Rip It – Lime Wrecker

I had been looking forward to this flavour, saving it for a special moment. I was a little disappointed. That isn’t to say that this isn’t a nice drink because it really is, but I was expecting something a little more refreshing whereas Lime Wrecker tastes more like someone has poured lime cordial in to lemonade. It was good, but not as I’d expected. It did wake me up quickly though given the high caffeine and sugar content but for me it was a little on the sickly side. If you don’t appreciate food colourings then this may be the Rip It for you – it was almost clear with only a very faint green tint to it.

Monster Absolutely Zero

Is it possible to tame the Monster? It turns out it is. Usually, to drink a can of Monster I require a very specific set of conditions. I must be in the mood for the very sweet flavour, the weather must be warm, and I must have a reasonably empty stomach. Well, Absolutely Zero has fixed at least two of those. The sickliness associated with Monster has been smoothed somewhat by the introduction of sweeteners, which means I can cope with it even when I’m not hungry. It still needs to be a warm day though, and the can must be straight out of the fridge! Monster is rarely my favourite energy drink brand, but it’s up with the big boys and Monster Absolutely Zero is probably top of the Monster list right now.

Monster Rehab: Tea + Lemonade + Energy

This drink surprised me: it didn’t have the usual Monster flavour that I was expecting. Being non-carbonated, it shares more in common with some of the Rockstar drinks instead, but is still very nice. It mostly tasted like still lemonade, but did have a note of tea about it even if it was very faint. There’s nothing else out there on the market quite like this, so full marks for originality, but I am a little disappointed that it didn’t jump out as being a Monster Energy drink from the taste.

Rockstar Punched Fruit Punch

Nice at first, but the taste got tiring quickly. In fact, the aftertaste hung around for the rest of the day. It’s not refreshing, but sickly and sweet, and I can’t quite put my finger on what the taste reminded me of.

Lucozade Revive – Lemongrass & Ginger

Mmmmm nice. Lemongrass and Ginger flavoured sparkling water according to the label, and it’s like drinking a Chinese takeaway. That’s not as minging as it sounds because the drink is really refreshing and more-ish. At only 50 calories it also fits in to the diet category of drinks too. Sadly though, the wake-up factor is low, with no caffeine content listed on the label leading me to assume it must be very low. The caffeine actually in the product is naturally sourced from coffee beans but wasn’t enough to give me the required hit. Still, a very nice product and well worth a try.

Power Horse

Ultimately, it is just another Red Bull clone. It gains an extra originality point though for its packaging – still weighing in a 250ml, but in a much stouter can than normal, like a normal soft drink can but shorter instead of tall and thin. For 39p though you can’t really go far wrong, and it tasted very nice with none of the usual bitterness or sour aftertaste associated with cheap energy drinks.

UPDATE: A bit of research on this product has shown that it may actually pre-date Red Bull, and therefore be more original than originally thought (?!) Check out its mention on Wikipedia.

Hell Sugarfree

As I expected, an improvement on the regular Hell but sadly still not original. It is a Red Bull clone through and through which is a shame considering the great can design and product image. They could have done so much more.

Rip It – Stinger Mo

This is very interesting…. it’s basically what you’d expect from a normal energy drink. But… it’s not a Red Bull clone, it’s a Monster Energy clone! I don’t even have a category for Monster Energy clones because as far as I’m aware this is the first, so I’ll just have to mark it down on originality. Or is it more original because it has copied someone other than Red Bull? That aside it’s a great tasting drink and has all the sweetness and flavour of Monster Energy so if you like that you won’t be disappointed. What’s with the name though? Maybe I’m just too old now and don’t get it, but it would be nice to have a clue as to what the flavour of the drink is going to be written somewhere on the can, and the Stinger Mo name doesn’t give me any clues either.

Blue Bear Light

I’m still not sure what it is about sugar-free energy drinks that makes them taste (usually) considerably better than their lard enducing counterparts, but Blue Bear Light follows the same trend. Spar’s own-brand diet energy drink is a nice little Red Bull clone but sadly a tad overpriced in my opinion.