Freek Rage

I found the last Freek Rage over at Big! Lots, what luck. I'm telling you, Big! Lots is the place to go if you want some insanely tasty energy drinks, like the Freeks, BooKoos, and Jolts. I randomly chose the Freek Rage to review today, out of the 25 energy drinks waiting in line to review, and of course, I was fine with reviewing it today. I have a feeling Rage will have a sick pomegranate taste, but the HFCS will separate it from being one of my favorites, we'll find out in a bit. In the meantime, Freek Rage has almost the exact same can design as all the other Freeks, an evil skull with glaring eyes. Below that, Freek is scribed into the can in a blood red font and rage is printed seemingly neat below that. I glanced over at the back of the can to find that the 'evil' skull's name is Freekman and that these guys can't use proper grammar and punctuation. One sentence on the back of this can reads "What FREEKiness have you FREEKed out on? What kinda FREEK R U?." The background consists of black and gray splotches reminding me of the Monster Assault. Okay, let's crack this beast open and see what it has in store for us.

I smoothly open the can to get an immediate sweet aroma of pleasant pomegranate and a bit of green tea. I instantly recognized the scent the Freek Rage reminded me of: some pomegranate tea I have in my kitchen, which gets me pretty hyped up to taste it. This Freek gives a wine red color, with just a bit of fizziness; the tab on the can is the exact color as the drink. Woah, I was expecting a flavor similar to the Rockstar Juiced pomegranate, but instead, I was hit with an extremely sweet pomegranate flavor, with a minor flavor of the Rockstar Zero Carb. The Freek Rage masks the primary pomegranate flavor with the sugar, not something too good an energy drink should have. I couldn't help taking a peek at the nutrition facts to see 66g of sugar in the can, wow. I have tried energy drinks with that much sugar, but I must say, it is the sweetest energy drink I've come across, in my lifetime. It's aftertaste isn't surprising, having that crude, burnt HFCS taste found in sports drinks and heavily sweetened energy drinks. It really isn't that carbonated, only when it hits your tongue, and then it goes down really smooth-like, just like fruit juice. I've noticed the gumminess in this Freek Rage has drawn me away from drinking it, because it builds up in the back of the mouth. Overall, if you're into sweet energy drinks, this one is perfect for you, but if you're one like me, the Freek Rage is kind of borderline.

As for ingredients, Freek Rage has carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, sodium citrate, glycerin, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, natural flavor, maltodextrin, red 40, gum acacia, salt, calcium disodium edta, caramel color, and glycerol abietate. As for energy ingredients, Freek Rage has 2000mg of taurine, 204mg of caffeine, 200mg of inositol, and 16mg of guarana seed. The 204mg of caffeine and 16mg of guarana is sure to keep you wired for a good 4 hours, but expect a gnarly crash to follow. Per can, you get a whopping 160 calories, 66g of sugar, 120mg of vitamin C, and 190mg of sodium. I mentioned earlier the amount of sugar is a killer in this drink, and so I advise you split a 16 ouncer with a friend because I know, after 8 ounces, I'm done. However, I was wrong when I said the HFCS would kill it from being one of my favorites becasue even if there was no sugar to mask the pomegranate, the pomegranate would have a weak, lame flavor. So in a sense, it's a good thing the sugar was there, although it isn't entirely good for. All in all just an okay drink, I was a bit disappointed in Freek; the evil can design doesn't live up to it's flavor.

Taste: 7.3 - A weak pomegranate flavor, hidden behind a wall of sugar, or HFCS
Kick: 8.5 - A nearly massive kick followed as I finished the last drop of the Freek
Overall: 7.6 - We have a few more flavors of Freek to come, I hope they can improve...

Reviewed by: Chan