Emerge Citrus Mist

I really like this. It’s like a rip-off of Mountain Dew, only smoother in flavour. When I opened the bottle, it make a satisfying ‘tsskk’ sound, and a gentle mist actually started flowing from the opening like an early morning scene in a BBC costume drama. Very dramatic for such a budget drink!

Lucozade Energy Mango Mandarin (The Brazilian)

Too high in sugar, too low in caffeine, and much too tropical for my liking. It’s sharp and tart in flavour, mostly taking its flavour from pineapple from what I can tell. It’s Lucozade’s World Cup 2014 special edition and apparently “it’s like a carnival in your mouth”. Hmm.

Extreme Energy

I was expecting a regular boring clone, but what I got was something very different. I tastes quite medical – like a non-minty mouthwash! Tipping it out in to a glass reveals it is also an unusual colour too – bluey greeny. IT contains more caffeine than most energy drinks too at 40mg/100ml so packs a real punch. I’ve never tasted an energy drink like this so at least those people at the Extreme Sport Channel have licensed something original.

V Sugar Free

Just as I remember the full fat V energy drink, this sugar free one is also on the right side of sweet and sharp. Being a guarana based drink, I am still assuming that this is where the bulk of the flavouring comes from – and as I’m now writing this review having tasted Guarana Antarctica I can say that there are certainly similarities between them.

Relentless Cherry

As it says on the can, it’s refreshing! Sweet and artificial, but tasty, fruity and refreshing. It’s also lower in calories per 100ml than most energy drinks, but it’s certainly not low calorie. I highly recommend this new Relentless flavour for something a bit different and long may it last!

KX Still Red Berry Sugar Free

Very, very watery! I think there’s a reason that most fruity energy drinks are carbonated, and that’s because without those bubbles tingling your nerve endings you just don’t get much flavour out of the drink at all. It’s like a very weak berry flavoured squash. Probably better for drinking if you’re about to do some strenuous exertion of some sorts, but other than that it’s not up to much.

Monster Energy: The Doctor

This drink is intended to honour MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi, whose nickname is apparently “The Doctor”. This is all very confusing to me as the only person who should sport that name owns a TARDIS. Oh well, on with the drink itself. It’s described as citrus flavoured, and I guess that orange is a citrus fruit – I was expecting something a little more on the lemon and lime side of things though! It’s very orangey, but that’s not bad because it’s still quite nice. Even the large quantity of drink you get in this large can doesn’t get too sickly, so they’ve managed the balance just right.

Lucozade Energy Strawberry

It tastes like those foamy strawberry sweets you get, as in, more like sour sugar than actual strawberries. It’s very high in sugar and very low in caffeine so don’t expect it to quench that addiction, but it is perfectly drinkable and certainly different from anything else out there.

Monster Assault

I’m told that this is a standard issue energy drink in the US, but in the UK you can’t get hold of it. I found this in Spain so jumped at the chance of trying it without paying extortionate money to import a can. It’s really good! It tastes like fruit punch with a whole load of caramel in, and possibly a dash of cola in the background somewhere too. Whatever the flavour ingredients are (I don’t know, the can was in Spanish), they clearly work well together. I didn’t get the usual synthetic Monster flavour that is so prominent with this brand in this drink either which is a plus-point in my opinion.

Update 2021-09-23: Obviously since I first reviewed this drink over seven years ago, it has been available in the UK for quite a while. They have now updated the can design too, so I’ve updated the image on this review too. I am also now very certain that this is basically a cola flavoured drink.