Mountain Dew - Dewmocracy

While not exactly an Energy Drink per se, I have heard several arguments pertaining to Mountain Dew either being the original energy drink, or one of the driving factors for the creation of the energy category. Either way, I thought I would spread the news on the latest Dewmocracy campaign to choose the next Mountain Dew Flavor.

The campaign actually dates back to 2007, when the results of the Democracy voting gave us Voltage. The next round of Dewmocracy took place in 2009 where fans were not only asked to pick the newest member of Dew, but also to pick the names as well as the advertising campaigns. The campaign proved to be hugely successful, which leads us to the 2010 Dewmocracy campaign where we see three new flavors pitted against each other.

The three new flavors are:
1) Mountain Dew Typhoon - Dew flavor with a twist of tropical flavor
2) Mountain Dew Distortion - Dew with a blast of lime flavoring
3) Mountain Dew White Out - Dew with a smooth citrus flavor


All three of these flavors were created from start to finish by consumers and are available on store shelves from now until June 14th. If you would like to learn more about how the three final flavors came about and how consumers decided on everything from the names, flavors, colors, label designs and even television ads you can visit: www.dewmocracymediahub.com.

Or you can go directly to voting for your favorite flavor. The official voting site is Dewmocracy.com or you can go directly to Voting.... and don't forget to vote for which new flavor you would like to see released as a diet flavor.

I know I have my favorite, but I won't let my vast influence hamper the campaign

Advocare Spark Energy Drink Review

Cost:Varies
Cost Per Ounce:NA
Active Ingredients:Caffeine, Taurine, b-vitamins
Taste Rating:7.8
Kick Rating:7.7
Final Judgment Rating:7.7
Energy Drink Ratings Explained

Advocare Spark Energy Drink Review:
Today I will be reviewing the Advocare Spark Energy Drink...not to be confused with the alcoholic energy drink Sparks. The two in fact are complete opposites as today's review comes from a pretty well known health and wellness company that has hundreds of other products and is designed to give you a mental boost as well as long lasting energy. Which, I guess if you argued correctly the alcoholic Sparks might do as well... Anyways, Advocare Spark comes in packet form (15grams) and can be purchased on the Advocare site or through one of the many independent business associates. Anyways, let's check out the taste and kick.

Buy AdvoCare Spark Energy Drink

Advocare Spark Energy Drink Review: Taste
So you have normal Energy Drinks, Energy Shots as well as mints, gums, candies, etc... But you also have on the go packets which seem to be an increasingly popular form of delivering energy... and this is exactly the form Advocare Spark comes in. Albeit it a quite large packet. Regardless the flavor is citrus based which has a pretty noticeable orange flavoring. Directions say to use 8 ounces of water, but previous experience with packet based energy drinks like this made me use almost 12 ounces to dilute the taste a little bit. Overall, as far as a packet based drink, I have to say Advocare did a great job... probably one of the better tasting MLM type drinks on the market. Taste Rating - 7.8

Advocare Spark Energy Drink Review: Kick
In past experiences with "business opportunity" based drinks, I have found the kick pretty much lackluster. But upon perusing the energy drink ingredient list of Advocare Sparks, I was pretty impressed as there is 120 milligrams of caffeine, 200 milligrams of taurine and a bunch of b-vitamins coupled with several other ingredients. No, 120 milligrams is not a ton of caffeine, it is actually a little below what seems to be the industry average, but overall the kick was refreshing. Definitely not a bounce off the walls jittery feeling, but enough to get me through the afternoon lull. Kick Rating - 7.7

Advocare Spark Energy Drink Review: Final Judgment
Overall not a bad drink, especially when you consider the price tag which hovers around $1.00 per pouch. Final Judgment - 7.7

Buy AdvoCare Spark Energy Drink

ABB Speed Stack Pumped N.O Energy Drink Review

Cost: $2.99 (cheaper in bulk)
Cost Per Ounce:$0.14
Active Ingredients:Caffeine, Taurine, Arginine and Glycerol
Taste Rating:7.5
Kick Rating:9.7
Final Judgment Rating:9.2
Energy Drink Ratings Explained

ABB Speed Stack Pumped N.O. Energy Drink Review:
So everyonce in awhile I get to review a Hardcore Energy Drink that is not for your everyday activities. They are meant for those hardcore athletes and gym rats to take it to the next level. Well today I will be reviewing one of the ABB Energy Drinks that is focused on just that... the hardcore athlete. ABB Speed Stack Pumped N.O. (Nitric Oxide) comes in a 22 ounce plastic bottle and two flavors Grape and Fruit Punch. These bad boys are manufactured by American Bodybuilding Products. The complete lineup (as of right now) of ABB Energy Drinks include: Speed Stack (original), Ripped Force, Diet Turbo Tea, Adrenalyn Shot and Speed Shot Intensity. They are all high performance energy drinks... What else would you expect from ABB? Anyways, enough fluff and onto the review.

