Attack of the Hydrives part 1 - Acai Berry Spring Water

The guys that run this business know what they are doing. The CEO of Snapple Beverages and the President of A&W Brands and the CEO of Yoo-hoo/Orangina are the founders behind the Hydrive brand. They left their respective corporations to give this new beverage company a try, and so far have been doing everything right. From releasing a sports-endurance drink to tackle Gatorade, to a strong vitamin(Water) infused drink, to a straight on caffeinated water, their drinks cover all the caffeinated bases.

 I found it amusing that rather than dealing with extreme sports sponsorship, these guys took an interesting route sponsoring the speed dating site Cupid.com/PreDating, doing an integrated partnership that includes sampling at speed dating events, advertising and sponsorship.

Todays sample is HYDRIVE X, an antioxidant energy drink, which contains 6 powerful antioxidants It is sweet and juicy, and is definitely a more complex and energy filled liquid than it's competitors. Snapple and Vitamin water will have to work pretty hard to compete if Hydrive manages to get this brand into stores nationally. Everything from the flavor to the cool packaging scores higher than the new juice/watered-down-kool-aid waters that seem to be clogging up my drink aisle.

Nutrition:8
First nice thing I noticed is the lack of calories in the drink, which always manages to score more points. There are only 30 calories per 15.5oz resealable bottle, and use fresh spring water, EGCG, Polyphenols, Gingko Biloba, Selenium, Zinc, and Grape Seed Extract. While these do not fall into the same dosage of antioxidant than Acai or Yerba Mate drinks seem to, this is still worthy enough to make you believe you are giving your body something more healthy that berry flavored sugar water. And like all the Hydrive products, a cold bottle completely quenches thirst and powers you, without a big crash-y meltdown.

Taste: 8
My only problem with this flavor is not one the average consumer would really be used to. After having so many drinks, I can taste the individual sweetener in drinks, and the sucralose flavor runs pretty high. There is SO much juice in this drink that I wonder if the added sweetening agent is unnecessary - making it a bit too sweet.
There are tons of juices here and tastes natural enough, except for the sucralose flavor. And if you are used to HFCS in your food anyway, this drink would still seem like juicy manna from the heavens.

Packaging:8
Like vitamin water and the rest in this category, the sealable PET top is nice, and something Vitamin Energy should seriously be concerned about. How many energy drinks pack a a decent punch have resealable tops? Not many, and the ones that do are usually the heavily sugary candylike ones, such as Monsters and Jolts. This special "gripper" style of bottle formulated for Hydrive's drinks is completely proprietary and so hopefully wont be immediately stolen by giant faceless monster corporation ( Coke). The emblem on the front is VERY appealing, and while not my favorite of their packages, this design is still a winner.

Website:http://www.hydriveenergy.com: 7
Pretty basic, but chock full of information; from their press release to a FAQ for those of you who dont know about caffeine and hangovers. I do like their store locator. Unfortunately, there is not a place near me at all that has one. Fortunately, the Hydrive Gods sent me a box of all their flavors to give a try - thank you SO much, as this is one that I had previously only found when visiting back east. Another cool thing about the site is the ability to get free samples from the site too, Well, almost free - you just need to pay for shipping (around 6 bucks for postage and handling). Still, for 2 bucks a bottle it is worth a try.

EdJunkie review
BEVNET review
Energy Drink Ratings Blog
taurine rules
Topics: Energy Waters , Energy Drinks