Vimto Energy Zero

Exactly the same as the regular full fat Vimto Energy only low in calories. Honestly, I couldn’t tell the difference, there was no strange aftertaste or ‘chewyness’ that you get sometimes with the sugar free variants. If you have the choice then you might as well go for this zero version.

Vimto Energy

It’s fizzy Vimto but full of caffeine! For the international audience, Vimto is a British soft drink, usually sold as squash (cordial) to be diluted with water. I’ve checked Wikipedia and it turns out it’s also one of the most popular soft drinks in many Arab countries too! Anyway, it’s flavoured with grape, blackcurrant and raspberry, has a slightly medicinal taste to it, but is very refreshing. What they’ve done here is make it fizzy (I’ve never had Vimto carbonated before so that’s a first, I might be using it with the Sodastream now!) and packed it full of caffeine. It’s a good combination, certainly full marks all around and one of the better energy drinks I’ve had in recent years.

Hell Gamer Edition: Coco Split

Coconut. Definitely coconut. The description on the can says that there’s also dragon fruit and tutti-frutti flavouring in there too, and I guess there is a fruity twang to it, but mostly it’s coconut. I don’t find coconut drinks very refreshing personally, but it’s not an offensive flavour! As with the other flavour I tried (Cherry Beam), it’s mostly about the branding on the can, and this particular one is calling itself a PvP flavour. I’m not sure of the relevance of that but, hey, it is what it is!

Hell Gamer Edition: Cherry Beam

Let’s face it, these cans are designed to stand out with their gaming themed labels and branding. Honestly though, the references are lost on me… I’m not sure if Nova is a character in a game I’ve never heard of, or something else. Give me 1990s’ Doom and a bit of Tomb Raider and I’ll know what I’m doing, but all I can tell you about this drink is that underneath the pretty labels it’s a fizzy synthetic cherry flavoured drink. Not bad, but not special really.

Monster Juiced Khaotic

The can blurb proclaims that the original Monster with juice was released in 2005. Now I don’t recall that product around that time, and I certainly haven’t ever reviewed it on this site, so unfortunately I have no baseline to compare this new “lightened up flavour” rebooted version against. What I will say is that it’s overwhelmingly orange and zesty. It definitely tastes like a Monster drink, and the ingredients include apple, orange, peach, tangerine, grape and pineapple juice, but to me the flavour is orange. It’s a really nice orange drink too so if this is a lighter version of the original then that was probably a decent drink too!

Mutant: Red Dawn

I discovered this range of Mutant drinks in a confectionary import shop in Cardiff. I thought at first it was a Monster rip-off, but it turns out it is actually a genuine Monster brand. The drink has been imported from Vietnam, and there’s very little English on the label so it’s quite difficult to make out any information about it from there. However, remembering when I tried a bottle of Mutant a while back, this spin-off brand is Monster’s attempt to get in on the Mountain Dew market. Where the Gold Strike flavour of Mutant was attempting to copy the Mountain Dew White Out, I thought that obviously Red Dawn must be trying to copy Code Red. But, Code Red was a cherry drink, and I couldn’t detect any cherry flavouring in Red Dawn. I think it’s a lot more similar to Monster Assault – a harsh and slightly bitter-sweet flavour. It certainly wasn’t the smooth Mountain-Dew-like experience that I was expecting. Not as nice as Gold Strike, but drinkable never-the-less.

Relentless Passion Punch

The can design is one of the boldest on the shelves and certainly doesn’t put you in mind for the flavour it contains. Passion Punch is mostly tropical, but on the sweet and smooth side of your taste buds. As usual, a 500ml can full of sugar is hard going (think fluffy teeth after drinking this!) but it’s not too sickly.

Big Up Power Fruit Punch

Never underestimate the power to big up yourself. Well, at least that’s what it says on the can. This fruit punch flavoured drink is quite nice actually. Checking out the web site shows that this drink is also available in original and ginger flavours, but I haven’t found them in the shops yet. There marketing also appears to be all about alcohol, with mixer suggestions available for each flavour.

Monster Assault

I’m told that this is a standard issue energy drink in the US, but in the UK you can’t get hold of it. I found this in Spain so jumped at the chance of trying it without paying extortionate money to import a can. It’s really good! It tastes like fruit punch with a whole load of caramel in, and possibly a dash of cola in the background somewhere too. Whatever the flavour ingredients are (I don’t know, the can was in Spanish), they clearly work well together. I didn’t get the usual synthetic Monster flavour that is so prominent with this brand in this drink either which is a plus-point in my opinion.

Update 2021-09-23: Obviously since I first reviewed this drink over seven years ago, it has been available in the UK for quite a while. They have now updated the can design too, so I’ve updated the image on this review too. I am also now very certain that this is basically a cola flavoured drink.