Mojave rattler is the lo – carb version of their other flavor, Black Mamba. That automatically makes this one better and tastier than the highly-caloric version, if nothing else because it trades the the evil bad for you high fructose corn syrup with slightly less evil and bad for you sucralose, not to mention they try to make this one taste like blue monster rather than Red Bull.

Packaging:8
“Venom will accelerate Dr Pepper Snapple’s entry into the fast-growing energy drink market by delivering a jolt of energy in new killer packaging,” says Charlotte Dimery, director of marketing for Venom. “Its piercing energy that strikes back in a new resealable bottle delivers something new and functional in the competitive energy landscape.” According to the writing on the package, “Piercing energy that strikes back.” The cans are made of thick aluminum that feels reusable, if not for only holding 16oz. If going on a mountain trek, I could see bringing one of these instead of other red bull clones just because of the insulation and strength of the can compared to the cheap aluminum found in most others. I would have given this packaging a 10 if the artwork and fonts were brought up to the same level of forethought as the metal can and printing.

Taste:6
This was my second offering by Venom, so I was not that surprised that the flavor was nothing that new. While the original venom tastes like Red Bull, this one tastes like Sugar Free Monster. The color was not purple, as it should have been, but the same light yellow of redbull/rockstar/monster/etc… and tasted closely like one too. I do like the Lo=Carb version better than their original flavor though, being less sour and more gummy – sort of the difference between regular (green) and lo-carb (blue) versions of Monster.

Buzz/Nutrition:5
The exciting thing I found in this drink is that sucralose was not their main sweetener in here. Sure it is present, but they used a low carb version of glucose to sweeten things as opposed to loading it up with more artificial sweeteners. They do have sucralose in here, but it is much farther down on the ingredient list. In terms of energy , this was a very average 160mg, or as much is in monster/rockstar/red bull. This was pretty disappointing as I expected a much bigger bite from this as was delivered, not providing much more kick than any other energy drink. There is the usual host of energy drink mix ingredients, from inositol to ginseng to all the vitamin Bs. Get this one for the cool can, not the liquid inside