After my bout with Socko, I had a crash that would not dissipate. I just left a 6 year old birthday party, and not only was coming down from a strong caffeine high, but also has a sugar crash from cake and candy, plus a metabolism crash from taking a couple minutes relaxing from laser tag and the foam ball room. I had a car load of kids and presents, and was falling asleep in the parking lot. I needed energy and needed it ASAP!
I crawled us drowsily to the nearest convenience store, hoping for at least a crappy coffee to help me perk up, and there on the half off sale shelf was the strangest drink I have come across. It was a skinny 12oz can, shaped like an energy drink, but neither the big can 16oz size or the roll-of-dollar-coin sized 8ox bottle. and there was this munged up foil top lining the can too – which looked like a mix of a budget energy drink, and a cool new diet drink. Well, I had to get a couple to see what this was all about.
Well, I downed both drinks, and there was enough buzz in them to keep me going until I got home and could let the gaggle loose in the house. And after digging some research, I got good and annoyed at the company, and then at myself.
Seems the reason for the foil top was because they think women are more OCD than men, and the foil was to keep them from needing to wipe the dirt off the top of the can. now I know a few guys who wipe the tops of their drink, but still thought that was a silly idea. Firstly, the drink was implying only women want clean drinks. Secondly, it was the implication that men would not want such a thing. So I went upstairs to talk to my wife, who when I told her of the reason, thought that was a Fabulous idea, but probably pointless, because women would clean the top anyway and only have to deal with peeling off a sticky foil from the top as well. She then asked me, with all my energy drinking, how often I had cleaned off the top, and it occurred to me I never would think of that, while my wife always did, without exception… Oh well, shut me up. onto the review
Nutrition/Buzz:8
Decent buzz – 150 per 12oz can. Don’t think one would have been enough but with 2 I was flying high for a good 4 or 5 hours. It has all the usual EDM in it (energy drink mix) , plus Fresca-like ingredients, such as bromated vegetable oil and sucralose as a sweetener. Taurine Rules states there there is some dubious toxicity in it, however I could not find it…
taste:5
If they were going for a fresca rip-off, they forgot some very important ingredients. This drink was not even a little cinnamon, had no hints of anything refreshing, and mostly is ass in a foil capped can. Just to be sure it was not me, I also offered tastes to my wife, and all my kids, none of whom tasted cinnamon nor even asked for a second sip. Finding this in the dollar bin and then having to choke the rest of this down like a bad medicine was not fun. but sometimes in your life, like a bad case of Old Milwaukee, the effect you get is more important than the drink itself – so I held my nose ( figuratively – I have no sense of smell) and downed it. The buzz is pretty powerful, and I really needed the effects – but much unlike the berry Chic flavor they come out with, this is one nasty drink.
Packaging: 6 for design, 9 for effort
The foil top is an interesting idea – even if the idea behind it got my shackles up, as well as the size of can. 12oz for a single serving is nice, and seems after all these years of 8oz slammers to be back to the right size for a drink serving. I hope more energy drinks take up this size and start 12oz production. Now the Dannon yogurt top is not really a success, for after a little time on the shelves, it gets all banged up and ripped off, or it sticks to the can after opening which completely defeats the purpose of appealing those OCD women who need their fix.
The pic on this page is from DaveBumba.com‘s fantastic energy drink collection. I am now getting into throwing out all my cans after saving them for years – as a way of knowing what ones to try again. I applaud Dave keeping and photographing all those cans. I suggest a trip to his blog for some of the coolest energy drinks you might find.