Energy Drinks

I don't consider myself a fan of energy drinks, but recently I've started having one or two a week, usually as a little "pick me up" before running a D&D session if I'm tired from work. Locally, the convenience stores have begun to stock an increasing variety of them, with a lot of different flavors and brands. So it was when I browsing through the energy drink subreddit for opinions on these when I noticed a large influx of posts about gamersupps. I vaguely remember Sudo and some other folks at Spelkollektivet reccomending that brand while I was there, So I decided to look more into it.

Gamersupps, a name which I assume is short for Gaming Supplements, specializes in powdered energy drink mixes with the advertised benefit of "increasing gaming performance and mental focus". I assume the caffeine contnet is doing most of the heavy lifting for that particular claim. Ignoring the pseudoscientific claims about increased focus, the ingredients at least looked like the end product would be something akin to a caffinated vitamin water, which at least convinced me the drinks wouldn't be "overtly harmful". The powdered drinks are sold online in tubs containing around 100 servings, with the cost conversion meaning it ends up being about a third of the price I was paying for the equivolent portion in a canned energy drink. Throw in some freebies since they had a promotion going on, and I figured it'd be worth at least trying.

I need to give a bit of a forewarning if you haven't heard of the company before. One of the advertising strategies the company is that they reach out to internet personalities, particuarly twitch and youtube types, to act as spokespersons with promotional codes. Once a particular discount code is used enough, the associated promoter is given an offer to further collaborate and produce a signature flavor, cup, or some other accessory. This darwinian method of promotion and product development has resulted in a brand that caters their products to an "edgy" demographic. This has resulted in a significant amount of suggestive matieral across the site, including the majority of the products. I liked the drinks that I tried, but it's alittle hard to reccomend them to a friend when the first thing that loads on the site borders on softcore pornography.

I ended up ordering two different flavors back in July, as they had a promotion where they included a free cup, some free samples, and a canned energy drink with my order. Overall I was impressed by the quality of the drinks I tried, so I figured I'd do a breakdown of the different flavours I tried, since I had trouble finding information about them before I placed my order.

Blo'Hole Blast

I picked out two flavours to try, with this one being a bestseller that was reccomended a lot online. Blo'Hole Blast is a collaboration with a v-tuber who's character is themed around a type of whale (hence the name being a reference to a blow-hole). This flavor was advertised as being a combination of mango, passion fruit, lime, and coconut. It kind of tastes like a Mtn Dew: Baja Blast, which is a sort of tropical lime flavor, with the addition of a coconut flavor similar to a pina colada. I can see why this is a popular flavor, as it was quite tasty. The color of this drink was a lagoon blue, and it smelled faintly like lime and sunscreen.

Klaxosaur Blood

This was the other flavor that I got a full tub of. This was advertised as being an anime collaboration with the show Darling in the Franxx, which I haven't seen, but the flavour was watermelon kiwi, which I thought sounded interesting. This flavour was also new on the website and the folks online hadn't tried it yet, so I took the leap into the unknown. I quite liked it. The watermelon flavour is almost identical to this natural watermelon juice that's available in the grocery store near me. Though unlike that juice, the addition of the kiwi flavour prevents a lingering sweetness with a little bit of a tart finish that I think works nicely. This was my favourite flavor, and I reccomend it. This drink was a synthetic blue color, and had an earthy smell similar to a watermelon rind (it's not as unpleasant as it sounds).

Goof Juice

"Goof Juice" was an included "free sample" of a canned drink they were giving out as part of the july sale when I placed my order. This was part of a collaboration with the youtube personality MoistCritical, and was listed as being a strawberry kiwi flavor. Being a carbonated drink, this was also the only flavour I tried that had non-artificial sweetener in it. This flavor was well recieved online, but personally I found it to be a little sickening. This is predominantly due to me not liking strawberry flavours in general, but this drink was so sweet it reminded me of a syrup, and the kiwi wasn't as tart as I would have liked. A lot of people online ranked this as a personal favourite, so I would attribute this to personal tastem or a quirk with the canned drink format, rather than a fault on the product itself. This drink was colorless and smelled like fake strawberries, though I have seen online that non-canned versions of this drink were a red color.

