24:7 Cherry Berry

24:7. It refers to the 24 hours in the day and 7 days in a week. It's used to mean "always." It sounds like a good name for an energy drink, but when you examine it, it doesn't seem to make sense at first. What about an energy drink is... "always"? Perhaps it suggests it works around the clock. I'm not sure. Anyway, this is my first 24:7 and I found it at Walgreens, apparently the only place you can find them; it's their private label, like Target's Archer Farms or Albertson's' Max Velocity. It seems they've got lots of flavors, including lemon-lime, green apple and orange. Judging by those flavors, I think 24:7 might be a simple line of energy drinks. Hopefully they can still pull off some complex and interesting drinks based on those flavors. The Cherry Berry, the one I'm about to review, is giving me the impression of a luscious and sophisticated flavor. I'm hoping for the best.

Immediately the very pungent smell of raspberry hit my nose and I was amazed. Despite the name, it seems there's more raspberry and cranberry than cherry. Not surprisingly, a bright cherry red comes out of the can, similar to the Xtazy Cranberry Blast. The first sip starts out with lots of good, crisp sweetness and a tart cranberry/raspberry/cherry that tastes like more cranberry and raspberry than anything else. With larger sips, I realize that the very sour berry and the small amount of bitterness detracts a bit from the sweetness, which I don't think is a good thing. Like the BooKoo Punch, this is a drink better enjoyed in small sips, but not for the same reason. I know this is a very natural flavor, but it bugs me how bitter and sour it is. Although this is very crisp and bright, I'm confident this kind of flavor would be good on ice, and I found that it is after trying it. What it does is mellows the flavor out, but also slightly ups that cranberry bitterness, which I don't like. I'm not quite a fan of cranberries. Overall, this drink is pretty smooth, but its bitterness and at times unbearable gumminess get in the way.

Packed inside of this sixteen-ounce can, we've got Carbonated Water, Sugar... I want to stop right there. I like the decision 24:7 made to sweeten this with Sugar instead of HFCS. Had this been sweetened with HFCS or any combination of artificial sweetener, this obviously would've been horrible. What probably saves this from me dubbing it a lame drink would be the fact that it's sweetened with sugar. Going on with the list: ...Citric Acid's in there, Taurine, Glucuronolactone, Sodium Citrate, Potassium, Citrate, Lactic Acid, Natural Flavors, Dextrose, Caffeine, Ascorbic Acid, Inositol, Niacinimide, Calcium-D-Pantothenate (aka. Pantothenic Acid), Pyridoxine, HCL, Vitamin B12, Riboflavin and Colors. What's neat about this drink is they tell you what they use to color it. This drink makes use of Caramel, Allura Red, which is another name for a common food-dye. I suppose on ingredients, this beverage looks stronger than it truly is. I probably only got an hour's worth of nice energy and then the rest was mild alertness. This was nothing wild, but a nice pick-me up, and great for the price of one dollar at Walgreens.

Taste: 7.8 - Interesting natural/artificial, more berry than cherry taste, but leaves something to be desired
Kick: 6 - No better than average
Overall: 7.4 - Simple, average energy drink with a nice label

Reviewed by: Jeff