Killer Buzz made a decent enough mocha drink that I looked forward to seeing what they had in store for me with their new low carb energy drink. I could tell ti was a diet version because it has a blue strip on the top. Blue strips always mean diet, regardless of what food or drink it happens to be. The fact that no food in the natural world is that color of blue means that your eye rejects it as a food-like substance, which is the reason that all diet foods from Weight-watchers to Atkins.
Blue is also reminiscent of the blue Monster energy drink - which is close enough to how this tastes that it works pretty well for a clone drink too. The reason this drink is supposed to be different than Monster is because this contains the same amino acid blend as the Giant Hornet Amino Acid combinations. While it would have been cooler if this actually came from actual Giant Hornets, it is still a pretty clever idea.
Packaging: 8
The look of Killer Buzz is great using the bare aluminum with style. The big block letters and styalized name work well with what it is trying to convey without being over the top. What is a little over the top is their silly paragraph on the side. Where Monster drinks usually have their dumb paragraph about partying in Vegas, Biller Buzz talks about being a Ninja and being an Op so black you could wear it to a funeral. It is silly - but works.
Functionally, this works well - except that they refused to list their caffeine content. It looks very clean and is very pretty. It is clear and minimal, and does a good job calling out that their has the 17 essential amino acids of the hornet. Still, not having the caffeine content printed is a big bummer on an otherwise stellar design.
Taste:7
Seeing as this color and overall look was one borrowed from the Monster line, I was not surprised to fine the usual candy-like Monster/Red Bull flavor of so many other diet energy drinks. There was a bit of tartness from the citric acid in here, and it seemed to be a bit less sweet than than Monster. Instead, it has a lighter flavor which I liked.quite a lot. While I am not sure if the flavor would blow me away enough that I would choose this over all the other energy drinks out there, it is tasty enough that I would not mind going back.
Buzz:6
I was hoping for a big blast of energy from this - and seeing as there was no caffeine listing, I really did not know what to expect. I did know that the 17 amino acids might have made me feel differently about the buzz, and there was the chance this was loaded with tons of caffeine. Unfortunately, it was a rather bland buzz.
The Amino Acid blend really did not do anything for me that I could tell. I did have a decent buzz, but it was not really extraordinary or in any way different than a normal 16 ounce energy drink. The 17 essential GHAAs did not seem to power me more through the day or really have any big effect on me.
That is not to say that I did not like the buzz, as it was a decent blend amounting to about 3 hours of a nice sustained energy boost - like the kind you could find from a Rockstar. My guess is that this has around 200-220mg of caffiene, enough for a nice buzz without going off the charts with no jitter or crash. I did like Killer Buzz Zilch, although it did not really blow me away.
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