When I heard that monster was coming out wit a new flavor, I was really not all that excited.
The Monster line has a long list of flavors, and if you include the coffee drinks and other Hansen’s product you are dealing with well over a dozen drinks. But the one thing that really stood out for me when I saw this drink at energyheaven.blogspot.com was the can finally had some really cache to it. Monster Energy Drink cans were never really known for their design skills. The imported monster not only has a GORGEOUS new design, but has some real package innovation, along with some flavor improvements and ingredients tweaking, making this probably the best Monster to have ever graced our convenience store shelves. If you can’t find any of these yet, just sit tight, as I am sure they are about to explode into every C store, supermarket and pop stand across the nation. A big thanks to Nolan at energy heaven for breaking news of this one.
Packaging:10
I don’t give out many 10s to energy drinks, especially to energy drinks in cans. This one, however, will change the way energy drinks are going to be delivered to us. This energy drink package is a real innovation – a resealable aluminum can as a result of close cooperation between Ball Packaging Europe, The Coca-Cola Company and the Dutch company Bound2B BV. There have been other resealable aluminum energy drink cans, but these can maintain their stackability being so flat, and the mechanism made of recyclable plastic, which is opened by turning the mechanism, and closed by flipping it back.
How can you tell this is imported?
1. it even says it is imported from Finland – and designed in the Netherlands.
2. the can looks about 10 times cooler than the US can.
3. It’s formula is different, so the taste and is unique.
Geoff Bremmer, brand manager of Monster Energy, said in a statement “When we saw this can we knew it would be perfect for Monster as we continue to expand the energy drink category reach with true innovation… it’s packed in this unique ‘One Hand, No Hassle’ resealable can, which will create a new buzz in the energy category.”
Nutrition/Buzz:7
Buzz? do people get buzzes from Monsters anymore? This one has the same caffeine ( I think ) content as the American counterpart, at about 80mg per serving, and there are 2.3 servings in this slightly larger than usual can. One nice thing is that they did away with the high fructose corn syrup in in its place used sugar (like the American version). This also has a bit less calories at the American kind. I did not really get a buzz from this, but I did not slam it either – the only way to get any sort of buzz from a monster.
However, for a caffeinated soda, this stuff is better than most anything else out there. Even though this is a very little better than the original green Monster, I am giving this the same score as its American brother.
Taste: 8
This is more like the old school Monster than the new improved flavor. While it is close to the Monster Green, there are some very subtle differences that I found much more appealing. It lost whatever little energy drink bite the US version has, and tastes more like a lemon berry jello mix than anything else. Really, it is quite good – very impressive for a company that has the advantage of resting on its laurels if it chose to.