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Overview:
This can, well, is clearly trying to tailor to the female market. The can is hot pink in colour, is a smaller can (355mL), is only 10 calories and comes with a straw. Rockstar is clearly after a new market here. What does that mean for the taste and effects in this review though?
Taste/Aroma:
The flavour name doesn’t lie, the berry smell is close to perfect. The taste is more akin to a soda then other energy drinks even more so then Inked was. It’s sweet with an even sweeter aftertaste. Though I feel that I don’t notice the berry flavour as much because of this though. It smells great and it tastes good, though could due with being a little less sweet and soda tasting but the smell certainly gets you more excited then you should be.
Effects:
This is where I don’t feel PerfectBerry shines as strongly. The usual Rockstar contains 160mg of caffeine where this one only has 120mg, this is likely due to the smaller can size though. Perhaps it just wasn’t a large enough can for me as I am used to the standard size because I wasn’t feeling the effects as well. So I had a friend of mine try it and she said it helped her stay awake. This one is a tougher call but Rockstar still gets points here because of the smaller can size.
Conclusion:
Rockstar has attempted to target a new market, not me this time. Well, that friend that had this, she had it before this. In fact, it’s the only one she likes. Rockstar has done a good job with marketing PerfectBerry. All the marketing and can design aside, it’s a decent soda-like tasting energy drink that has moderately decent effects, especially if you are not used to energy drinks. If not purchasing for the effects, the unique taste makes this a worth while buy. That being said, there are better Rockstars out there for you to buy. If you have the option of PerfectBerry or the one I just mentioned and they are the same price, it’s a clear choice.
Scores:
Overall: 7/10
Effects: 6.5/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Price: $2.99 CAD
Overview:
Rockstar is certainly not a new player to the energy drink market and they have just released three new beverage flavours. Rockstar XDurance, Iced and Rehab. The first one is the one we will be looking at in this review. It is a blueberry, acai and pomegranate flavour while the Iced is a peach tea and the Rehab is coconut water flavour. Some of these, like the Recovery line are only 20 calories much like this one. They have also introduced Rockstar Relax, which I have been unable to find but would love to review. It is a relaxation drink by the energy beverage giant. Anyway, their can design is very much the same as other Rockstars have been, certainly not a bad thing, though XDurance has “Performance Energy” written on the can as well. Let’s see how XDurance fairs.
Effects:
I am impressed as usual with Rockstar. It has the usual Rockstar blend of 160mg of caffeine and 2000mg taurine but it contains BCAA (Branched Chain Amino Acids). It is said that athletes are recommended to take amino acids to help increase muscle growth and decrease muscle breakdown. Now, I’ll admit that I don’t know much about BCAA or why it is in my energy drink but I can see why this is branded XDurance now. Either way, I certainly feel awake and not the least bit tired but I don’t feel energized exactly. The feeling I have is hard to describe. I am wide awake, I am not jittery but I don’t want to sit still either, I have energy to go do things but not as much as other drinks would give me; like Rockstar Recovery would. I wasn’t left with a sick feeling. In fact, my stomach actually felt better after drinking this. The effects will certainly not disappoint.
Taste/Aroma:
The scent, it is inviting and blueberry is the most prominent smell. The taste is sweeter then I was expecting but still a great one. The smell is right in line with the taste, blueberry is the strongest taste. It doesn’t taste as good as their Recovery line of energy drinks but not many do. It is carbonated unlike their recovery line but I feel that it is a lighter carbonation then other Rockstars or other energy drinks. The aftertaste is pleasant though slightly sour/bitter, this is because the other berries are more present here. It is a great tasting drink packed with berry flavour that is unlike many other berry drinks on the market.
Conclusion:
Rockstar XDurance brings a quite a unique flavour to their already sizeable line up and the effects are great as well. It is what you expect from Rockstar, especially after they released their Recovery line up. It’s worth picking one of these up.
Scores:
Overall: 8/10
Effects: 8/10
Taste: 8/10
Price: $3.29 CAD
Overview:
A friend of mine drove down to the United States recently and picked up a drink that I had not seen before, GAzZU. The can, as you will be able to see from the photo, is very similar to Monster in terms of design. GAzZU is one of the smaller players in the energy drink market for, their website is actually down. However, it is sold exclusively at Circle K stores and made by BooKoo Energy. While their can design is an almost carbon copy of Monster, they do have some odd text written on the side that I should show you.
