Sparks - the Alcoholic Energy Drink that started it all

Sparks has been around a long, long time. This was the first on the scene here in the US, before Bud tried with B to the E , before Tilt - this was the original Alcopop. It started out as part of the the McKenzie River Corporation, the same ones behind such High School favorites St. Ides and Steel Reserve. McKenzie got big attention when they got sued by the state of New York in 1992 for stating in their radio commercials that the product would increase "male virility and sexual prowess." Of course, they also got in trouble for basically calling themselves an energy drink, which seems to be against the Alcohol , Tobacco and Firearms code. According to their release, it seems energy drinks are not allowed to have a stimulating or energizing effect! sorry - but what the?!? It has lots of taurine and caffeine but you are not allowed to tell people it will give you the effects of those drugs.

This sparks I am drinking is the first of 3 lines they came out with - now bought and sold through Miller - maybe sold just to get out of all their legal troubles... Being the first of anything means you have to bre given some slack. This drink was a pioneer, a true original in the field - the only way to get drunk and buzzed without pre-mixing. And sure, it tastes like sweet lemon extract - oily and greasy, yes puckery like a glass of unsweetended tang - but you only have a can or 2 to get your drunk on, and it is better off than chuging the sixer of PBR.

Buzz/Nutrition:6
There is a caffeine buzz in here, but you need to drink the entire can to feel it. According to their website, each can has 87mgs of caffeine. There is 24 oz of fluid in a can, so that really does not amount to much (that's a little less than what you would find in a can of diet coke). The only thing this can do is give you a real buzz and a real drunk if you can down 5 of these babies in a night. There is taurine, ginseng and the usual EDM, But all that is to get you to the gimmick - drunk and with energy rather than without. Only big problem is the 350 calories per can(!!) which is about 200 too many for a night's worth of partying, especially if you drink a couple of these at a time. You would be better off either Jager Bombs or my new favorite, a Guru-Kazi. ( Guru Sugar Free, triple sec and vodka - yum!)

Taste: 6

Some people get off on the sugary fakiness of Sparks. I think it tastes like  artificial  oranges and lemon extract. It also has an oily flavor to it, like they used bromated vegetable oil. You can definitely taste the food color ( which also might be the oiliness I taste). just because it is the first, does not mean it is now the best - having now been trumped by Rize and even their own Sparks Plus.  The food dye is one of the selling points of the drink - where regular drinkers get "sparks mouth", where they drink so much that it stains their teeth and tongue yellow.

Packaging:8
The packaging is the best part of the drink. The gimmick of the alcohol works with the battery acid flavor and the battery can. The orange drink works with the orange top. This is a very well planned out drink design , and you can definitely see the appeal growing for this drink out of the cleverly crafted marketing and advertising. You can also see the consumer affairs department's hand in the New and Improved  cans, covered with government warnings, big "This contains alcohol - so don't sell this to young hooligans!" warnings all over the side. Very amusing and a very good start for Alcopops in general.


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Topics: Energy Alcohol Drink