American Body Building (ABB) Speed Stack Pumped NO Fruit Punch 20 x 22 Oz

ABB Speed Stack Pumped N.O. Energy Drink Review: Taste
So first off I would like to distinguish the taste of these hardcore drinks from your everyday energy drinks. They are more based on performance and are really not for the casual enthusiast. That being said, both the grape and fruit punch flavors have a medicinal aftertaste. By no means is it hard to drink, it is actually very well put together for a hardcore drink, it just does not have as smooth a taste as most people would be used to. Anyways, when I consume a hardcore drink to get that extra pump at the gym I want to know what I drink is working... And so far, the entire lineup of ABB Energy Drinks have not disappointed in the kick category. Taste Rating - 7.5

ABB Speed Stack Pumped N.O. Energy Drink Review: Kick
The kick category for this drink carries more weight than the taste category. That being said, how did the Speed Stack Pumped N.O. perform at the gym? Well I followed the directions and drank 1/2 the bottle prior to exercising. And let me tell you the rush was intense and I was hitting the weights in no time. The Nitric Oxide version of this drink also contains arginine and glycerol which is where you get that pumped up feeling from... 30 Minutes into my training session I was still feeling quite pumped... Nonetheless I decided to drink the other half of the bottle to see what would happen. All I have to say is WOW. Definitely one of the strongest energy drinks I have had. Probably not "the" strongest, but it definitely ranks high on my list. So what's all in this bad boy? Well the drink itself (22 ounces) contains 300 milligrams of caffeine, 500 milligrams of taurine as well as arginine and glycerol for extra pump. So yeah, it is chalked full of energy. Now since I decided to drink the whole bottle I offset it by drinking a ton of water throughout my hour and a half workout. I would have to say that I consumed roughly 40-60 ounces of water in that time period... Which coincidentally led to two bathroom breaks. Even after the grueling workout, I was pumped and ready to keep rocking. Unfortunately, this was an after work gym session, so the energy carried on late into the night. Next time I use an ABB Energy Drink I think I will use it during my morning session. Kick Rating - 9.7

ABB Speed Stack Pumped N.O. Energy Drink Review: Final Judgment
POWERFUL kick and a better than average taste for a drink of this caliber. If you are looking for that supplement to get you to the next level you may want to give this one a try. The energy I received was immense! Just remember, there is a lot of caffeine in here, so drink lots of water and consult your doctor when using for intense training. The suggested retail of these is about $2.99 each, or you can buy in bulk for around $55 for 20 bottles. However, right now Amazon has a special for $28.60 for 20 bottles bringing the cost down to less than $1.50 each, which to me seems like a sweet deal. Final Judgment - 9.2

Rockstar Recovery Energy Drink Review

Cost: $2.00
Cost Per Ounce:$0.13
Active Ingredients:Caffeine, Taurine, B-Vitamins, Electrolytes
Taste Rating:9.3
Kick Rating:8.5
Final Judgment Rating:9.0
Energy Drink Ratings Explained

Rockstar Recovery Energy Drink Review:
So it really has been a looong time since I have reviewed a Rockstar Energy Drink... not because they haven't had anything new, but usually I prefer to review energy drinks that are not quite mainstream. However, last time I was at the gas station checking out the new offerings, I couldn't resist the bright yellow 16 ounce Rockstar Recovery drink. This new drink is touted as being a recovery drink... mainly offering energy and hydration which basically means high caffeine and some electrolytes. Now I am not sure what Rockstar meant by "recovery"??? Was it from physical activity or a hangover? So not knowing I decided to test its effects on a class A hangover... Meaning happy hour until bar close. Yeah I haven't pulled one of these class "a" benders in quite some time so this energy/recovery drink definitely has its work cut out for it... Enough fluff and onto the review.

Rockstar Recovery Energy Drink Review: Taste
So the 16 ounce can is bright yellow with a black pop top... But it tastes nothing like the Rockstar drinks you are probably familiar with. Recovery is non-carbonated and has a very smooth lemonade taste. I should emphasize the "very" part as it really is smooth and has NO medicinal aftertaste at all. This drink (in terms of taste) and IMHO (which is never wrong) is far above the rest of Rockstar's offerings. Now taste may be subjective, but pretty much everyone can enjoy a nice crisp refreshing lemonade at some point. And that's exactly what I did. Taste Rating - 9.3

Rockstar Recovery Energy Drink Review: Kick
So by far my favorite tasting Rockstar... but will Rockstar Recovery give me energy and help with a hangover? Well they did combine my two favorite things... caffeine and electrolytes (you know those things found in sports drinks) and they did a pretty good job of it as well. The claims of "high caffeine" on the can are not 100% accurate as there is 160 milligrams in the entire can which makes it pretty much standard in that category. However the other energy ingredients like taurine, ginseng and b-vitamins combined with the recovery aspects of electrolytes (potassium) definitely did the trick of helping me function the next day after my binder. Now I was far from jumping off the walls but I could function and my eyes were not fighting to roll back into my head like normally after a bender. Kick Rating - 8.5

Rockstar Recovery Energy Drink Review: Final Judgment
Great taste and average kick. Combined with electrolytes I think this new offering is pretty solid. I don't think Rockstar was looking to blow people away with caffeine content here, they were looking to combine two solid beverages... energy drinks and sports drinks... And I think they did a pretty good job of doing it. I would for sure recommend grabbing one of these bad boys out of the cooler when you see one at a c-store. Final Judgment - 9.0