Thrive is one of a number of drinks trying hard to run a marketing scheme – also called affiliate marketing. Basically, the idea is this. If you get people to buy their energy drink from their cart, they will pay you a percentage for all they buy. So it seems, like a win – win situation – unless you think you will actually make any money. Sure, there is money to be made selling energy drinks, but selling them by your website getting 15% of a 50 dollar order is as get-rich-quick-scheme goofy as they come. They push this by telling you how good the market is – without any word for how hard the industry is to break in, and how hard it is to get people off their usual brands – especially to fork down 50 bucks for something they have never tried before.

SO besides that – how does the drink hold up by itself? Actually, it is pretty damn good. While not blow-you-out-of -the-water amazing, it is a very decent energy drink that looks good and gets you the buzz quickly and strongly. If you live in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas, you might have a better chance of finding this in stores – and worth picking up and giving a try.

Nutrition/Buzz:5
Everything about this drink is fine. Not great, not spectacular, not even above average – just fine. The 220 calories are exactly what you would get from most energy drinks. The sweetener is strong and high fructose corn syrup. There is 2000 mg taurine, glucuronolactone, ginseng, guarana, inositol, and B Vitamins. OOO. They then top it off with slightly less caffeine than Red Bull at 150mg per 16oz can. Why even bother? It tastes better than Red Bull, but not monster or the thousands of other choices. The energy in here is about Red Bull too – just another Me Too hoping to make it rich by copying the big boys.

Taste:7
taste somewhat similar to Red Bull ( big surprise) with the exception that it does not have near the medicinal after taste. I tasted more fruitiness – pears and apples. This reminded me of Socko – only not as overwhelmingly syrupy. I would choose this over Red Bull for flavor, no question. I am not sure, however, that it tastes better than the other top 5 also mimicking Red Bull. Unless there is a significant price difference, this drink’s flavor is not unique enough to separate it from the pack.
Packaging:9
Thrive’s apckage design is WAAY cooler than most others, though. Going for a very wierd font choice, using Fat Broadway-style lettering works well with the cool and flamey red and orange background. Flames on energy drinks are not new. In fact, they are very very old. Thrive manages to pull off unique though, going for the fat cartoony style everything on the can. The printing is top notch, as well as their unique way to use the space given to them. While not double facing, the do manage to put their product at every angle, and when you drink, you show off the logo on front. I also appreciated the caffeine content, as well as all the other ingredients.