After over three weeks off from work between holiday vacation time and being sick, I've found that getting up at 6:30am is a lot harder than I remembered. I find myself dragging-ass even after an early morning shower, so I decided to turn to the famed energy drink to help me through the day. The only thing is, there's just so many to choose from. So I bought one of each at the local convenience store and decided to find out which one was the best.
It didn't occur to me until part way through this morning that there was going to be no way at all I'd be able to judge which one "works" the best. They're all loaded with taurine, caffeine, sugar and whatever other "energy" herbs or additives that they've thrown in. I can kind of relate this to a night of drinking -- there's a point where there's not going to be a way to pin down exactly which drink got you drunk.
I really don't know what to do with myself at this point. My legs are shaking and keeping the beat to the bluegrass music playing through my headphones; my brain is going a mile a minute and trips to the little boys room are often.
I'm also aware that I didn't get "all" of the energy drinks that are out there. Everyone and their brothers make an energy drink these days, it's the "in" thing to do. I was only able to buy the ones that the store I stopped at before work today had. That being said, lets get started.
Red Bull: In my opinion, this is the original energy drink, and probably still my favorite. I was introduce to Red Bull a good four or five years ago when my mother worked at a beverage distributor which had Vermont's Red Bull contract. Red Bull's taste isn't the best in the world, I've heard it compared to "someone pissing on a bunch of Sweet Tarts". It's pretty close, but it's also an acquired taste. I don't mind the taste of Red Bull, and it goes great with vodka.
Red Bull also makes a sugar free version of their drink. I've never actually tried it, but I think it's great for those people that can't have sugar. I'd imagine it tastes very similar, with the distinct Nutra-Sweet taste that so many sugar free drinks have.
Amp: This drink is made by the original rocket-fuel maker Mountain Dew. Why they thought Mountain Dew itself wasn't a enough is beyond me, but this stuff follows suit very well. It's in a green and black can, it's colored a nice florescent yellow-green and even has a green taste. If a color could be attributed to a taste -- this drink does it.
This drink contains Maltodextrin -- an ingredient advertised in big letters on the top of the can. It's not something I saw that was apparent in the other drinks, so I did some research. The Maltodextrin Page- "A Must for Every Competitive Race Team". Uh... yeah....
Adrenaline Rush: Made by SoBe, this has to be the most offensive garbage I've ever tasted. I took three or four drinks out of this can and the rest went down the drain. It has a sour taste that almost closed up the back of my throat. Although I'm sure it works well as an energy supplement like it's billed, getting it down to the gut is an issue. Other than the SoBe Lizards on the can, there's nothing cool about this drink.
Piranha: YUM! I must say that besides the good ol' Red Bull this was my absolute favorite drink that I had this morning. Billed as a "Phunky Fruit Punch" (yes, spelled that way!) It tasted much like I expected it to. A good fruit punchy taste with the bite that you'd expect in an energy drink. The can has a neat looking piranha on it. Between the fish on the can and the intentional spelling of phunky with a 'PH' this drink appeals to the hippy inside me. Highly recommended!
Venom: Apparently made by Snapple, I couldn't find a web site devoted to this drink like I was for the rest of them. The link goes to the Snapple website. This drink really wasn't bad, but it really wasn't good either. The taste was a bit sour, but not so offensive where I wasn't able to finish it. It tasted a bit like grapefruit, not my favorite but it passes.
Rockstar Energy Drink "Party Like a Rockstar" it says on the can. I've partied with a few rockstars, and I can assure you this is not on their list of party favors. This stuff gets away from the familiar 8ish ounce energy drink can and doubles the size directly to 16 ounces. The serving size says "8 ounces" on the back, so you're pretty much getting two cans in one. The price is the same as all the other ones, so I guess it's a pretty good deal. The Rockstar energy drink tastes very similar to Red Bull, with it's own subtle nuances that I'm sure makes it unique to the market. Not bad, but I'd still go with Red Bull over this one.
Omega Energy: This stuff tasted very similar to the Venom energy drink. Very fruity with the taste of grapefruit, and apparently passion fruit. This drink comes in a 16 ounce big-can too, so it's more bang for your buck. Advertised on the side of the can is that the drink is "High Fructose Corn Syrup Free", but it does contain crystalline fructose as the second ingredient after carbonated water. I don't know the difference, but does it much matter when there's Taurine, D-Ribose, L-Carnitine, Inositol, and Panax Ginseng in it? Not a bad drink, but I won't buy it again.
So that's that. What did I learn today? Well, besides Red Bull, the only energy drink I'll probably buy again is Piranha, because it was pretty good. In all, I drank 9 servings of energy drink since 8 this morning; it's not even noon yet. This is not something I'll ever do again.
