It seems Alcoholic energy drinks (premixed) are on the chopping block this time. I know the FDA thinks they are on a mission to save human kind and all, but this measure seems a little silly to me.

Alcohol/ Energy drink hybrids were born out of the already popular Red Bull mixed drinks. Companies just decided to premix what was being highly demanded in clubs and bars. On energy fiend we’ve already covered this debate on how caffeine allows people to drink more, but I would argue people have always done a good job of drinking more with or without caffeine.

Besides, people can still order a Red Bull and Vodka at the club or still mix the two at home, so the only thing this will eliminate is convenience. America is becoming such a nanny state who seems to focus on these petty issues when a blind eye is turned to the real problems facing American society.

The whole controversy stems over the fact that teens are consuming these hybrid energy drinks……. So call me crazy, but shouldn’t the focus be on how these teens are getting alcoholic energy drinks in the first place? Once again punishing all of society for the irresponsible actions of a few.

I’ve created this piece to underwrite every future anti energy drink I review.  To help you understand why all of my encounters with anti energy drinks sound confused and scattered.  It’s not me writing with bias against a product that undermines what I love in normal energy drinks.  It’s me taxed with a genuinely difficult task.  Here’s why:

With energy drinks, it’s easy to keep an eye out for any alterations to your reality, no?  A powerful energy drink does a lot of things that one can’t deny feeling.  Eagerness, twitchy movements, a feeling of pressure in the head, alertness.  These are all things that you know to look for, and where, with little experience needed.  As a reviewer of energy drinks, this skill set is paramount to my job.  Being able to second-guess and identify effects that an energy drink attempts to bring to the table.

Now what about anti energy drinks like Drank which are formulated to relax you?  Can you give me a standardized applied definition of relaxation?  It’s not easy.  What am I looking for?  How do I qualify it?

These drinks are meant to relieve stress.  Whereas energy drinks relieve something as relatively simple as fatigue, these drinks seek to relieve a mental state which can be caused by a deeply confusing collection of circumstances.  How far does the stress relief reach – to that time I was bullied in elementary school?  Or just to today’s bad day at work?

These anti energy drinks are meant to improve focus.  On what?  Whatever’s in my foveal field of vision?  Or would it be on the whole project I’m currently dabbling in?

I have no idea what to look for when I consume anti-energy drinks.  Sure, I have a general idea of what the drinks are meant to do, but where do I look to break down how well the drink performs?  I need points to grasp onto and analyze.

As it is right now, I just wait and listen for something unique.  Sometimes I’ll pick up on something, but even then I often don’t know what I noticed.  These are not effects that barge into your reality.  These are effects that are meant slither in undetected and pull you along with them.

How can I be sure the anti energy drink caused them and not the comfy chair I’ve been in?

So, there you go, that’s really all I had to say.  Consider yourself none the wiser with 5 minutes of your life wasted.  You can thank me later.

Written by Dusty Smith

This has opened the door for the marketing of Healthy Energy Drinks which are supposed to have no negative effects or actually improve the health of the consumer.

However, in this market segment scams abound and the Healthy Energy Drink Market has turned into a multi-level marketing (pyramid scheme) mecca.

These marketers then come to the comment boards here at energy fiend and try to peddle their business with statements such as “The First Healthy Energy Drink” or “Healthy, All Natural Energy” along with many other descriptions of how some new drink has changed their life. You know the drill if you’ve ever stayed up late and have been forced to watch infomercials. So here’s a list of some those so called healthy energy drinks

Multi-level Marketing Healthy Energy Drinks

• Eniva Vibe
• efusion
• Verve
• ACT
• XS Energy – Amway
• Mona-Vie
• Crave
• Jen Fe
• Hiro

These drinks are usually crammed with exotic juices or herbs and guarantees, but some can be quite expensive and the only way to get these miracle potions cheaper is to sign up as an independent distributor of these “healthy energy drinks”.  Be careful, their  sales tactics are quite powerful and MLMs have lured the best of us in at times. If it’s too good to be true, it is!

Mainstream Healthy or “Natural”  Energy Drinks

• Guru
• FRS- uses affiliate type marketing, but not MLM.
• Steaz
• Adina
• Amazon Energy
• Naked Juice Energy Smoothie

At energy fiend we would be the first to admit that most energy drinks aren’t healthy per say, but we support the notion of moderation. I think the majority of energy drink fans aren’t drinking them for the health aspect anyway. If you want to learn more about energy drink ingredients or energy drink ingredient side affects, well, we have that covered too.

