Power Booster Sugar Free

Much better (yes, I know I’m biased to sugar free drinks) than the full fat version, but not only due to the sweeteners. It appears to have a different taste to the sugary version –  slightly more sour but not too much. It’s still a Red Bull clone, and a cheap tasting one at that so probably not worth hunting down if you’re in to that.

Go Splash: Energy Lightning Red

This is an unusual product. It’s a concentrated product which you add to water. The bottle contains 48ml of ‘energy squash’, and you are supposed to add 0.8ml of product to every 100ml of water, so per 100ml you only get 20mg of caffeine. But, the bottle has enough juice in it to supply 6 litres of water with caffeinated goodness – that’s 24 cans of Red Bull in a liquid comparison, or about 16 cans if comparing caffeine content. In other words, be careful to water it down enough or you could end up with serious jitters.

In reality though, what you end up with is quite a watery tasting drink. I experimented with different concentrations but you’re never really too sure how much to put in. The directions say 1 squirt per 200ml, but how big is a squirt? I ended up with about 3 medium squirts in 200ml of water just to get a drink that didn’t taste like manky water, but even at that concentration it tasted more like watered down flat generic energy drink. A good idea, but needs more work.

Here’s a tip – don’t use water! I made an acceptable drink by squirting a decent amount in to a glass first, then pouring in Sprite afterwards to make a fizzy and sweet mix-up. Much better than mixing it with water.

Vanilla Gold

My initial opinion of this drink, after taking one swig, is that vanilla should never, under any circumstances, be allowed near an energy drink. However, after a few minutes the acidic tang wore down slightly, and the vanilla aftertaste was quite nice. It was like a cheap vanilla icecream at the back of your throat. I probably won’t try this drink again, but it’s worth a go for something very different!

She

Low calorie, in a pink can, and peach flavoured. It’s aimed clearly at women, with a share of profits going to the She Charity funding projects supporting women and children. Sadly, I don’t think they’ll sell many cans unless they tweak the flavour slightly – the peach really didn’t work for me and I found it far too sharp. On the plus side it does contain things like ginseng and aloe vera… lovely.

Rip It – G-Force Sugar Free

Again, credit to Rip It for making their sugar-free and regular varieties of drinks taste the same. No chewy feeling from the sweeteners at all in this drink making it just as pleasant as the regular G-Force. Other than that, identical to it if a little lower in the caffeine department.

Rip It – Citrus X Sugar Free

As with the full-fat version, I wasn’t too impressed with this drink. The sharp orange taste is just too overpowering. There are many other flavours in the Rip It range, so spend your money on those instead.

Rip It – Power Sugar Free

I was a little disappointed I have to say. Whereas most energy drinks in my opinion taste better in their sugar-free versions, Rip It have made their full-fat versions so nice that the sugar-free ones fail to equal the taste. It was nice, but not as nice as the normal version so I’d suggest you go for that one instead. Aside from that, it’s the same unique flavour as Rip It Power which you can’t get anywhere else.

Rip It Shot – Red Zone

I like strawberry drinks, and a strawberry energy shot therefore should be ideal. Unfortunately the usual bitterness you get from energy shots was present and not masked by the strawberry flavouring which was itself a little bit on the weak side. However, the flavour wasn’t all bad and it left no long-term aftertaste, and most importantly IT’S SUGAR FREE! The drink has been coloured a bright pink so don’t let it spill on anything, but that is in tune with the Rip It range. Given the background flavouring of strawberries I’m no very much looking forward to trying its big brother Red Zone – after trying Citrus X normal and shot, the full-szied can proved to be considerably tastier.

Dark Dog Light

Breaking the tradition of me preferring the taste of sugar-free versions over their full-fat counterparts, Dark Dog Light tastes exactly the same as ordinary boring Dark Dog. It has the same caramelly taste and no chewy artificial sweetener aftertaste either. The only thing it lacks is the sugar rush and crash. This is my last French energy drink for a while due to low stocks… unless anyone wants to post me some more?? 🙂