Mad Croc is one of those energy drinks that have managed to stand the test of time – being under appreciated as it gets tossed around from C store to C store like an old fruitcake . This started out being a 7-11 hard pushed product, and ended up with them selling them with deep discounts. Now, you can usually find them in discount bin, discount stores and on sale for under a buck. The thing is, while it might have been OK doing that to their old version – which had all sorts of problems, the new incarnation of the product ain’t that bad. While certainly not a stunner, the improvements are vast.
My thanks to friend Keith, who fought the closeout shoppers for the Circuit City sale for the “energy pack” with this gem inside

Taste:7
Old cans of Mad Croc used to be sour and bitter, tasting more like someone tried to imitate Red Bull but did not get the ingredients right. Now, they have sweetened things up quite a lot – tasting like your regular energy drink, only super sweetened to the point it tastes more like a cotton candy or Bubblicious, with that familiar energy trink tart at the finish. I could actually drink more of this stuff – although I think I can actually hear the teeth rotting away in my head as I consume it.

Packaging: 8
This old can was so bad it got sued by Red Bull for infringement. I am glad to see it go – as the new can is particularly cool. There was a poor old open mouthed crocodile in a green and bare metal can – looking like someone had 10 minutes, a amateur crocodile picture and a can of Red Bull to go off of for design. New can is bright and powerful, using yellow and black, not to mention a much scarier and cooler croc in a big starbusrt background. The colors and fonts all work great – easy to read and very fun. If I were a can collector, I would definitely try to get my hands on
this one.
Problems with the can is that every one of them has the lid of the drink facing exactly the wrong direction, and the logo is pretty small, making it difficult for the C-Store workers and distributors
to keep facing the drinks. Also, there is no caffeine content listed, which might make sense if you are still trying to be a Red Bull clone, but not if you are trying to make it on your own.

Nutrition/Buzz:6
80 milligrams of caffeine combined with taurine and a bunch of B-vitamins. There is not much in here that you could get excited about. I do like it that they used Sugar as opposed to High Fructose Corn syrup – not that the preservatives in here keep it all healthy. This is the one area that is the most weak with their drink, This is not bad for using the old standard 8oz can size – about as much energy as Red Bull/Monster/Rockstar/etc… with no real differentiating factors. For being a company with is so clearly trying to prove that they are not just a red bull clone, they should not have copied the same tired energy drink nutrient formula.

Website: 8 madcroc.com
pretty fantastic – the design and the concept worked great to provide both information and brand design, going for an iconographic display rather than a traditional “extreme” marketing campaign. This very savvy site will get you just about all the info you would possibly want to know about the company and its history.