180 has been out for a very very long time – and one of the first ones to completely glut the refrigerated aisles of your local liquor/convenience stores. This is one of Anheisuer bush’d first attempts at an energy drink, although not their last. And thought there are namy varieties out there to write upon, I thought I would start with the classic 180 – orange flavored brew. Like red bull, this one has certainly had up-and-comers take this on and find versions that are sweeter, tastier, more powerful, more natural, less like juice, filled with rocket fuel, etc… 180 is one of the pioneers of this field of drinks, coming out in 2000 – light years before most other drink companies even concieved of starting their business.
To those of you who have never tried 180, it is like watching Disney cartoons. It might not be the funniest out there, but Ward Kimball, Frank and Ollie, and the rest of the great old animators made a great show that was the standard bearer for all other animations to reach. It you cant at least do as good as a 180, there is no reason to even try to make it with an energy drink.

Taste:6
Like the first ones to hit the market, this one tried to make a name for iteslf, yet not go too far out on a limb. They are doing that now with new 180 products, such as the Blue and Goji varieties. This one was alot like tang or orange soda, with a vitamin C pill popped in for extra nutritional oomph. You can taste the fake in it, from the kool aid orange texture to the HFCS, this one speaks of orange soda loudly.

Buzz:6
90mgs a can is not that spectacular, and not even enough to get a good buzz on without drinking a couple of these in a row and adding up the heavy HFCS caloric intake. The basic line is that unless you have no choice, this is probably not the strongest or healthiest one out there for you.

Packaging:8
fine logo – very cool and classy. If the other drinks out there knew this was the competition, there is absolutely no reason for a can like Bing to ever happen

Website: http://www.180.com/ newest incarnation gets a 9
This website has just about everything you would want in a site. Lots of nutritional info, and product info up front and center. The site also has a bunch of games, downloads etc that you would expect to find in a very nice clean corporate ad site. While this version is bunches better than other incarnations, you could tell that this is built by a major ad agency. It is hip and cool, in a very clean and safe way. The logos and backgrounds all look taken directly from an istockphoto.com illustration. While very very nice, there is something completely antisceptic and stock about the UI.