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12.13.08 by Widge @ 2:00 pm  Happy Boost is a drink that promises support of "Healthy Moods, Energy + Libido." Which makes it an energy drink of sorts, which puts it squarely in our jurisdiction. This even though it actually has no caffeine in it, so no real stimulants except for goji, which is what the company terms as a "Superfruit." Since they're relying on it to be the Boost in this particular drink, it better be. The taste is not bad--it's got pear, pomegranate, cherry, cranberry and prickly pear juices in addition to the goji, plus green tea as well. I can taste a bit of the cherry and pomegranate--and I'm assuming the strange (but not unpleasant) taste is the goji, since there's supposed to be 24,000mg of the stuff in here. It is, after all, 98% juice. As nice a taste as it is, though, does it actually deliver on its promise of supporting the big three up top? Eh. Not really. I received not even the ghost of a blip on my scope--and since we're not dealing with caffeine it's not really a tolerance issue. At the end of the bottle I was just as fatigued as when I started it--and even waiting a while to see if anything "kicked in" didn't work. Here's the other thing that I find a little odd: the drink says, in its explanation of what goji is, that it's "been used for 4,000 years to support positive moods, healthy aging, eye health, healthy energy levels, liver and kidney health, and more." The website says it has "been used in traditional Chinese medicine for over 3,000 years to help support such things as a healthy immune function, healthy moods (known as the "Happy Berry"), libido, energy levels, resistance to fatigue and is most commonly known as an anti-aging "super" food." That's a bit of an odd difference in years, although technically correct: 4000 is over 3000. Categorized as: Drinks and Reviews
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12.06.08 by Widge @ 5:48 am  So Bom Dia, the people who bring you many different pricey but tasty acai drinks (and yes, I know it's really açaí, but you know what I'm saying--and acai is easier to type), now has a couple of flavors designated as "all natural energy." That puts them squarely in our jurisdiction, so here goes. Acai Energy: Transcend is the one in the green and is an "all natural juice blend." And it's 100% juice so that's something. Yes, if you haven't figured out that you need to check the percentage of what's actually juice on the juices you buy, well, now you know. It's got among its ingredients: acai juice, green tea, guarana, apple juice, raspberry juice, "natural flavors," merlot grape juice, taurine, Vitamin C (100% RDA), mangosteen puree, L-Theanine (an amino acid, apparently), and B6 and B12 (300% RDA for each of those), along with 25% RDA of Vitamin K, and something called yumberry juice. Now you know how you see some information about a product and think: okay, you're just making shit up now? Yeah. Yumberries. Seriously? Apparently so. The somewhat reliable Wikipedia lists yumberry as an known alias of Myrica rubra. Which sounds so much like a Lucasian alien bounty hunter name--wasn't that the lizard guy? Anyway. If your name was myrica rubra you'd stick with yumberry too. Although I have this sick desire for yumberries to taste horrible, just for the sheer irony of it. Imagine that lesson when you were a little kid: "Have a yumberry!" "Blech! This tastes like poo!" "Just preparing you for the rest of your life there, Junior." What the hell was I talking about? Oh yes. The drink. Categorized as: Drinks and Reviews
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12.06.08 by Widge @ 3:27 am So I found out too late to put together a post on the day--but yesterday was the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition in the United States. Yes, to our readers outside this country's borders: there was a time in the supposed Land of the Free when we thought it was a great idea to tell people they couldn't consume alcohol. By law. At all. Like this guy: Direct link for the feedreaders. Beware them satanic honky tonks, friends! What a dick. Categorized as: Drinks
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12.02.08 by Widge @ 3:46 pm  The Chinese Democracy saga continues. And is actually more entertaining than the album. So that's something. Anyway, Axl Rose wants an apology from Dr. Pepper, since more people were interested in their free Dr. Pepper than in obtaining the album. Wait, I got confused. They want an apology, in the form of a full-page ad in the New York Times, that Dr. Pepper was unable to deliver on their promise of a free Dr. Pepper for everybody in America because the vast teeming numbers blew out the Dr. Pepper website trying to get theirs. Categorized as: Drinks
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12.02.08 by Widge @ 2:54 am  So I went back and was looking over the original post where I first announced my knowledge of Red Bull's cola creation. And I had said I would review it when I laid hands upon it. Well, I've had a few of these thus far, so let's knock this out. I'm a Widge of my word, after all. Mostly. Kinda. True to their word, it appears the thing is all natural, caffeine taken from coffee beans, no artificial flavors, real sugar, natural flavors from vanilla, mustard seed, lime, kola nut, cacao, licorice, cinnamon, lemon, ginger, coca leaf, orange, corn mint, pine, cardamon, mace, clove and something called galangal. I think I had a cousin once whose galangal went malignant and they had to remove it. Oh, and there's lemon juice concentrate. In the cola, I mean, not in that cousin. I can see now why most colas use artificial flavors--it's probably a helluva lot easier. And cheaper. You can pay some guy off the street to go, "Yup, that's how you get cola--use that cola syrup over there." You've got to pay real money to get somebody good enough to say, "You know what's missing? Pine!" Jaysus. Okay, so here's the good news. The taste isn't bad. Of course, it's not anything that will blow you away. It's a good alternative to Coke, since, for example, they do use real sugar--something Coke isn't bright enough to do in this country regardless of a great free idea somebody gives them. But it doesn't distinguish itself from any other natural cola I've tasted. In fact, when it comes to "alternate colas," I actually like the taste of Fentiman's Curiosity Cola better. Categorized as: Drinks and Reviews
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