I'LL SHUSH YOU YA TWEEDY OLD CROW! (Barr Irn Bru 32)

Member Name: dadofthree

Product:	Barr Irn Bru 32
Date:	17/08/06 (753 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tastes better than Red Bull

Disadvantages: Just as pricey as Red Bull but gets sickly after a few.

Firstly, please note the picture that Dooyoo has provided as this will save me the effort of a description. In actual fact, this potent concotion arrives in a small blue can with Irn Bru 32 in red writing on it. Darn, I forgot about the picture and described it anyway. What a waste of words!

If you are looking for it in a supermarket, you could try randomly perusing the shelves in the freezer isle (I have this theory that anything you can't find will be on top of a freezer somewhere near the Tomato Sauce - why do they put that there anyway?). Realistically though, it's classified as a mixer and so can be found alongside Schweppes and other such delights.

A bit like Red Bull, it's a rapid stimulation drink that is designed to produce a short sharp energy boost to the system, and it works. However, where the Red Bull brand seem to have gone for the image as a mixer, Irn Bru have marketed this one as a drink in its own right. So while you have a Vodka Red Bull on a night out, you have an Irn Bru 32 on its own at any time of the day.

But with this extra incentive to drink always will have its downside. Like I said, this stuff is potent and if anything, it seemed to affect me more than Red Bull. It takes about 5-10 minutes to start having an effect but a slight lightening to the head is followed by a strange buzz (I really must kill that damn fly, it's been in my living room so long I am beginning to think it's part of the family!).

So what creates this effect? The active components in the drink are caffine (32mg/100ml) and Taurine (0.4%). Indeed, compared to Red Bull its supposedly weaker - but who ever said Gin was more effective at getting you drunk that 7 pints?

Naturally this comes with a small warning on the can (it's very small print, might need to go get my eyes tested) advising you not to drink it if you arer pregnant. Hyper babies are not a good idea when they're out - but in a confined space one can only imagine! Obviously, those who are allergic to Caffeine and Taurine shouldn't touch this one either.

However, Irn Bru have followed their recent hype following the launch of Irn Bru in America. They had to change the recipe because one of the ingredients is banned over there - and so following the reports on the news, Scots were assured that Irn Bru here was still the 'original and best' and that this ingredient would NOT be removed from the UK version.

With this in mind, this drink is also full of E numbers and additives. In fairness though, E numbers are linked to causing hyper activity in children and given the whole point of an energy drink, I would suspect that this might be one reason that the effect of the active ingredients is somewhat heightened. I really must keep this away from my 7 year old - world war 3 would be started! Indeed, my child on a hyper drive would be a deadly weapon to drop into Iraq or Lebanon.... Blair can pay me £50,000,000 and forget any Nuclear warheads - per week. And I want her back (eventually @:-)).

So, we have a drink that gets you hyper, comes in a little blue can and isnt suitable for children suffering mild ADHD, but how much is it? Well, to slowly crucify your brain, this one costs about the same as Red Bull at a rather expensive £1.09 per can. Clearly aimed at the same target audience, Irn Bru is competing on a one to one basis with the thing that 'gives you wings'.

So, if I have a Vodka Red Bull, what does a Vodka Irn Bru 32 go down like? Well, firstly, that is one cool name eh? Sounds like a funny cocktail. Anyway, you add your double codka and pour in some Irn Bru 32 as preferred. I can't say how much as its a bit like sugars in your coffee - you always get someone with a sweet tooth. And speaking of sugar, this concoction does taste rather sweet. It's something you could have for a change in your liquid diet of an evening, but after 2 or 3 your mouth starts to get a little bored of the taste and your tongue starts to get 'gacky' (sorry, descriptive words are currently failing me). You soon find yourself having to switch to another drink.

That said though, I can find the same thing with Red Bull. However, comparatively, the taste of 32 is sweeter and tangier. If you don't like the Irn Bru taste then swerve this one and try eleswhere.

However, I couldn't finish this review without mentioning 'that' advert. Anyone in Scotland has seen it, and I hope English homes are treated to the same. The guy in a bird suit comes clean through the shelving of a library and quips 'I'll shush you ya tweedy old crow, Cookoo, Cookoo'. Superb @:-)

Summary: Good stimulation drink but sickly after you have had a few.