I realized I've been a little remiss about one common beverage--energy drinks. I've reported on few, but they were usually specialty drinks, or more obscure foreign ones, such as my post on hemp energy drinks on May 18, 2019, or the one on a Malaysian energy drink on May 12, 2018. Plus I did a post on energy chews on July 13, 2019. But aside from posts like these, I haven't really done this topic more completely. So today I'll try to rectify that by discussing some of the most popular energy drinks--Red Bull, Monster, Rockstar, and a less popular one, Reign.
Most people categorize energy drinks as ones that "provide mental and physical stimulation aside from food energy." Usually, common drinks like coffee and tea are excluded, since their energy-producing caffeine is naturally occurring, and not artificially inserted. Also typically excluded are caffeinated soft drinks, since they're not considered healthy (and usually they're not). This wasn't always the case, as both Pepsi and Coca-Cola were billed as energy drinks back in their early days, in the late 1800's and early 1900's. (And Coke's early inclusion of cocaine would certainly give consumers energy, along with a few obvious downsides, obviously!) Other early versions include the U.K.'s Lucozade (invented in 1929), the American Dr. Enuf (developed in 1949), and Japan's Lipovitan (first made in the early 1960's).
Almost all energy drinks have caffeine in them. Other common energizing ingredients include taurine, guarana, yerba mate (see November 29, 2014 post), acai, ginkgo biloba, and ginseng. As it turns out, most of energy drink's claims to increase athletic performance, muscle strength, and endurance are, not surprisingly, unsupported by scientific evidence. Caffeine in safe doses (less than 400 mg. per day for most people) does give consumers added alertness and focus, but the other laudatory claims are apparently made up. And there is evidence that some stimulants in energy drinks can be dangerous, especially in large doses. Too much caffeine, once again, can lead to irritability, insomnia, heart palpitations, and even death. So, to sum up, if you're an average healthy adult you can probably safely quaff an energy drink (or have a cup or two of coffee or tea), but don't fool yourself into thinking that it's some healthy beverage that will improve your well being and turn you into a champion athlete or anything. Furthermore, having energy drinks mixed with alcohol can be potentially dangerous, too, as it prevents people from realizing how drunk they are, since they're artificially wide awake and alert, and feel more sober than they actually are. Meaning they sometimes drink way too much, and suffer alcohol poisoning and occasionally even death.
I went into this in more detail in the previous energy drink/food posts, so I'll keep it brief. I've never been into energy consumables in general, and caffeine specifically. I abhor coffee in any form, and tea in heated form, so they're mostly out. And caffeine doesn't have much of an effect on me. I get my energy from a decent amount of sleep, and regular food and drink. Which helps to explain why I never had some of these very popular drinks until very recently. I did try the notorious caffeinated alcoholic drink Four Loko a few times, but that was more of a dare, to feel like a sort of badass. I was also smart enough not to go overboard with it, so I didn't end up in the hospital or anything.
I'll cut my usual company rundowns a bit shorter this time. Red Bull was developed by Austrian Dietrich Mateschitz in 1987, and currently is the best selling energy drink. The #2 company, Monster Beverage Corporation, started way back in 1935, in the U.S., as Hansen's, and first made fruit juices. Monster itself was invented in 2002. For some information about absurd religious conspiracies, Christine Weick maintains that Monster Beverage is associated with Satan. Rockstar was started in 2001, also in the U.S., by Russ Weiner. Who in turn is the son of controversial talk show host Michael Savage. Some more liberal groups boycott Rockstar because of this connection. Finally, Reign is actually a Monster Beverage product.
1) Reign Total Body Fuel, Razzle Berry flavor: Came in a 16 ounce/473 mL can. Was carbonated, and had a clear color. Decent taste--berry-ish. A little bland, but still alright. Although I'm not sure what a "razzle berry" is. Is that related to the "snozzberries" from "Willy Wonka"?
2) Monster Energy, regular flavor (?) (No flavor mentioned, "M" was green): Also came in a 473 mL/16 ounce can. Was a brown color. Flavor was kind of like vanilla-cola. Not terrible, but not especially good, either. Highly carbonated. So kind of "meh." Not as good as Reign. Didn't finish.
3) Rockstar, Super Sour Green Apple flavor: Also in a 16 ounce/473 mL can. Clear color. Weak taste. Not great, not atrocious. "Meh" again. Lightly carbonated. Sour apple isn't one of my favorite flavors in general. Better than Monster, but definitely behind Reign.
4) Red Bull Energy Drink: Can is 355 mL/12 ounces. Brownish-yellow color, and lightly carbonated. Looks somewhat like apple juice, or beer. Has an odd vanilla-cola like flavor. Remarkably similar to the Monster one. Meaning it wasn't great, and is tied with Monster as being the weakest of the bunch. Over 10 years ago I had a "Jagerbomb," which is Jagermeister mixed with Red Bull. I think I liked that better, which makes sense because I like Jagermeister.
Anyway, since I don't need, or especially like energy drinks, this was probably a one time experiment. But if I see more energy drinks available, and I'm in the mood, I might try some more. If I do, I'll of course update this post.
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