REVIEW: Monster Energy Ultra Fantasy Ruby Red

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Grapefruit is not my favorite fruit because it makes my taste buds tap out the moment the fruit’s bitterness hits them. I can count the number of times I’ve had the citrus fruit with one hand. But if every grapefruit tasted as wonderful as this Monster Energy Ultra Fantasy Ruby Red Energy Drink, I would eat so many that counting them would quickly surpass all the digits attached to my body, all 21.5 of them.

Fantasy Ruby Red sounds like a name you’d see on a flyer passed out on the Las Vegas Strip, but calling it Ultra Grapefruit would’ve given it kind of a 60-year-old posing as a teenager vibe to it. The energy drink has a pleasant citrusy scent but didn’t immediately register as grapefruit to me. After a few more sniffs, I could pinpoint the fruit, but there’s a little something else fruity hitting my nose that I just can’t place.

The energy drink’s flavor could easily be mistaken for another fruit. It’s sweet with a bit of tartness, and there’s definitely none of the bitterness that grapefruit is known for. There were moments when I detected a hint of grapefruit, but if someone told me this was blood orange flavored, I’d believe them, ignoring the beverage’s not-blood-orange pink color.

While a tremendous tasting citrusy energy drink and definitely something I’ll buy again, I wouldn’t say I liked Fantasy Ruby Red as much as last year’s Strawberry Dreams. But if you accidentally pick this up instead of Strawberry Dreams because, at a quick glance, their pink cans could be confused for each other, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with Fantasy Ruby Red.

Purchase Monster Energy Ultra Fantasy Ruby Red on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Purchased Price: More than one should pay on eBay
Size: 16 oz can
Purchased at: eBay
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 can) 10 calories, 0 grams of fat, 390 milligrams of sodium, 6 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of sugar, 2 grams of erythritol, 0 grams of protein, and 150 milligrams of caffeine.

REVIEW: Red Bull Winter Edition Pear Cinnamon Energy Drink

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Winter is here! Oh, wait, I’m typing this in autumn. Fall is here! And that means Red Bull’s new Winter Edition is rolling out to stores to let you know the cold months are upon us. This year’s flavor is Pear Cinnamon, which sounds more fitting for autumn than winter. But this seasonal energy drink is so excellent that I want it to stay for every season from now on.

The pear flavor is the most distinct. It’s sweet, crisp, and slightly tart. A hint of cinnamon eventually makes itself known to your taste buds, but it’s hiding in the drink’s tartness. I was expecting a stronger cinnamon punch to let my mouth know that the season of cinnamon is upon us, but despite that, this is the best tasting Red Bull variety I’ve ever had.

While it initially has a pear flavor, I thought I tasted lychee in the aftertaste after taking a sip from an opened can that sat in my fridge overnight. Since then, I can’t get that out of my mind, and every sip I’ve taken since has a lychee aftertaste. You’ll hear no complaints from me about that because there’s a lychee-flavored Red Bull from Japan that I adore as much as this one and can no longer get my hands on. So if my taste buds get to relive that with this, I’m happy.

But what I’m not happy about, and the worst thing about this, is that once it’s gone, I’ll never be able to taste it again since Red Bull comes up with new flavors every year and rarely brings back old ones. But who knows, maybe there will be a Christmas miracle one year, and Red Bull decides to bring this back. Only the future knows.

Red Bull Winter Edition Pear Cinnamon is my favorite Red Bull flavor ever (that’s not from Japan). Find it, drink it, let its flavor wash over your taste buds, ask your taste buds if they also taste lychee, and then let the 114 milligrams of caffeine ride the red blood cells in your veins.

Purchased Price: More than one should pay on eBay
Size: 12 oz cans
Purchased at: eBay
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 can) 160 calories, 0 grams of fat, 125 milligrams of sodium, 40 grams of carbohydrates, 38 grams of sugar (including 38 grams of added sugar), and 0 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Ghost Rainbow Sour Strips Energy Drink

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In recent years, Sour Strips, the social media-savvy candy company founded in 2019, has gone from relative gourmet obscurity to a sweet and sour force to be reckoned with. Popping up in big box stores like Target and gourmet sugar shops all across the United States, the brand has now officially aligned with another of the modern sweet and sour overlords — Ghost Energy. This didn’t come out of nowhere though, as Sour Strips founder Maxx Chewning is a longtime collaborator with Ghost, including last year’s fantastic Ghost Energy flavor Strawbango Margarita.

This year’s limited edition collab is a bit more on the nose, turning one of Sour Strips’ most popular flavors, Rainbow, into a drinkable sugar-free elixir chock-full of 200 milligrams of natural caffeine and focus ingredients, including L-Carnitine, Taurine, and Alpha-GPC.