The important thing is education on drinking energy drinks responsibly as well as being able to recognize a healthy energy drink scam when you see it. The only people that are getting rich selling healthy energy drinks are those at the very top of the pyramid I’m afraid.

On display we have Neuro Drinks, and they’re here to blast apart your tiring expectations. Here are the stars of this main attraction:

• NeuroBliss (mood enhancement)
• NeuroSporti (fitness enhancement)
• NeuroSonic (mental performance)
• NeuroSleep (sleep enhancement)
• NeuroTrim (weight loss support)
• NeuroGasm (“body” performance – I added the quotes lol)

They may feature the same surnames, but make no mistake they are completely unique of each other.

Taste

Flawless.  Everyone one of them, utterly flawless.  Beyond the tastes just being straight-up satisfying, they simply make sense according to what each drink is meant to do.

• NeuroBliss: Lightly carbonated grapefruit juice.  Pretty dense flavor, but perked up by the carbonation.  Tastes like happy!
• NeuroSporti: Uncarbonated lemon-lime.  Incredibly open and refreshing, exactly what you’d want while/after working out.
• NeuroSonic: Stronger carbonation, quite fruity to the point of being unidentifiable.  Tastes like brain power.
• NeuroSleep: Soft and smooth mango, uncarbonated.  Almost soothing.
• NeuroTrim: No carbonation, and a prominent yet fleeting taste of something that grows on a tree.  Comes and goes without a need for commitment.

Ingredients

Water.

Ok fine I’ll list the major ingredients, I just don’t feel like it.  This is the boring part of my job, and Neuro drinks have the most complicated ingredients collection there is.  Try and keep up:

• NeuroBliss: Acetyl-L Carnitine, L-Phenylanaline, S-Hydroxytryptophan, L-Theanine, Eleutherococcus senticosus, Rhodiola rosea, and Gingko biloba
• NeuroSporti: Calcium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Zino, Slenium, Copper, Manganese, Chromum, Molybdenum, Chloride, Sodium, and Potassium.
• NeuroSonic: Taurine, Glucuronclactone, Acetyl-L Carnitine, L-Phenylalanine, Caffeine, L-Theanine, Alpha GPC, Inositol, Eluetherococcus senticocus, and reservatrol
• NeuroSleep: Magnesium Glycinate, L-Theanine, 5-Hydroxytryptophan, and Melatonin
• NeuroTrim: LuraLean, L-Carnatine, Caffeine, Gymnema Sylvestre, Resveratol, and Grean tea extract

Effect

Prepare for shock and awe.

• NeuroBliss: Much to my veracious enjoyment, NeuroBliss shoves you into an impenetrable euphoria for about three blissful hours.  Forget companionship.  No need for fulfilling a religion.  Surpass wellbeing.  If happiness is what you seek, it’s anxiously waiting for you in a bottle.  And this bottle of happiness won’t leave you with a hangover.  I’m very serious here, this drink works!
• NeuroSporti: So this one is supposed to enhance your workout.  I drank one before a run, and another during a racquetball tournament.  It tasted and refreshed my body better than standard, boring old water.  That’s about it.
• NeuroSonic: If I didn’t read the label or consider the company (who insists on not being compared with energy drinks), I’d say that NeuroSonic is best categorized as an extremely potent energy drink.  Sorry Neuro, but after drinking this one I’m afraid it’s an energy drink.  It may not be on paper, but NeuroSonic tweaked the bajeezus out of me!  It’s been a while since I’ve had my reality accelerated so rapidly.

Truthfully speaking, NeuroSonic goes almost too far.  It’s supposed to enhance focus, but it was all I could do to keep enough focus to even finish the game on the back of my Lucky Charms cereal box.  I was in an insatiable search for something to sink my intellectual teeth into.

• NeuroSleep: The first thing I considered when I handled this drink was how inappropriate it was in the most basic sense.  How are you supposed to have a great full night’s rest after drinking 14 ounces of liquid?  I knew nature would be calling me to say, “what’s up” in a couple hours, but I drank one anyways.

I laid in bed, restless, for about an hour.  Then within 5 minutes, I felt nauseous, ran to the bathroom, and vomited.  After that I felt great and ready for bed.  Was it something I said?  The entire next day, I was dead tired.  This drink gave me so much trouble I’m not willing to try a second bottle to see if the first was a fluke (which, to Neuro’s credit, it could have been).

• Neurotrim: I drank these just for their pleasing taste.  I didn’t notice suppression in my appetite, and certainly not a loss of weight (I was only sent two bottles).

