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01.21.10 by Widge @ 4:48 am  Yes, I know. You're wondering, "Widge, have you lost your mind? This is the Lex Luthor of energy drinks and there you are, sipping away on it without a by-your-leave?" Well, listen. You have to know your enemy. That's all I'm saying. It was with a great deal of curiosity that I snagged a can of this stuff after finally spotting it in the wild. As for what it has going for it, it's sweetened with sucrose and high fructose corn syrup, and comes with 10mg of valerian root extract, 10mg of rose hips extract and 1mg of melatonin. That's supposed to be your anti-guarana, I suppose. Also, there's 100% of B3, B6, B12 and B5. The taste is like grape soda that somebody mixed incorrectly. It's not an altogether pleasing taste. And as for the effects, well, I get my roll slowed by alcohol more than this stuff, honestly. I'm also concerned about the ingredients--one of the reasons I stopped taking valerian/melatonin to try and help with my sleep is that most supplements seem to have too much melatonin in them...and I think that 1mg might still be too much. Granted, I'm not a doctor nor do I play one (at least as far as you need to know about) but if I want to overdo it on something, it'll be a stimulant. That's just my thing. Categorized as: Drinks and Reviews
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01.17.10 by Widge @ 5:24 pm
Categorized as: Drinks
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01.14.10 by Widge @ 3:39 am   I must say that even though we reported this was coming out two and a half years ago...I had forgotten about it completely. Mostly because I never saw it in stores. I assumed it was the energy drink equivalent of vaporware. And hell, there's such a glut of energy drink brands coming and going, I figured maybe it had gotten a limited release and then dropped out of sight. But I actually found it in one convenience store...and then haven't seen it since. The can, if you drink the whole thing (and honestly, who actually uses one of these 16oz. cans as two servings) gives you 200% RDA of your niacin, 500% of B6, 400% of B12. For sugars, it relies on glucose, sucrose and sucralose (my favorite!). Its proprietary blend of stuff contains caffeine, taurine, horny goat weed extract, panax ginseng extract, guarana extract, damiana leaf extract, inositol (more sugary stuff), and schisandra extract. The new one on me is damiana leaf (apparently an aphrodisiac--well, of course). And no idea how much caffeine is actually in this--looking around didn't give me any info, either. After finally cracking it open, I must say that my favorite part of Playboy is still the articles. I got the regular version, not diet of course, and it's got an orange...ish taste to it. In fact, it's the first energy drink I've noticed needs to "breathe." Upon first opening it, it had a taste not unlike...well, you know if you've ever imbibed just the fizziest part of an orange fizzy drink? It was like that. Then it mellows out and eventually tastes like...an orange version of every other energy drink. I must say that the arrangement of sugars has kept me from tasting the sucralose to excess, so I might actually be able to finish this. Categorized as: Drinks and Reviews
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01.02.10 by Widge @ 2:33 pm  So a few months ago I started thinking: all health bits aside, should I be so gung ho about sugar vs. high fructose corn syrup from a taste perspective? I did a blind triangle taste test and surprised myself with the results. One of the things I couldn't do at the time--since back then there wasn't any left to be found--was pit Mountain Dew against Mountain Dew Throwback to see if I could taste the difference. But now, Mountain Dew Throwback is finally back and hit Atlanta the other day. So that very night I sat in front of my webcam and tried it out. And here is what happened: Categorized as: Drinks
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11.11.09 by Widge @ 2:57 am  Spike Hardcore Energy Drink, in the "Orange Cold" variety, is quite possibly one of the most amazing drinks I've ever had the opportunity to try. It is probably the most intense orange drink I've ever tasted--so let me try to explain to you what this experience is like. Imagine that orange drink they used to have (or maybe they still have it, I have no idea) at McDonald's. The one you used to have as a kid. The one you thought was awesome because it was like mainlining orange-flavored sugar. Now imagine that all the regular sweetener they used to have is gone and replaced with sucralose. So there's this intense burst of fake orange flavor that just gets faker and faker as the main taste fades out and the sick sucralose aftertaste is all that's left. It is taking all of my will power for me to take a sip every couple of sentences to make sure I've captured it sufficiently for you. What's sad about the drink is that I'm sure if I could get past the horrible taste, it would be amazing. 350mg of caffeine in a 16oz can. A utterly ludicrous 33,333% of your B12 requirements. So I'm very depressed by the taste. And impressed as well, because normally it's the aftertaste that kills a sucralose drink for me--but here even the initial burst of flavor is bad. I can only assume they've upped the sucralose to cover the caffeine taste that comes with having so much in the can. Oh well. Categorized as: Drinks and Reviews
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