Monster Absolutely Zero

Is it possible to tame the Monster? It turns out it is. Usually, to drink a can of Monster I require a very specific set of conditions. I must be in the mood for the very sweet flavour, the weather must be warm, and I must have a reasonably empty stomach. Well, Absolutely Zero has fixed at least two of those. The sickliness associated with Monster has been smoothed somewhat by the introduction of sweeteners, which means I can cope with it even when I’m not hungry. It still needs to be a warm day though, and the can must be straight out of the fridge! Monster is rarely my favourite energy drink brand, but it’s up with the big boys and Monster Absolutely Zero is probably top of the Monster list right now.

Amp Energy

Thanks to Americandy in Cardiff and their extortionate prices, I have now sampled an imported can of Amp Energy for the tidy sum of £4.50 per can. Of course, I expected big things for this big price and I was not disappointed. At first I believed it tasted like no other energy drink out there, then I decided it had certain qualities similar to Mountain Dew. It was smooth and not too strong in flavour, yet very, very sweet. And then I noticed the big Mountain Dew logo on the side of the can. It turns out that Amp Energy is a US Energy Drink spin-off brand of Mountain Dew.. basically Mountain Dew with Taurine and bumped up caffeine content. This isn’t a bad thing because it’s really nice, and I hope that Pepsico consider bringing this brand to the UK – it’s very different to anything we have on the market here so I reckon would do very well.

Oh, yes, and the review of this product! Fruity and sugary and smooth and very sweet. A massive buzz from the caffeine and sugar.

Monster Rehab: Tea + Lemonade + Energy

This drink surprised me: it didn’t have the usual Monster flavour that I was expecting. Being non-carbonated, it shares more in common with some of the Rockstar drinks instead, but is still very nice. It mostly tasted like still lemonade, but did have a note of tea about it even if it was very faint. There’s nothing else out there on the market quite like this, so full marks for originality, but I am a little disappointed that it didn’t jump out as being a Monster Energy drink from the taste.

Rockstar Punched Fruit Punch

Nice at first, but the taste got tiring quickly. In fact, the aftertaste hung around for the rest of the day. It’s not refreshing, but sickly and sweet, and I can’t quite put my finger on what the taste reminded me of.

Rockstar Sugar Free PerfectBerry

The opinion of people surrounding me whilst I drank this was overwhelmingly about the smell. I didn’t notice that, but taste-wise it was highly perfumed! It was quite a synthetic berry flavour and in keeping with Rockstar tradition, very smooth to drink. The can size was smaller than usual at only 355 ml, and the associated caffeine kick was therefore lessened accordingly.

React

Another big-time contender emerges, sponsoring Reel Big Fish from off-of scateboarding game sound tracks as they tour the US. It is a Red Bull clone, butgets the balance just right and for only 99p for a 500ml can it’s reasonably priced too. The can looks good (even if the logo is trying to be a little ‘Relentless’) and the drink tastes good. Sadly the main web site at time of writing doesn’t appear to house anything other than a logo of brand, so you may want to check out the Facebook page instead: http://www.facebook.com/reactenergy. This brand has potential – I’m keeping my eyes peeled for a sugar free version and I’m hoping they go the way of Crunk and Rip It and start to produce other flavours.

Crunk Citrus

Now, I’m not sure who copied who, but as far as I’m concerned the flavour of this drink is identical to Rockstar Recovery but slightly carbonated. It tastes amazing to me! It’s a little trickier to get hold of in the UK because it has been imported by the reseller, but if you do come across a can then go grab it.

Rockstar Xdurance

I really do like Rockstar Energy Drinks! They’re just so different each time. Whereas with Monster, you get the Monster taste sneaking through in whichever flavour you purchase, with Rockstar they’ve managed to make each one individual. Xdurance very lightly carbonated but not flat, and tastes of blueberries. It’s a very different flavour and I was quite excited to have found it in a tiny newsagents near where I live. It’s jam packed full of caffeine and calories and tastes amazing with added pomegranate and acai for fun. I did at first think it might have been the world’s first counterfit energy drink until I looked it up on Rockstar’s web site, because of a typo on the can (see the image below). “Rockstar Xdurance is Dfsigned to give you…” yes, it’s dfsigned not designed… oh well.

Rockstar Punched Guava

This had a very refreshing fruity flavour and was a pleasure to drink, especially on the scorching day on which I did drink it. There was no sickly aftertaste, no artificial chemical taste, just nice and fresh and fruity. Rockstar have managed to get the combination of sweetness and energy blend just right and this drink, along with Rockstar Recovery are among two of my favourites of all time.