Verdict

By now you’re asking your dirty little self, what about NeuroGasm, huh Dusty?  Huh huh huh?!  I have friends and family reading my posts to this site, so simmer down, I’m not going to review it.  I actually had a friend sincerely ask me whether it succeeds at giving you an orgasm upon drinking it.  Now if that’s not the Holy Grail for functional beverages and the defining point of the downfall of mankind, I don’t know what is.

Anyways, to wrap this up, I’m incredibly impressed by these Neuro beverages.  Even if some of them might not work as hoped, good God the innovation factor for this company is in a whole league of its own.  They may not exactly be energy drinks, but are undoubtedly in the same family tree.  That being said, I can’t wait to see what drinks like these to do the future of our beloved addiction.

If you read this all in one sitting, you might want to call your friends and family and tell them you’re ok.  They’re probably worried about you being out of touch for so long.

Reviewed by Dusty Smith

Neuro, a progressive beverage company, has graced me with some deeply intriguing drinks.  I’m not reviewing them here quite yet.  I’m still demoing the product and I think there’s plenty to talk about before even trying the beverage.

You see, with energy drinks we excel at taking shortcuts around sleep, we demand productivity.  We are the masters of time management.  But what about life’s other downfalls?  Like wanting to kill your boss?  The Freshman 15?  Poor sex drive?  Stupid decisions?  Insomnia?  Neuro Drinks says leave it to energy drinks to avoid sleep, but come to them when you’re ready to deal with the rest of your problems.

Like I said, I received a big box of Crayons.  Each Neuro drink has a different color pointed cap and I have 6 of them: NeuroBliss, NeuroSporti, NeuroSonic, NeuroSleep, NeuroTrim, and yep, NeuroGasm.  Let’s look at the bottle description for each trim:

• NeuroBliss: Mood Enhancement
• NeuroSporti: Fitness Enhancement
• NeuroSonic: Mental Performance
• NeuroSleep: Sleep Enhancement
• NeuroTrim: Weight Loss Support
• NeuroGasm: Sexual Performance

Taken all at once, you’ll bring the right person home, put on a great show in bed, and lose weight while immensely enjoying yourself.  Oh and you’ll sleep good too.  Has this all gone too far?  Or is it the beautiful future of energy drinks?

Let’s say, for now, that each of these drinks work perfectly.  Stepping from that assumption, we could assume that the product will be wildly popular.  Now, what has happened to us at that point?  Do we really need this much help?  Feeling down?  Drink this.  Bad grades?  Drink this.  Too fat?  Can’t sleep? You get the idea.  Granted, we’re well down this road with energy drinks.  But my question still stands, how far is too far when it comes to beverage cooler content?

With so much energy drink market pollution, we can only expect that drinks like Neuro Drinks will be the new hotness in years to come.  Expect their full review soon.  Sneak peek: NeuroBliss is a one-ticket ride to Cloud 9.

Written by Dusty Smith

Energy drink fans have been ecstatic, but governments are now rearing their ugly heads.

Energy drink companies found a loop hole in the Australia and New Zealand food law concerning caffeine. If they call their product an “energy supplement”, they can then bypass the law and use the same energy formula as they do in the USA.

The news has been flooded this weekend with articles about governments wanting to ban this practice and ban the highly caffeinated drinks as some irresponsible teens were sent to the school nurse with some caffeine reactions at the end of last week. Many of the articles I read contain lies and exaggeration of the facts regarding these drinks and totally loose perspective when it comes to the energy drink market and consumption among teens.

Here are some facts that will help put this ridiculous issue in perspective. In Australia;

• Alcohol counts as 13% of all deaths  in the 14-17 age group in Australia.
• 1 death and 60 injuries occur every weekend among 14-17 year olds that are alcohol related.
• In 2007 at 177,000 children under the age of 18 are abused or neglected.
• In 2007 240 children under 18 were killed as the result of child abuse.

So were are all the stats and stories related to caffeine overdose and caffeine related deaths among teens? When’s the last time a teen drank 5 energy drinks and got behind the wheel of a car and killed someone? Well frankly, there aren’t any. Is Australia really concerned with the safety of its teens when there are liquor stores almost on every corner and it appears teens have easy access to this type of drink…..?

It seems to me the Australian government should be putting their energies elsewhere and leave energy drinks or so called “energy supplements” alone!

Sources:

http://www.ama.com.au/node/4762

http://www.stopchildabusenow.com.au

However, I’ve been getting  ever increasing requests to have energy shots reviewed.

The Convenience Store News just reported that sales of energy shots have doubled in 2009, with more and more consumers choosing them over the traditional 16oz energy drink than ever before.

