| Calories: | 1.8kCal/100ml | ||
| Size: | 250ml | ||
| Sold By: | Auchan, Val d'Europe | ||
| Web Site: | Click here | ||
Auchan Energy Drink
December 28th, 2013Bottled by Refresco France for the Auchan chain of supermarkets, this is a clone. It’s bitter and not that nice to be honest – and the fact I could only find it in a litre bottle made the consumption of it even worse. After the first 500ml, I got used to the taste, but you shouldn’t need to do that with a drink! It’s also pretty light on the caffeine front with only 21mg/100ml. Avoid…
Dark Dog Light
June 26th, 2013Breaking the tradition of me preferring the taste of sugar-free versions over their full-fat counterparts, Dark Dog Light tastes exactly the same as ordinary boring Dark Dog. It has the same caramelly taste and no chewy artificial sweetener aftertaste either. The only thing it lacks is the sugar rush and crash. This is my last French energy drink for a while due to low stocks… unless anyone wants to post me some more?? 🙂
| Taste: | Originality: | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Strength: | Visitor Ratings: | ||
| Caffeine: | 25mg/100ml |
Tags: France, Guarana, Low Calorie |
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| Calories: | 5kCal/100ml | ||
| Size: | 250ml | ||
| Sold By: | Carrefour, France | ||
| Web Site: | Click here | ||
Carrefour Taurine Light Force
June 22nd, 2013Is it called Psychik, or is is called Taurine Light Force? I don’t know.. but I do know that this is a very good Red Bull clone. Nice and sweet getting the balance just right especially as this is a supermarket own brand. Sadly though, it’s a supermarket own brand in France so unless you live over that way, you’ll either have to take my word for it or find yourself a French-based contact to send you one.
| Taste: | Originality: | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Strength: | Visitor Ratings: | ||
| Caffeine: | 32mg/100ml |
Tags: Clone, France, Low Calorie |
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| Calories: | 3kCal/100ml | ||
| Size: | 250ml | ||
| Sold By: | Carrefour, France | ||
| Web Site: | |||
Dark Dog
June 15th, 2013This delicacy, also from France but seen in Spain and Germany too, has a distinctive energy drink taste but is not a Red Bull clone at all. It’s a much more earthy taste, quite caramelized but nice nonetheless. Dark Dog is different and successfully so, but it’s not as sickly and sweet as most energy drinks, or as artificial as Monster.
| Taste: | Originality: | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Strength: | Visitor Ratings: | ||
| Caffeine: | 32mg/100ml |
Tags: France, Guarana |
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| Calories: | 52kCal/100ml | ||
| Size: | 250ml | ||
| Sold By: | Carrefour, France | ||
| Web Site: | Click here | ||
Guarana Force
April 17th, 2013I’d never seen this one before at all so was quite keen to sample its French delights. It has a very low caffeine content as energy drinks go, comparable to Mountain Dew Energy in the UK so I wasn’t expecting much of a kick. It is a Red Bull Clone, but on the sweet side and very watered down making it quite a light tasting drink. I’d recommend it as an energy drink for later in the day when you don’t want a full wake-up, but just have a hankering for the taste.
Carrefour Taurine Force
April 10th, 2013Without a doubt this is a Red Bull clone, but instead of taking the usual supermarket tactic of making soured and bitter version, they’ve gone down the Aldi route and made a nice sweet drink. If you happen to be near a French Carrefour hypermarket or supermarket then you can’t go wrong with trying this drink. There’s also a sugarfree version which will probably be published next… The thing is, there’s so many different drink names on the can that I’m not sure what to call it – I’ve settled on Taurine Force as it’s the most prominent label, but the confusion gets more confusing (!?) as you’ll see when I review the diet version.
Burn
April 3rd, 2013Another French energy drink, which I believe I have also seen in Spain, Germany, Italy and Croatia but NOT the UK! It’s really nice and very different so gains points on originality. The colour is bright red and the taste, I think, is raspberry. I say ‘I think’ because I’m not 100% sure – I didn’t get the raspberry breakthrough until I took a sip after munching a double chocolate cookie and suddenly had a chocolate and raspberry moment (those two flavours go together very well FYI and create quite a memorable lasting taste). Wake-up-wise it packs a standard 32mg/100ml caffeine punch plus Guarana so you’ll know you’ve had one. Top marks and I hope they bring it to the UK soon – I’ll post a news article if I hear anything.
| Taste: | Originality: | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Strength: | Visitor Ratings: | ||
| Caffeine: | 32mg/100ml |
Tags: France, Guarana |
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| Calories: | 57.1kCal/100ml | ||
| Size: | 250ml | ||
| Sold By: | Carrefour, France | ||
| Web Site: | Click here | ||
Burn Day
February 18th, 2012Thanks 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.
| Taste: | Originality: | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Strength: | Visitor Ratings: | ||
| Caffeine: | 20mg/100ml |
Tags: France, Guarana |
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| Calories: | 49kCal/100ml | ||
| Size: | 250ml | ||
| Sold By: | Carrefour, France | ||
| Web Site: | Click here | ||
