Luchadores are taking over! Gladiator Mistico wipes the floor with Full Throttle

This is one of the more interesting drinks I found from Mexico - Complete with luchidor mask - Gladiator energy comes from the coca cola family for select US locations and all across Mexico. I tried both flavors I could come across - Furia Azul and Rudeza citrica adorned with classic wrestling masks.
Furia Azul was today's choice - and what a great choice this is! Leagues above Full Throttle, tasting just like a watermelon jolly rancher, only with looks to flying la mistica you out of your seat!  Mexican  company Grupo Continentaltook over all the production, sales and distribution of this most high - flying energy drink.

"It's a drink designed for people extremely active, as the slogan says, is "energy for the daily struggle ." "We know that there are millions of our people in Mexico who work hard and they need a lot of energy to carry out their work, they seek products that achieve this at a reasonable price. For them we created Gladiator, "said Selman Careaga, Director of New Beverages from Coca-Cola of Mexico."We wanted to link with Gladiator wrestling as one of the forms of entertainment most important in Mexican culture, historically there have been large numbers of fighters who have become part of our memory, because in essence all waged a struggle every time we go out into the street, "added Gonzalez Lugo,Sales and Marketing Manager .

Packaging:9
On the front design of this package is the infamous Mystic Warrior "Mistico". Wrestling Observer voted Místico the 2006 "Performer of the Year", "Biggest Box Office Draw", and "Best Flying Wrestler" in their "Year-End Awards". In 2006, Místico was the biggest wrestling star in Mexico, period. To fit him with an energy drink seems an obvious choice. Complete with a small bio of Mistico on the side, the fonts and lettering perfectly match the look and feel they are going for, making one hell of a collectible can. They also do a great job of listing everything, from caffeine content to phone numbers and websites. They even double label it so it can be seen easily from bad placement in the refrigerated coolers in convenience stores. This is a sure winner from a company I would not expect. I wish they would take the same care with their full throttle line.

Nutrition:4
While I can not be certain, according to the label this is sweetened with plain old sugar, which would explain the syrupiness and sugar energy rush. Without a doubt, this flavor is WAY better than Full throttle, the closest thing most of us can come to these drinks. The caffeine in these dfrinks is noticeable, but not too powerful. While they list it in the can, they also use a very odd way of determining how much caffeine listing it as 0.030%. With a little calculation in a 473ml can, that puts this drink as having about 140ish milligrams of caffeine - which is not amazing and actually less than a Red Bull. Overall this drink is pretty heavy in calories and sugar, which does not really make me want to leap off my couch and perform Tiger Feint Kicks...

Taste:8
I absolutely love this flavor - wishing they brought it to the US. This is a great watermelon candy flavor, competing with Boo Koo for a sweet gummy dessert treat drink. Wile I cant see knocking these cans back on a regular basis, this flavor is a tasty alternative to the sour and bitter of so many energy drinks. If you are fortunate enough to find a can of this, it is worth getting one for the originality of the can and flavor.

Website:7
Goofy, but pretty unique. Overall, I like the design like an old mexican poster. The overall functionality of the site is pretty lacking though, allowing you a little tiny bit on the drink, a little tiny bit of the wrestler and a voting place for your favorite luchidor. While the code holding the flash movie is nice, the site could have used more extensive product information, as well as either losing a bit of the irreverance of using wrestlers, or going into it whole hog with pictures, downloads of wrestling moves, etc...