The King of all Energy Drinks takes on Coke and Pepsi with natural Cola

Red Bull is one of the first energy drinks out there in this country, and certainly the most popular energy drink on the planet. Its flavor is copied a thousand times by most every major manufacturer and is still the leader most beverage companies are trying to compete with.

That is one of the big reasons why I appreciate Red Bull Cola, which shows that even in a company with only two products, they can still innovate and expand their line , not content to sit on its laurels. They made this drink as healthy and complex as a cola can, which has both some positives and negatives. If you are expecting Coke or Pepsi, you are going to be frustrted by this one's lack of High Fructose Corn syrup chemical lab flavor. Instead, you can taste all of this drink's unique ingredients, using everything from cinnamon to Coca leaf. One of the more interesting things this drink can do is sit next to the Guru and Kaboom drinks in your local natural foods market.

My only problem with this cola is that it is not what we have all known and fallen in love with Red Bull for. Red Bull is not all natural, but we don't care. Red Bull is loaded with caffeine, and has the cache and cool to make it one of the most popular drinks there is. Cola drinkers are a very finicky bunch, and I don't think even the mightly Red Bull has the cool to rock the cola drinkers or the buzz for energy drinkers.  I think this is going to go the way of OK cola and Virgin cola and be a great collectors can, because I doubt this will be around next year.

Nutrition/Buzz:8
This thing is missing a good number of ingredients from Red Bull. Gone is the taurine, gone is even the Austrian pedigree, as this drink is not even really made by Red Bull. This is instead made by Swiss company Rauch Trading AG. This is filled with all natural ingredients, and a ton of spices to make this drink taste this way. Couple things that also makes this nice from an energy drink standard is that their caffeine comes from coffee and there was absolutely no crash.
According to edjunkie, this has between 45 and 48 mg of caffeine per 12 oz can. You have 130 calories - so this is about on par with a 12oz can of Coke or RC Cola. While I was hoping more from something from Red Bull, I am content with it as a cola.  The big question is whether consumers will be sometimes double the price for this drink over Coke or Pepsi. I think there will have to be a MAJOR marketing push to make these as hip as regular Red Bull, not to mention as brand sensitive as Coke and Pepsi drinkers to put away their usual flavor.

Taste:9
This is definitely one of the drinks that you either think is absolutely fantastic or like the worst part of an Bull's ass. I fall in the category of amazing - although this is truly hit or miss. I loved how I could taste all the ingredients, from the licorice kola nut, lemon/lime, clove, cinnamon, cardamom, pine, corn mint, vanilla, ginger, mace, cacao, licorice, orange, to the mustard seed. It would be easy to dismiss those who don't like this taste as unwashed rubes who can't give up their cans of chemicals, but that would not be nice. While this drink is no substitute for a can of coke, it is light years tastier than the Blue Sky and Hansens varieties you could find on your Whole Foods shelves.

Packaging: 5
This is a great take on the classic Red Bull can, which I have some real problems with. Like the classic Red Bulls, this one does not list the caffeine or the amounts of the other ingredients. Other than the calories and sodium, it is up to you to find out what is all in here. This can is about as blah as you can get - and like other Red Bulls, is what I judge as an average for all other energy drinks to follow. If energy drinks list ingredients they are better - if they print their fonts course then this they get lower. While not bad, this can is not good either.  It is what was completely expected.

Website:9
Less Rain did a great job on this site, looking great and working well too. It looks like there is not much to the site, but there is a ton of stuff on the backend I was expecting much more of a major corporate site than this, or a much more goofy stupid offensive "gives you wings" animated mess - which makes this treat of a website soo nice to visit. If you like the drink you will love the site.

Edjunkie
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