ENERGY DRINKS: Best And Worst List
As a filmmaker and author who keeps odd hours, I often find I'm in need of "instant energy." I hate coffee. I hate vitamin pills. What's left that's legal? Energy Drinks! My beverage of choice for waking up early or burning the midnight oil.
But not all energy drinks are created equal. Some taste good, but lack important herbs and vitamins (the stuff besides caffeine that keeps you up). Some taste bad, so who cares what's in it? I'm not gonna drink something that tastes like crap, no matter how many vitamins they cram in it.
Here then, compiled at last from my extensive years of taste-testing just about every brand ever marketed in the western USA. Not all brands are available in all sizes. For short-term boosts that won't keep me awake all night, I prefer 8 oz. cans. However, I usually go with 16 oz. cans; one can lasts me all day.
The curious thing about energy drinks is they take forever to go flat when you leave them out at room temperature, but if you refrigerate opened cans they go flat fast. This is a serious problem with 16 oz. cans, which claim to contain "two servings" yet have no resealable lid, so you're forced to either drink second servings warm or try and time them in the freezer (about 20 minutes will do), which is inconvenient.
As to 24 oz. cans, I tried them only once and got so damn jittery I said, "Never again!" Therefore, I don't recommend them, and certainly don't drink them all at once.
My personal preference is for lots of Vitamin B6 and B12 and NO high fructose corn syrup. Regular Red Bull, Monster and the various "Diet" or Sugar-Free Energy Drinks are, to the best of my knowledge, the only ones not to have high fructose corn syrup. Check the labels.
BEST TASTING ENERGY DRINKS
(As always, check the can's label for "nutrition facts")
#1 SOBE ADRENALINE (pleasant, fizzy peach, tasty)
#2 BERRY FLAVOR WIRED (fruity, fizzy, tasty)
#3 PHUNKY FRUIT PUNCH SUGAR-FREE PIRAHNA (with Splenda)
( Note that Piranha has only caffeine in it, no herbs or vitamins, and sometimes upsets my stomach like coffee)
#4 SOBE NO FEAR (watered-down berry, not tasty like Sobe Adrenaline)
#5 ROCK STAR COLA (not bad as far as colas go but hardly delicious)
#6 ROCK STAR (unidentifiable flavor, definitely an acquired taste)
#7 DIET ROCK STAR (not much different tasting than the regular)
#8 RED BULL (tastes like carbonated cough syrup; an acquired taste)
WORST TASTING ENERGY DRINKS
(As always, check the can's label for "nutrition facts")
#1 DARK DOG (horrifying liquid chocolate, disgusting!)
(I'm not even sure they make this stuff anymore; it was imported from Austria)
#2 SUGAR-FREE RED BULL (tastes like a child's chemistry set)
#3 SHARK (I think they make this nasty stuff in Thailand)
#4 LIGHTNING (cloying, sickly sweet strawberry)
#5 WIRED/DIET WIRED (tastes like gritty, liquid chalk)
#6 MONSTER (Any Flavor, they all taste bad to me--like they might be healthy, LOL)
As with anything based on personal opinion, YMMV ("your mileage may vary"). A video editor friend of mine, for example, loves to drink MONSTER. If you know of any other energy drinks you think deserve to be added to my best or worst list above, post your thoughts here. Maybe I'll try them. But I tend to stick with Diet Rock Star because it comes in the 16 oz. size I like along with the vitamins and herbs that I want, it's sugar-free so I don't get fat, and (most importantly) I can get it for 75 cents a can (per case of 24) at Costco. It's normally $2-2.50 per can everywhere else!
You can usually find good deals on 16 oz. energy drinks ($1 each or less!) at Dollar Tree and other discount stores; however, these are rarely the "good" name brands. Another possble source for cheap energy drinks is in Asian markets... unfortunately, while often bargain-priced, most taste awful, have stupid names and come in weird sized cans.
UPDATE (9/30/08): I've cut out drinking energy drinks except in emergencies, LOL. Now I stick to 5-Hour Energy (no jittery crash, lasts a LOT longer than others) or Hi-Ball brand, which has no sugar at all (not even that sucralose fake sugar crap). As for energy the rest of the time, I changed my diet and now I have all the energy I need most days... and I sleep better, too!
P.S.: My lawyer said to tell you that I am not a nutritional therapist, medical doctor or anybody else who knows anything about any potential health risks of consuming energy drinks, particularly on a daily basis. I'm just giving you my personal experience as to which ones taste the best and worst and/or work for me. Always follow the warnings on the labels and consult your physician before use, yada-yada-yada. In other words, if you get sick or drop dead, that's your fault!
