Archer Farms Energy Fortified Pink Grapfruit

Being wiped out after a long day usually doesn't feel too good, but that's why energy drinks are around right? Sometimes you want the energy, minus the carbonation, and minus the jitteriness it most likely produces. This is why, after a long and tiring day, I'm going after something light on flavor, and with just enough energy to get me alert and somewhat focused. I didn't think I'd find anything good over at Target the other day until I took a glance at the Archer Farms water-based beverages and I found one that's actually energy fortified. I though, "Eh, why not? I mean, it's technically an energy drink, right?" Most of the time, I enjoy finding beverages I consider energy drinks because in reality, they are on the better-tasting, most refreshing, and fresher flavor side. But then again, I sometimes do crave and enjoy searching for those mean carbonated energy drink because they are tough and they do pack a punch. The bottle design is cool being connected diamonds that produces a design matching with the nice bright pink color in the background. There's also the tiny little suspicious Archer Farms chicken sitting right in the middle of the bottle. Well, let's see how this compares to energy fortified water beverages around.

I have no trouble twisting off the simple twist-off cap and find an aroma that's a bit light and has that natural-tasting bitterness from the grapefruit mixed in that tells me it's not all artificial. I mentioned before, the color is a nice bright pink grapefruit hue with quite some cloudiness towards the center of the drink. Hm, the flavor threw me off pretty well, as I was expecting a flavor guided more towards the aroma. Instead, I'm finding a taste that's mostly earthy and then a very small amount of grapefruit seems to be lurking around going down the throat. Gulping this drink down, the pink grapefruit flavor is being brought out a bit more and diminishes most of the earthiness within, but it's not that great if you're looking for even just an average amount of flavor. Being extremely diluted, there really isn't much of an aftertaste, perhaps some bitterness from the natural extracts of pink grapefruit. I wouldn't say a bottle of this is too gummy, but that's because it's sweetened well, whether it be acesulfame potassium, or what they call "sucromalt."Overall, I'm getting a bit fed up with all these extremely light/diluted drinks coming onto the market. I mean, sure, they are refreshing, but it gets annoying after a few consistent bottles of it.

I like change, and I'm glad Archer Farms changed up their ingredients list, differing from other top companies. They read as following: Water, sucromalt, resistant maltodextrin, citric acid, gum arabic, natural flavor, ascorbic acid, caffeine, Sucralose, acesulfame potassium, Vitamin E, sucrose, Glycerol Ester of Wood Rosin, and niacin. I see the problem with this drink was all the various amounts of sweeteners tied in with each other and created a mess which blocked all the flavors. But, I was impressed by the fact that they masked the acesulfame potassium and the Sucralose very well. I hardly even tasted it. Per 16 ounce bottle, you only get about 50 calories, which after everything, isn't bad considering the light taste. There's also only about 6g of sugar in the whole thing, wow that's really good. For caffeine, I was surprised to see as much as I did, 75 whopping milligrams in one bottle. 75mg gave me some great alertness, no jitteriness, and gave me the power to actually walk around without dropping to the ground. All in all, I nice pick-me-up energy drink, but just not enough flavor I was expecting came to me.

Taste: 5.5 - Man, I was really let down with that little amount of flavor in the bottle
Kick: 7 - A nice kick lasted for about an hour with no crash later on
Overall: 6.4 - Actually, it's not bad for a water based beverage, but I prefer it cold for refreshment purposes.

Reviewed by: Chan

Xyience Xenergy Pink Lemon

It's funny how energy drink companies never seem to cease making any and every flavor that comes to their mind. One that came to my mind awhile ago was a pink lemonade flavored energy drink, and I thought to myself, "Wow, I would really like to try an energy drink with a Pink Lemonade flavor! Wouldn't that be quite interesting?" Next thing I know, I'm here whipping up a review with a pink lemon energy drink in my hand. I'm so eager to finally try one of these as I know that it may not be what I'm looking for because it's sugar free hence sweetened with Spenda and acesulfame k. Now, if you're into finding one of these, your resources may be limited because I know that I had to find this while I was traveling great 200+ mile trips, so this may not be one you'll find at your local grocery supermarket. I'm observing the can and admiring Xyience's great use of the can design they had to work with. I see just a few basic pink and purple circles in front of a gleaming almost perfect silver background. Their pink and purple fonts lead me to believe that they are perhaps targeting this drink for women, rather than guys, However, it's made by UFC, which is the league of fighting championships, so how could this make sense? I, myself, do not know, but the taste can possibly determine it.

I wanted to hit the hay early tonight but I craved an energy drink. So, I crack open the shining sugar free beast and admire the pungent yet somewhat artificial blend if lemonade with that 'pink feel' it gives. Xenergy Pink Lemon reveals a color most similar to the Rip It Chic Sin A Man, with more of a translucent hue and a bit less carbonation. Aw, the flavor is not what I had expected at all. Well it first tackles you with a wall of artificial sweetener with unknown other flavors in the background, perhaps strawberry tart. It then seems to change to a fake lemonade flavor, similar to the ones you can buy in sugar free powder form that dissolves into water. In all, it's hard to find a taste after having all the Sucralose merge and collapse into one giant mess of an artificial energy drink flavored with what seems to be a pink lemonade flavor. I guess that's how you can sum up the entire flavor of it. The aftertaste can be described as more of that introductory tartness with noticeable artificialness. I guess I can ind something good in something not great, the light carbonation. It feels good on the tongue when the carbonation hits it as it's perfectly carbonated. I didn't find much gumminess, but the artificial sweetener definitely did make up for it though. Overall, it's another disappointment from Xyience, and frankly not flavorful enough to be even called Pink Lemon.

Xyience manages to sneak in some cool ingredients. Here's the detailed list: Carbonated water, citric acid, taurine, sodium citrate, natural flavors, glucuronolactone, caffeine, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, D-calcium pantothenate, guarana, ginseng, Sucralose, fruit and vegetable juices, L-Carnitine, inositol, niacin, acesulfame potassium, gum acacia, and ester gum. The fruit and vegetable juices are in here not for taste reasons, but for color reasons, although I found it hard to find a color based on any fruit or vegetable out there. Perhaps there's some sort of pink fruit-bearing plant out there somewhere that I don't know about. Per can, you don't get any calories, nor do you get sugar, but there are 4g of carbohydrates most likely coming from the juices in the drink. The caffeine content isn't listed individually but all together, you get 2680mg, which isn't a lot at all, but hey the kick wasn't bad. The kick bore about a good two and a half hours of solid energy and a decent crash. All in all, I don't think a sugar free energy drink gets much worse than it is in this Pink Lemon drink, but the kick wasn't half bad.

Taste: 5 - All I could taste was a wall of Sucralose with a tinge of lemonade flavoring somewhere
Kick: 8 - The kick gave this drink bragging rights to be the energy drink of the UFC
Overall: 6.5 - We still have to review a few more Xyience's, I'm curious to see how they compare

Reviewed by: Chan