A bull thats red but not sugar fed (Sugar Free Red Bull)

Member Name: iamasadlittleboy

Product:	Sugar Free Red Bull
Date:	31/08/09 (46 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Low Calorie, no sugar, red bull

Disadvantages: Weak taste, health benefits of sweetners still arguable

Currently on a mission to try every energy drink known to man I stumbled upon sugar free Red Bull, as I'm in an almost never ending state of exhaustion energy drinks and chocolates bars have been coming to my saviour recently. As I've been through Lucozade, Powerade, Gatorade, Monster, Relentless, Rockstar and the original Red Bull I've had varying amounts of effects, with Lucozade alert actually being the best so far in waking me up, the original Red Bull coming a close second and Relentless tracking a long way behind as it had pretty much no effect.

Coming in a silver and light blue can (250ml) the can is very similar to the original Red Bull just a lighter shade of blue. As we all know Red Bull have expended from being a well marketed caffeine drink into a bit of a global empire which has seen them own an F1 team, sponsor a plane racing competition and numerous other feats as they charge on to try and take on Pepsico and Coca-Cola head on in the drinks market. The drink has been marketed as giving you wings, and is there to help you out when you feel tired, and has a wonderfully simple but yet delightful series of television ads in the UK.

So sugar free versions of drinks (which lets admit it are never as nice, except in the case of Pepsi Max) see a manufacturer take out the sugar of the product (something that ends in "ose" like Fructose, Sucrose of the most popular Glucose) and replacing it with an artificial sweetner. Artificial sweetners are often a cause of controversy due to medical links to cancer or other long term medical problems. On the whole the big two in modern drinks are Aspartame and Acesulfame K (or Acesulfame Potassium) though their is also Saccharin still being used. I'm no scientist so I won't comment on the positives or negatives of these chemicals I just know some people are very emotional about them. This drink in particular include the Aspartame and Acesulfame K sweetners in particular.

The original Red Bull was a drink I liked, it was smooth and easy to drink with a delightful taste of fizzy sweets yet not a single nasty bubble in sight. As a result of how good the original was, it left the sugar free version quite a lot to live up to, would it taste as good? Would it help me wake up? Would it be as easy to drink?

Upon opening the proper Red Bull the can made a sound a bit like a gun shot, however with this it hisses like a typical soft drink letting out the built up gas, a bit underwhelming. The can however does release the familiar odour of Red Bull (which I feel smells like sweets, the blue bottle type ones that used to be 1p each yet are now 2p), a lovely smell that seems to remain untouched but the absence of sugar. The taste test now was the big one, was it worth going sugar free in future. The original taste was exactly the same, brilliant I though, not another thing that's going to make my waist line expand. Sadly after the second and third mouthful it seemed to be getting weaker and more watery, the flavour just was as strong or consistent as the proper Red Bull's had been. Yes it was still fine, a nice enough taste but just lacking the fullness I'd come to expect from a premium priced product.

Nutritional Information:(per 100ml)
3 Calories (which I'm genuinely impressed by)
0g Carbohydrates (so no sugar...yes I know that seems obvious)
0g fat (so no Saturates...again I know it's obvious)

Vitamins (per 100ml)
8mg Niacin (44%rda)
2mg Pantothenic Acid (33%)
2mg B6 (100%)
2μg B12 (200%)

Overall a healthier (possibly) Red Bull that just lacks something that the proper version has, personally I feel the taste is more important than a bit of sugar, but not everyone will.

Also note:
The drink contains a source of Phenylalanine.

RE the price I bought my can from WHSmiths and got charged through the nose, I'm not sure what the RRP is but it's not worth the 99p I paid.

Summary: The original stuff and Red Bull Cola are better