This GAzZU is something really different. They tell me that it’s a guarded secret formula used to make it, and the word it it’s not from Earth. I know this guy, who is connected, and he told me the secret ingredient is like moon dust! They figured out how to grow it in these labs, like crystals. Man, this stuff is crazy, it tastes better than any energy drink I’ve ever had.
Awesome energy and taste that’s like ….. cosmic. It’s Gazzu!! Hey, gimme a G.
Definitely something different here. With that out of the way, we begin.
Contains:
I have never had to write this before but I have no idea.There is no number saying how much caffeine listed is in GAzZU. I do know that it has 1000mg of taurine, 20mg of niacin, 5mg of vitamin B6 and 5mcg of vitamin B12. As well as that unknown amount of caffeine. This drink is not a low-calorie one but it is not on the higher end either, coming in at a low 110 calories.
Effects:
I am impressed. I was not sure what to expect from this because the caffeine content is not listed on the can. I stayed up late after having this, I am normally unable to do so. I was not jittery or overly hyper either. I was just awake. It wasn’t as good as a Rockstar Recovery but it is also almost half the price.
Taste/Aroma:
You may notice that we have added “Aroma” to this section as well. This is usually because in each review we touch on what the drink smells like under the taste section. All future reviews will now be titled this way.
The scent, it is a mixture of sweet orange flavoured candy and Jell-O. The taste was more sweet candy than Jell-O though; a sort of orange Kool-Aid except carbonated, mixed with sweet candy and some mango flavours. This is the best I can do to describe it, the taste is very unique. The closest energy drink, in terms of flavour styling, is Inked Energy due to the sweet candy taste. The aftertaste is pleasant and stays sweet, the mango has become more noticeable. GAZzU gets a good score here as well.
Conclusion:
I was surprised by this one. For such an unknown drink to have such an amazing taste, well it must be that moon dust… Ha. The side of the can sums it up best, cosmic. It is one of the most unusual but great tasting energy drinks I have ever had despite taking the Monster can design. Overall, it is one of the better ones out there, good job Circle K/BooKoo Energy.
Scores:
Overall: 8/10
Effects: 7.5/10
Taste: 8.5/10
Price: $1.79 USD
Overview:
Premium Pink Energy comes from DD Beverage Corporation, the makers of Beaver Buzz Energy Drinks. This one, comes in a similarly fashioned can like other Beaver Buzz drinks. It is clear that Premium Pink is made by the same company; and if you couldn’t tell by the can’s design, the pull-tab reads “Buzz” in the same font as Beaver Buzz. The last thing to note is that this is a zero calorie energy drink.
Contains:
Pink Energy has sucralose, often used in low-calorie beverages to serve as a zero calorie sweetener. The problem with this is that it is usually around 600 times as sweet as regular sugar, says Wikipedia anyway. Premium Pink also has 120mg of caffeine, 1021mg of taurine, 102mg of Panax ginseng, and 102mg of guarana in the 355mL can. This is lower than the majority of energy drinks and it is priced accordingly at $2.59. Will this lower ingredient content prove troubling in terms of the effects of Premium Pink?
Effects:
I was quite exhausted when I was drinking this so perhaps this is not particularly fair but sadly, this Pink Energy did not give me much of an energy boost. Perhaps, I felt a little jolt but it wasn’t enough to keep me even close to the energy levels I would get from other energy drinks. I also experienced some jitters which is unusual regardless of how tired I am when I have energy drinks. I am certainly giving this one a thumbs down in this department.
Taste:
After opening the can it has a sweet fruity smell, sort of a strawberry like scent. But the taste was far to strong for me. Remember that sucralose? Well, that is really what you are going to be tasting that in this drink with a hint of artificial grapefruit flavour. It also seems to have a very long lasting after taste, about 30 minutes after finishing it off I could still taste that same overly sweet taste in my mouth; as if I had just finished a sip. The taste is far sweeter than it should ever be.
Conclusion:
I was surprised by this one. Compared to other low-calorie energy drinks, like Rockstar Recovery, the taste of it was actually too strong. The only reason you should buy this is if there is nothing else left on the shelf. Premium Pink ends up being a disappointing one making it a good thing they have differentiated the branding from their Beaver Buzz line as it is a better drink; which we will have a review for soon, spoiler: the taste is excellent.
Scores:
Overall: 4.5/10
Effects: 4.5/10
Taste: 4.5/10
Price: $2.59 CAD
