Friday, August 1, 2008

Red Bull Simply Cola


You couldn't walk anywhere here in Las Vegas without running into one of these new Red Bull Products. As you can see, I'm on vacation and I'm taking advantage of that by finding energy drinks I need, like the much talked about Red Bull Simply Cola. I knew I had to grab a few cans for me and Jeff, and one for now to review. I'm so hyped up to crack this 12 ounce can open and taste the new Red Bull flavor. It seems like forever since Red Bull has released any flavor at all, the newest one being the regular Red Bull and the Red Bull Sugar Free, and I'm pretty sure they need the revenue by releasing this cola. Colas have been a fail for the most part in the energy drink section, so I really hope Red Bull can make a good cola drink to put in the book of good colas. Red Bull doesn't stick with their old can design, but instead created a classy new one looking partly like it came out of the '60s or '70s. The top blue slant and the larger bottom red slant squish a vertical strip of chrome-colored metal reading the words "Red Bull" in large red letters. "Simply" is printed nicely in cursive under "Red Bull" in a minute font and running into the word "Cola" in all capital and silver letters. Let's get this drink cracked open and determine if it's a pass or a mighty fail.

Red Bull Simply Cola opens up to reveal a sharp acetone-cola aroma, with just a bit of original Red Bull mixed in with it. The color of this cola is a basic brown color, due to the caramel color, with a foamy head. The flavor of Red Bull cola is much different than any cola I've tried. It's not a basic cola but an extreme top-notch cola with an insane amount of lime, cinnamon, licorice, orange, and vanilla flavor. Wow. This is seriously one amazing cola flavor, being 25 times better than Pepsi, and 45 times better than the Monster Assault, Howling Monkey, and the Jolt Cola (+Power Cola). Most consumers would think that this is the cola served in fancy restaurants and to celebrities, but hey, it's like two dollars at your local grocery store or market. As for waiting a good few years to release a new flavor, Red Bull sure took a lot of time working and perfecting this drink to serve to eager energy drink consumers. It has a usual Red Bull/Monster carbonation that's not bad in the drink and doesn't get in the way. This Red Bull also isn't gummy at all, most likely because it's sweetened with sugar, or sucrose. Overall, this energy cola was a complete pass, having a beastly combination of fruits and extracts and also making the Best Taste List, hands down.

This Red Bull has a massive ingredients list. It goes as following: water, sugar, carbon dioxide, natural flavors from plant extract (Galangal, vanilla, mustard seed, lime, kola nut, cacao, licorice, cinnamon, ginger, coca leaf, orange, corn mint, pine, cardamom, mace clove), lemon juice concentrate, and caffeine from coffee beans. The ingredients in paranthesis are ingredients in basic colas like Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Monster Assault, etc. I, myself, just found out what kind of ingredients went into cola sodas and cola energy drinks. I like how this is natural for the most part because of the caffeine from the coffee beans and lack of phosphoric acid as well as artificial flavors. Per 12 ounces, you get 130 calories, and 31g of sugar. That's not bad at all considering this is a 12 ounce can, not 8 ounces. So, if you do the math, you get roughly 175 calories and 41g of sugar, incredible! It's sweet, but you don't get all hat sugar that's usually added into energy drinks of that high amount. Some other cool info about Red Bull: it's made in Switzerland, it's pasteurized, and their website address is http://www.redbullusa.com/ (Unless you're not in the U.S.!) After everything, Red Bull Simply Cola was extremely satisfying, refreshing, tasty, natural, and just right. I guarantee you will like this drink, if not love it.

Taste: 9.5 - A unique cola flavor really made this drink something special
Kick: 9 - The kick is great, especially with the natural caffeine in this energy drink, allowing some great focus
Overall: 9.4 - I'd have to say this is the best cola energy drink here on Canned Reviews so far

Reviewed by: Chan

2 comments:

Theluskateer said...

Dude, it's sweet that you found the Red Bull cola.

Leo said...

Almost all caffeine comes from the decaffeination of coffee beans, as that is the most abundant and cheap source of caffeine. It can also be sourced from things like teas. When Red Bull says its cola has caffeine from coffee beans, that doesn't really mean a whole lot, since most other sodas can say the same thing. Red Bull cola is still an excellent beverage, however.

Reviewers

Jeffery "Jeff," Chandler "Chan"