Energy shot sales were at 270 million in 2008, but are expected to double that in 2009 with around 700 million in sales. In 2008 energy drink sales only saw a mere .09% increase in sales from the previous year, while energy shots saw and 179% increase in sales.

So what does this mean for the industry? Have energy drinks met their match when facing their much smaller cousin? Many enjoy the convenience of these shots, but will convenience make up for the often less than pleasing flavor?

The shot still has a way to go as energy drink sales topped 3.5 billion dollars last year.

What do you think? Will enrgy shots replace your energy drinks as a way to get your fix?

So what is this strange chemical and what does it do or should we say, supposedly do?

L-theanine is an amino acid that according to recent studies has shown to calm the brain to enhance concentration.  This amino acid comes simply from tea leaves.

Tea has been known for centuries for it’s ability to relax its drinkers and many tea cultures (not the USA), have a tea before bed every night.

Manufacturers have just isolated this chemical, concentrated it, and now have begun putting it into energy drinks. They claim that it works well with caffeine because it eases the jitteriness that caffeine can cause with added concentration….. Sounds good to me….

Some of the drinks that have been touting this new ingredient are; Sobe Lifewater, Vitamin Water, Vib, Gatorade Tiger Focus, and Reed’s Natural Energy Elixir.

What do you think about this new energy with a dose of calm mixture?

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view) manufacturers and distributors are having the same issues you and I have. Some have gotten to the point that they have cases upon cases of product with no movement and is ready to expire. What’s left for them to do?

Closeout retailer! If you have a Big Lots, Dollar Tree, or similar store around your area, you can find a treasure trove of energy goodness. It is not unusual to find these castaways for between 20 and 60 cents a can! To help you separate the wheat from the chaff, I’ve sampled some of the goods and will review them here in an abbreviated format and as I find new drinks I’ll continue this series.

• Are you looking for cheap energy drinks? Have you hit the motherload? Share and find using our Cheap Energy Drink Locator

To keep things succinct, I’ll rate each category on a 1-5 scale, 1 being terrible, 5 being legendary.

Stoked Original

• Taste – 4;   Stoked takes the Monster formula and kicks it up a notch with a nifty biting aftertaste that is quite surprising at first.
• Energy – 2;  With only 160mg of caffeine per 16oz can, this is more of an Amped buzz.
• Overall – 3;  It tastes great but I wish it had more kick. But for 60 cents a can, slam two…

Stoked WindChill

• Taste – 4; Again, Stoked come through with something unique. Citrus blended with a cool, almost minty aftertaste = Delicious.
• Energy – 2; Sadly only 160mg of caffeine per can…
• Overall – 3; I liked this as much as the original, only the lack of caffeine keeps this from being perfect.

Guru Tangerine

• Taste – 3; A decent citrus tarnished by lack of carbonation and vitamin aftertaste
• Energy – 1; I don’t know how much caffeine this thing packs but it isn’t much…
• Overall – 2; This drink is for the curious only.

Inked Chikara

• Taste – 3.5; A rare grapefruit energy drink. The blandness keeps me from bumping this to a 4.
• Energy – 3; These 12oz cans can give you a kick but it doesn’t last long.
• Overall – 4; How does a drink that only rates a 3 and 3.5 get to 4 overall? $5 per case.

Red Devil

• Taste – 3; A weird berry/tea flavor is better than it seems. One of those that grows on you rather than wears on you.
• Energy – 3; A solid performer but not overwhelming.
• Overall – 3; This Dutch import is solidly average and at 60 cents per can you could do far worse.

Written by TNT

He is proposing that there should be a 15% “obesity tax” Placed on all sugary beverages such as energy drink.  Sugar free versions will be exempt.

He claims that he is helping to end obesity in his state by discouraging his citizens from buying such products, however, opponents to this plan say that the state could generate about 404 million dollars a year. They claim that this is just a money making ploy to help offset the 15.4 billion dollar deficit that’s facing the state.

If this bill passes then expect your $3.00 energy drink to cost you an additional  $.45 on top of the 8% sales tax in most places in New York.

The really bad news is that if this passes in New York, other states will surely follow suit and impose similar taxes. I have a few problems with this taxation mentality. Raising taxes will not solve the problem just as it did not solve the smoking problem. People still smoke and people will still drink sugar laden drinks. Also, Is it really the job of the government to police what people choose to eat and drink apart from illegal substance?

If you live in New York and want to exercise your democratic rights go to nyobesitytax.org and sign the petition there. If you don’t live in New York participate in the poll below.

Source: BevNet.com

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