SoBe Pure Rush Appleberry

After the last SoBe Pure Rush being a bit of a disappointment, I wasn’t expecting much. I was very pleasantly surprised! It was lovely, tasting a bit like strawberries. Finally a natural(ish) energy drink which I really enjoyed. It didn’t taste of Apples, as per the name, but was sweet, smooth and fruity with a ton of caffeine and funky sounding natural ingredients.

Powerade Energy Berry

Basically it’s blackberry and orange flavoured, and that’s all I can say. It’s not great tasting – imagine drinking carbonated fruit squash and you’ll be getting close. Caffeine content is quite high and it’s a reasonably decent sized serving so you get the kick it promises. As a sports drink however it is quite sickly and I can’t recommend it. Having tried their non-caffeinated Powerade products, these energy versions are a bit disappointing. Stick to the regular Powerade drinks if you want hydration during exercise, and if that’s not enough have a caffeinated energy shot too. Not only will that taste better overall, but it’ll be more useful to your training – I find that carbonated drinks give me stomach cramps when I run.

Rockstar Recovery

It’s not fizzy, but it does indeed wake you up. This drink is like no other energy drink. It tastes amazing in my opinion – like traditional lemonade. There’s none of the Rockstar flavouring from their other drinks. It’s non-carbonated and very sweet, and it goes down really easy. Full marks for originality and taste here, plus with it being a large can I’m sure it’ll hold a place near the top of the overall score chart for a long time.

LSV Sugar Free

Compared to normal LSV, this drink was far smoother and much easier to drink. If you are faced with the choice between the two and prefer taste over the sugar-high then go for this one. Other than that, the drink is pretty much identical in aroma and aftertaste.

Powerade Energy Orange

Imagine a Vitamin C tablet, one of those chewable ones that you only eat when you have a cold. That’s the type of orange flavour that this drink has. It’s considerably stronger in flavour and caffeine than its rival, Lucozade, and personally I don’t think it tastes as good, but it does of course wake you up much more!

LSV

Another bargain basement Red Bull clone. One swig of this drink made me clench my teeth together and inhale sharply. It was quite abrasive to the throat at first but I soon got used to it. Yup, the taste is a little on the sharp side. Having said that, there are a lot worse out there and this one is placed somewhere in the middle.

Asda Blue Charge Diet Cranberry

A bit too strange for my liking. It had the same background flavour as Asda’s normal Blue Charge but with a very faint taste of cranberry and coloured slightly red. I assume this has been designed as a mixer, and I could imagine this going down well with a bit of Vodka in, but sadly not on its own merit. It is diet (I couldn’t find a non-diet version of this on the shelves) so that will probably appeal to people after a low-calorie energy drink with a difference, and at a nice low price (tapping rear trouser pocket / wearing hard-hat to avoid falling prices, etc…).

No Fear

Forget about the drink for a minute, check out the can. It’s resealable! This has got to be one of the greatest inventions so far of the 21st century. It’s pretty watertight and can withstand being held upside down and shaken with ease.

“Have No Fear, Show No Fear”, that’s what it says on the can. I can’t say for certain that I felt no fear after drinking this, mainly because I’m not sure I was in a suitable scenario which would test the aforementioned fear-resistance-boosting properties, but what I can say is that it tasted very nice. It’s a Red Bull Clone, but a very syrupy-sweet one that is easy on the way down. No nasty after-tastes, no bitter or sour flavourings, just a pleasant and sweet pick-me-up.

Asda Blue Charge

Asda’s own brand of energy drink is an obvious Red Bull clone, but where it differs from most is its lacking of the sour taste usually associated with these imitation products. Blue Charge tastes quite fruity by comparison and even manages a similar smoothness as Red Bull. The ingredients list specific vegetable concentrates of Apple, Carrot and Hibiscus. I’m assuming it is this concentrated mixture that gives Blue Charge its key flavour, which sadly isn’t that nice! The smoothness of the flavour and not necessarily the flavour itself is what contributes significantly to the Red Bull experience and I’m confident that Asda are aware that they are capable of producing a direct clone of Red Bull and have adjusted their final product slightly to avoid lawsuits because this drink tastes like a deliberate attempt to change the flavour subtly. Sadly though, it’s a very smooth drink with nasty taste.