DNA. The Best thing to happen to lemon lime since the advent of "lymon,"

DNA makes a fantastic lemon lime soda. It is comparable to any lemon lime pop, such as sprite, sierra mist or slice - only better. More caffeine, stronger taste - more flavorful and natural lemon lime with all the goodness of soda but with all the added benefit of energy drink supplements. While I am no fan of the high fructose corn syrup, I can completely overlook it in something that is such a good product.

Taste:9
Comes out a bright green - which I actually enjoy. I thought the food coloring was a tad high, but when I have seen so many bright red drinks that stain your insides to caffeinated malt beverages with so much Yellow No.5 to turn your mouth green and even energy drink slurpees that turn your poop green, a little green food dye means nothing.
Actually it can be completely forgiven when you actually taste this drink - as it is a wonderful and rich lemon lime mix - tasting like how sprite tasted when you were a kid. Nevermind the high fructose corn syrup - this one still tastes like one of the best of the lemon lime flavor. There is a little bite and a little Lab flavor left in the aftertaste, but just a hint. Most of the taste is very smooth without being overly stcky or syrupy sweet.

Packaging:6
Like the other energy drinks they have, there is the one flaw in their new drink. The name is fantastic and their printing is fine, but their design is wrong in a very elemental level. The little clear metal can colored figures of people skateboarding or of the guitar are pretty silly, and their DNA logo does not really fit their marketing for either extreme sports or following the DNA strand theme they were going with with the other design. On the back of the can there is a most amazing skull/DNA strand logo that is 100 times cooler and wold really help sell this drink much much more. They list the caffeine content and the other ingredients , which I do appreciate, but the overall design of this one is pretty sorry. I would find the person who came up with the skull/dna strand design and have him redesign your entire can using the 2 color print job, keeping in mind the double facing issue in convenience stores.

Nutrition/Buzz:8
In terms of straight buzz, DNA really does the trick. The 200mg per can of caffeine is a nice decent buzz, but uses high fructose corn syrup to sweeten it. This means you get the sugar rush and crash cycle from it - but the very decent burst of caffeine without doubt gets you moving. The crash is pretty substantial, but the buzz and the taste are worth drowsing through the crash hours later. This one has the regular Energy Drink mix, with B vitamins, niacin and the rest.

Website:8 dnaenergydrink.com
OK - design is left over from a myspace wastebasket, it is big and clunky and hard to navigate. So why an 8? Because you could tell that it is NOT built by a web designer, but just some guy at the company with a little skill with photoshop. If a design house got this job - it would be a 3 - but for someone who obviously was learning how to develop a site on the fly it has a lot going for it. It gives you all the info you need, tons of marketing marerial to help sell you on the fact that they are "Xtreme", even displaying a gallery and working shpopping cart. I say keep this one cranking - dont try to upgrade the look or bring it to a big design firm. Sure it looks ametuer, but that is not only acceptable, but even helps sell the drink more that the site it just so raw.

drink photo thanks to bevnet.com