Acid Rain

Acid rain was one of four flavours of sample packs I recieved with my order. I've had it twice, since they sent me two of each flavour.The listed flavor is "sour peach candy" and tastes similar to a "fuzzy peach". A fuzzy peach is a type of candy we have here in canada, which is basically a peach gummy with a sugar coating that's not really intended to be sour. but has a bit of citric acid in it. The flavour was tasty, though I don't think I could get through a full tub of it before the expiration date, but it was still a nice flavour. This drink was a neon orange/pink color, and smelled like peach candy.

Incel Tears

You'll recall I warned you about the names being a bit inapproprate, and this is one such example. The flavour is listed as peaches and cream. This tastes pretty much identical to the acid rain flavour I tried, but didn't have the slightly sour flavour. This flavour also seemed to have a moisture problem, as both packs I tried were pretty clumped up when I opened them and didn't mix well, so there would be a bit of residue in the bottom of my bottle after I had finished drinking it. Asside from Goof Juice which I didn't like, this is probably my least favourite of the flavours I tried. Visually this drink was indistinguishable from Acid Rain, and smelled the same as well.

Lean

The artwork for this drink prominently features former president Joe biden wearing a pair of Groucho glasses holding a double stryfoam cup spilling a purple drink. For those not in the know, the name Lean is the name given to a street drug where folks would mix Codine Cough Syrup (a prescription opiate sometimes prescribed for colds, usually grape flavoured) with Sprite, usually in a double sleeved styrofoam cup. In doing a bit of digging, I found that a previous version of this drink's artwork had an unedited photo of the president, which prompted a whitehouse Cease-and-Desist to be issued. The flavour of this particular drink was actually quite nice, listed as a peach-tea and lemonade. The flavour was somewhere between a grape popsicle and an Arnold Palmner (a mixed drink of iced-tea and lemonade). Note that there wasn't any grape flavour added, so that might have just been the color of the drink playing with my senses. I quite liked this drink, and would probably get it again in the future. This color was a faint purple, almost plum color, and the smell was similar to a fruit punch.

Good

The reviews for Good tend to be one word joke reviews referencing the name of the flavour: "good". The flavour of this drink is listed as a cherry slushie. This is an accurate description, though it isn't syrupy sweet, like you would expect. There is a slightly sour cherry flavour, almost like a cherry candy mixed with an uncarbonated sprite, though it can best be described as a less intense version of the flavour of a melted slushie. This drink was an opaque red, and smelled like cherry candy.

Plowed and Proud

This one was a recent aquisition in my second order, since I wanted to pick up some of the caffeine free varieties. Plowed and Proud is described as being a rhubarb, cranberry, and apply flavor. I think it tastes a little bit like some of the local cider we have at a farmers market near me. It's not too tart or bitter like a cranberry juice, and I reckon that this would be good if you mixed it up like a hot-drink. The drink is a deep red color, and has a bit of a staining risk. It smells like apples. This flavour also tends to froth up when I mix it, which is strange because the other flavours don't do that.

Sakura Splash

since I kind of liked "good" and wanted a cherry flavoured drink, this one was one of the more reccomended flavours. Sakura splash is advertised as being a sour-cherry candy flavoured, which I thought would be tasty. The flavour is alright. It'd say it's close to a cherry flavoured taffy, with a synthetic sweetener aftertaste. Some folks have said it has a bit of a floral taste, which I can kind of see, but I don't think that's intentional. One of the plus sides of this drink is it's one of the few red drinks they have that don't use Red 40 as a food coloring additive. The color is a light red, almost pink, and it smells like, you'll never guess, cherries.

Doggy Style

Doggy Style was listed as an apple iced-tea flavour. Since I liked the Lean flavour, I figured this would be worth a taste-test. The drink is an iced tea color, and I would say that the taste is similar to a mulled apple cider, not an iced tea. The color is an opaque brown, similar to a cider. It's an alright flavour, but it's also fairly sugary in flavour, which means that I start to feel sick of it about halfway through the drink. Some folks have reccomended mixing this with other flavours, so I might give that a try in the future.