All In Citrus

You all know how Sugar Free drinks can either be a disaster or a success, looking at our reviews, by what artificial sweeteners and how much of it added are in the drink. As I reviewed the All In Grape a few days ago, I noted that the first few sips were really flavorful and had a lot of depth, but as I progressed through the can, I found myself unhappy with the large amounts of Sucralose tasted in the small 8 ounce Poker-related energy drink. Shortly after, I found some All In Citrus at an Albertson's who seemed to just freshly stocked their shelves with this lemony-orange All In. Of course I'm giving it another chance, and from what I've reviewed, it's very difficult to mess up on a citrus energy drink, but trust me, I've seen it happen. Every All In poker drinks are made sugar free and with only 10 calories, so if one is sweetened with Sucralose, you can bet all of them are (Pun intended). One thing I have to say is that I love All In's can design. Being a fan of Poker myself, I find this can neat with a poker chip enveloped in citrus-colored flames and a faded gray dragon in the background. This isn't the first time I've seen Asian writing on a can, as there's some word I do not know on the face of the chip. Oh well, it may not be that important.

Tearing open this small 8 ounce can, I search for an aroma and find a weak, semi-artificial blend of lemon, lime, orange, and tangerine, bringing back those bad memories of terrible citrus drinks. Pouring it into a glass and out of the can, I note a color of bright, cloudy yellow, assuming the color of a lemon, rather than an orange. After a first quick swig of the can, All In Citrus seems to taste most like Diet Sprite, except with a powerful bittersweet shot of Sucralose, that tends to kill the drinks flavor. The Sucralose is so powerful in this that I think there's more flavor from that than there is from the citrus flavorings. After you get past the wall of artificialness, you find a nice blend of mainly lemon and lime, with a few notes of orange, and very little tangerine. Sipping more and more, the Sucralose becomes more subtle in the drink and allows for more of the real flavors to come in and mix together. The aftertaste is that of really burnt fruit or burnt sugars, almost like what you find in Gatorades. The carbonation is smooth and light, also helping bring in some natural flavors. It's not gummy for the most part, just a bit of build-up on the back of your throat, nothing too extreme. Overall, All In Citrus definitely had that same lame Sucralose mixture in it, but once you get past that, you find a decent lemon-lime conbination that really isn't that bad for a sugar-free drink.

All In Citrus is one of the few American-Made drinks, as in, most of the ingredients come from America itself. The full list is right here: Carbonated Water, taurine, citric acid, natural Citrus flavor with other Natural Flavors, ascorbic acid, acesulfame potassium, inositol, caffeine, herbal blend (Astragalus, Panax ginseng, Panax Quinquefolium, Schisandra), sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, Sucralose, niacin, pantothenic acid, pyridoxine HCL, yellow 5, folic acid, and cyanocobalamin. I enjoy the fact that acesulfame potassium is high up on the list, which means that the aritificial sugar is a bit better quality, and how Sucralose is lower on the list. Theres' also some pretty good energy ingredients in here, sure get me jittery for at least a little while, about 2 or 3 hours. Per can, you get only 10 calories, and obviously not one drop of real sugar, all coming from Sucralose and Ace K. Though the caffeine count isn't listed, you get a hefty amount of B vitamins per can, and some good Vitamin C (ascorbic Acid). Just as I had predicted, the kick is pretty good, a lot of focus is present, with some decent amounts of jitteriness, and a bit of alertness to go along with it. All in all, All In had some good highs and some bad lows, being way to aritificially sweet, yet there's still some great natural lemon-lime and orange flavorings that reminded me mostly of Diet Sprite.

Taste: 7.5 - Decent lemon-lime orange flavor; too much Sucralose though
Kick: 8 - Pretty good kick, with mostly jitteriness and some focus
Overall: 7.6 - I'd definitely recommend this over the All In grape, but don't put your bet in on anything else just yet...

Reviewed by: Chan