But not all energy drinks are created equal. Some taste good, but lack important herbs and vitamins (the stuff besides caffeine that keeps you up). Some taste bad, so who cares what's in it? I'm not gonna drink something that tastes like crap, no matter how many vitamins they cram in it.
Here then, compiled at last from my extensive years of taste-testing just about every brand ever marketed in the western USA. Not all brands are available in all sizes. For short-term boosts that won't keep me awake all night, I prefer 8 oz. cans. However, I usually go with 16 oz. cans; one can lasts me all day.
The curious thing about energy drinks is they take forever to go flat when you leave them out at room temperature, but if you refrigerate opened cans they go flat fast. This is a serious problem with 16 oz. cans, which claim to contain "two servings" yet have no resealable lid, so you're forced to either drink second servings warm or try and time them in the freezer (about 20 minutes will do), which is inconvenient.
As to 24 oz. cans, I tried them only once and got so damn jittery I said, "Never again!" Therefore, I don't recommend them, and certainly don't drink them all at once.
My personal preference is for lots of Vitamin B6 and B12 and NO high fructose corn syrup. Regular Red Bull, Monster and the various "Diet" or Sugar-Free Energy Drinks are, to the best of my knowledge, the only ones not to have high fructose corn syrup. Check the labels.
BEST TASTING ENERGY DRINKS
(As always, check the can's label for "nutrition facts")
#1 SOBE ADRENALINE (pleasant, fizzy peach, tasty)
#2 BERRY FLAVOR WIRED (fruity, fizzy, tasty)
#3 PHUNKY FRUIT PUNCH SUGAR-FREE PIRAHNA (with Splenda)
( Note that Piranha has only caffeine in it, no herbs or vitamins, and sometimes upsets my stomach like coffee)
#4 SOBE NO FEAR (watered-down berry, not tasty like Sobe Adrenaline)
#5 ROCK STAR COLA (not bad as far as colas go but hardly delicious)
#6 ROCK STAR (unidentifiable flavor, definitely an acquired taste)
#7 DIET ROCK STAR (not much different tasting than the regular)
#8 RED BULL (tastes like carbonated cough syrup; an acquired taste)
WORST TASTING ENERGY DRINKS
(As always, check the can's label for "nutrition facts")
#1 DARK DOG (horrifying liquid chocolate, disgusting!)
(I'm not even sure they make this stuff anymore; it was imported from Austria)
#2 SUGAR-FREE RED BULL (tastes like a child's chemistry set)
#3 SHARK (I think they make this nasty stuff in Thailand)
#4 LIGHTNING (cloying, sickly sweet strawberry)
#5 WIRED/DIET WIRED (tastes like gritty, liquid chalk)
#6 MONSTER (Any Flavor, they all taste bad to me--like they might be healthy, LOL)
As with anything based on personal opinion, YMMV ("your mileage may vary"). A video editor friend of mine, for example, loves to drink MONSTER. If you know of any other energy drinks you think deserve to be added to my best or worst list above, post your thoughts here. Maybe I'll try them. But I tend to stick with Diet Rock Star because it comes in the 16 oz. size I like along with the vitamins and herbs that I want, it's sugar-free so I don't get fat, and (most importantly) I can get it for 75 cents a can (per case of 24) at Costco. It's normally $2-2.50 per can everywhere else!
You can usually find good deals on 16 oz. energy drinks ($1 each or less!) at Dollar Tree and other discount stores; however, these are rarely the "good" name brands. Another possble source for cheap energy drinks is in Asian markets... unfortunately, while often bargain-priced, most taste awful, have stupid names and come in weird sized cans.
UPDATE (9/30/08): I've cut out drinking energy drinks except in emergencies, LOL. Now I stick to 5-Hour Energy (no jittery crash, lasts a LOT longer than others) or Hi-Ball brand, which has no sugar at all (not even that sucralose fake sugar crap). As for energy the rest of the time, I changed my diet and now I have all the energy I need most days... and I sleep better, too!
P.S.: My lawyer said to tell you that I am not a nutritional therapist, medical doctor or anybody else who knows anything about any potential health risks of consuming energy drinks, particularly on a daily basis. I'm just giving you my personal experience as to which ones taste the best and worst and/or work for me. Always follow the warnings on the labels and consult your physician before use, yada-yada-yada. In other words, if you get sick or drop dead, that's your fault!
posted by Todd Tjersland at 3:01 AM
1 Comments:
Great list dude, I personally on my behalf would like to add one more BEST TASTING ENERGY DRINKS, i.e bHIP Energy Drink. Taste it and share your experience.
Post a Comment
<< Home