Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Rockstar Punched


Hey, everyone. I found this drink at Albertson's and I was really stoked to try it. I know that Rocksta\ doesn't make the best energy drinks, but they have a few that don't seem to fit in, and are actually quite good. This one, I believe will be another one that doesn't fit in with the Rockstars because something about it really catches me. Rockstar Punched has a large red Rockstar logo star, with the words "Tropical Punch Flavor" directly under its right wing. Hidden to the left of the star is the word "Rockstar Energy + Punch" vertically along the can as well as at the top of can. I think that this is the coolest can design I've come across because of ts layout and the simple colors used to make it. Well, here I go, ready to crack it open.

Rockstar Punched has a smooth fruity blend of berries such as strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, and boysenberry, similar to the Gatorade Fruit Punch. The Punched comes out of the can a dark pink color, and it seems to be a heavily carbonated drink due to the amount of fizziness. Oh, this drink tastes exactly what I predicted it to taste. It brings a punch of sweet berries, a hint of some pear, grape, melon, and maybe traces of kiwi. As it touches the tongue, the berry, grape, and pear flavor has a natural and sugary taste. The aftertaste -melon and kiwi- has more of a artificial taste to it, with a lot of gumminess. I think this drink is only really good when it hits your tongue, then, after about 2-3 seconds, it tastes a bit nasty. I have noticed this in most Rockstar drinks I've tried, so it's no news to me. Like I mentioned earlier, this drink is heavily carbonated, so I would recommend taking small sips, in order to not have a painful stomach-ache. The Punched also has a lot of gumminess that builds up in the back of your mouth, just after the aftertaste. Overall, this drink had an exceptional taste, but I couldn't stand the carbonation and gumminess.

And for the ingredients. I am glad Rockstar uses sucrose and glucose for their sweetener, instead of high fructose corn syrup. Taurine comes in at number five; pretty nice being that I am already feeling a nice kick. The Rockstar also contains milk thistle, calcium, acesulfame, sucralose (Splenda), ginkgo biloba, and guarana. Per can, you get 260 calories. That's most likely due to the amount of sugar in this drink. Speaking of sugar, you get 62 grams, which I could have guessed because of the sweetness in the Punched. Like usual, you get about 2,000mg of tauine, pretty nice kick in this drink. A lot of Rockstars contain ginkgo biloba, which is an Asian tree cultivated to improve focus. There are 300mg of ginkgo biloba in this drink. As for caffeine, you get 240mg, that's probably why I'm getting such a kick. All in all, this one was almost a fail, it tasted a bit artificial towards the end of the drink and the sucralose upset my stomach.

Taste: 7 - Nothing too special; most likely, you'll find a better fruit punch drink
Kick: 9 - I do notice a great kick, due to the ginkgo and caffeine
Overall: 7 - If you want a nice kick, this is one for you, but you won't get a great taste

Reviewed by: Chan

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like your efforts in reviewing, but you don't seem very knowledgeable on energy drink ingredients. Perhaps a deeper study would help? You never mention guarana, which supplies most of the kick. Plus this is the highest caffienated content among the Rockstar line.

Canned Reviewer said...

Thanks for the advice, anonymous. I have been researching energy ingredients recently, including guarana. I understand it works real well with caffeine in giving a nice kick. I won't call this an excuse, but this review was written back when Canned Reviews started, so if you want more detailed reviews, check out some more recent reviews.

Also, the Bawls Guarana review (http://cannedreviews.blogspot.com/2008/06/bawls-guarana.html) has some cool information about guarana and it's help giving the Bawls an almost perfect kick.

Reviewers

Jeffery "Jeff," Chandler "Chan"