An oncoming Giant's quick demise - the short sweet life of Xyience.

June 24, 11:45 AMCaffeine ExaminerBig Red Boots  

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Xyience Exenergy blue pom is an overall decent Energy drink- clear and crisp - and very very tart. The berry flavor is very strong and is surprisingly flavorful for a 0 calorie energy drink. They are trying to market this to bodybuilders and endurance nuts - like the rest of thier line, they want to sell to the well buffed Maxim crowd. Their site lists all their products being held by sexy "FHM magazine"-esque models seductively holding supplements, as they push their Extreme Science edge. Problem is that their cans don't really yell out Extreme, Sexy or even High-Tech. Instead, they seem to almost be a cheap Rip-It knock off brand found in discount stores. The attachment to UFC, Spike TV and The Fight Network does not really add any mistique to the can, unlike Hogan Energy does or even Steven Segal's Lightning Bolt , which at least makes you feel like kicking someones ass while you pound the can.

Xyience has been going through some rough times.  Back in January, they reported $42.3 million in liabilities compared with just $5.3 million in assets. Since 2006 they were going strong with  a sponsorship deal with the mixed martial arts league UFC and its popular television show  “The Ultimate Fighter.” But back in November they fired most of their  70-member sales force.  And then BOY did they blow up.  The infighting got ugly, people got very confrontational.

There were even death threats if finances were not paid off and board members were scared of physical violence by the former company CEO, according to bankruptcy papers...

With all this craziness going on with this company, with having such a huge sales staff and such a big operation they would have produced a bigger splash.  The drink was tasty, the endorsements were real and it looked like they were on the right track.  I do like these drinks as a whole, and hope they can pull their act together and keep these on the shelf.  While not the best energy drink around, they are still leagues above most of the highly caloric sodas taking up shelf space.

Buzz/nutrition: 8
They’ve included taurine, glucruonolactone, caffeine, B Vitamins, ginseng, guarana, potassium, inositol, and carnitine. According to energyfiend, it has 200 mg of caffeine per can - which is  pretty good for a no cal beverage.  These are also lightly carbonated and not oversweet, so it is really easy to drink the whole can and get a substantial boost from it.  Also importantly, there is relatively no sugars in here to crash from, so you come down easily without any sleepy side effects.

Packaging: 4
Is this really the best that they can do? This design scrapes the bottom of the barrel along with the new bing design. Come on guys, is this really the best you could do? For an extreme scientific marketing ploy, your cans look like they were designed by the folks at the drink plant.  A UPC symbol does not show how cool you are.  It does not even work - I tried ringing it through the registers to see if anything would happen, but it does not even read.  First rule of energy drinks is design a package that will stick out.  Well, this does, but for completely the wrong reasons.  Not to mention energy fiend had to actually call you to get caffeine  content?? Pretty poor to make someone have to go to the trouble just to get the most important ingredient in the list.  That being said, a big thanks to energyfiend.com staff for making the call.

and what, pray tell, is chinese about this drink?  why the (I'm guessing it is Chinese, I could be wrong) Asian lettering on the top of the can?

Taste: 7
Sucralose is the sweetener, and so it is a bit more sour than it needs to be, but  the trade off is 0 calories, so I can live with it. There is little aftertaste and is overall juicy. I could easily drink a couple a day with barely a pucker.  The drink is quite light and refreshing as well, making it all too easy to finish the 16oz can without even noticing.

Website:3 www.xyience.com
Ugh.  Filled with more hot women, which I don't mind at all in context.  More UPC lines and more Chinese symbols.  My basic problem with the site is it is a husk, a shell of a site.  There is an unused calendar of events, an unused forum and they even could not go to the effort to change the copyright date.  The last bit of news they uploaded was from November of last year.  It is very telling that they can't even get around to updating their site now.  Poor Xyience - I hope others learn from your mistakes.

taurine rules
bevnet
energy fiend
xyience site