Like many great candy companies that came before it, Sour Strips makes a type of typically tough, leathery gummy candy belts covered in sugar that come in a myriad of whimsical fruity flavors. The difference with Sour Strips is they feel like the softest, thinnest, and freshest version of candy belts I’ve ever had, with punchy flavors and a legitimate sour finish to go along with the crunchy sugar crystals. I know we’re not reviewing the candy here, but I wanted to show you my credentials that I do, in fact, know what this drink should taste like.

So what does a rainbow taste like? It tastes like many other rainbow-flavored Skittles-adjacent drinks with one huge difference — there’s no grape. Oftentimes, with Taste the Rainbow-type concoctions, whether from Alani Nu’s Cosmic Stardust or C4’s Skittles, the grape comes in with authority and can be a touch overpowering, but not here at all. This rainbow is a beautiful blend of cherry first, then blue raspberry, and a lemon-forward citrus that’s really refreshing. I think I even get a hint of strawberry, which helps differentiate it from a more typical Bomb Pop-type of profile.

The flavor is delicious and packs a pretty decent sour punch too. Again, much like the Sour Pink Lemonade, it’s not going to take the sourness to Warheads heights, and I wouldn’t want it to, but it has a sour bite that stacks as you drink it to back up the dense sweetness at the forefront. It’s nice and bubbly bright with zero thick syrupiness, and I think it’s safe to say Maxx should be very proud of his second excellent flavor with Ghost.

Purchased Price: $2.99
Size: 16 oz can
Purchased at: Vitamin Shoppe
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 can) 10 calories, 0 grams of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 30 milligrams of sodium, 2 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 0 grams of sugar, and 0 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Ghost Sour Pink Lemonade Energy Drink

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Pumpkin season hitting its first prominent September peak seems like a strange time to release a new summery pool-side sip of a flavor, but Ghost Energy doesn’t play by the rules. To be honest, though, is there ever really a bad time or season for lemonade? The latest release from Ghost packs 200 milligrams of caffeine into a sleek pink and yellow can of sugar free sour pink lemonade.

Well, regardless of the time of year it is, we have another caffeinated doozy on our hands, folks. The most simplistic way I can describe this drink to my fellow candy enthusiasts is it tastes like a pink Starburst mixed with a classic Lemonhead. The flavor begins with a crisp, bubbly lemon that quickly becomes a smooth and sweet “pink” strawberry-adjacent taste with just a touch of creaminess, like a Starburst. This is not a milkiness or dairy creamy, but that backend touch of smooth creaminess that every chewy Starburst gets rounded out by.

The flavor finishes on a more tart lemon flavor that leaves the lingering presence of a zesty Lemonhead almost to a T. It’s absolutely delicious. The mouth-puckering factor is present but much less intense than the Ghost WarHead flavors and much closer to the Sour Patch Kids RedBerry can. The word “sour” is definitely earned here, but there’s still plenty of strawberry sweetness.

This drink is amazing — I love it. It delivers everything I want from a sweet and full-flavored pink lemonade. My only issue is that it’s currently tough to find. It’s been out for over two weeks, and I’ve been able to track down exactly one can in one store after scouring tons of 7-Eleven, GNC, Vitamin Shoppe, and random gas station locations. Fortunately, the hunt was worth the payoff, and as far as I know, this is a permanent addition to the Ghost Energy lineup that should be readily available everywhere once distribution catches up with its (warranted) demand.

Purchased Price: $3.49
Size: 16 oz can
Purchased at: 7-Eleven
Rating: 10 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 can) 10 calories, 0 grams of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 35 milligrams of sodium, 2 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 0 grams of sugar, and 0 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Java Monster Cafe Latte

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Java Monster’s new Café Latte doesn’t taste new to me because the moment the liquid hit my taste buds, I felt it was a canned coffee energy drink I’d had before. Maybe from Monster or Starbucks? At first, I thought it tasted like Java Monster Mean Bean. But after purchasing a can, comparing it side-by-side with Café Latte, and spending the rest of the day being overly productive and jittery with 400 milligrams of caffeine pumping through my veins, it turns out they’re not the same.

I’ll let the can introduce itself, “Gingerbread, cinnamon dolce, peppermint white mocha…your mobile app would even laugh at you for ordering that! For those of us who love their coffee the classic way comes Java Monster Café Latte. Coffee forward with the right amount of cream and sugar, then supercharged with the Monster Energy blend. Coffee done the Monster way, wide open, with a take no prisoners attitude and the experience and know-how to back it up.”

Um, wouldn’t the “classic way” be black?

Anyhoo, think of Café Latte as Mean Bean without the vanilla flavoring. The coffee taste is much more noticeable than with other Java Monster varieties, but it’s still so sugary and heavy on the cream that I think those who like to mask the coffee in their drinks will be satisfied. (Raises hand) I’ll gladly add Café Latte to my rotation of canned coffee energy drinks because it’s as tasty as any of the other Java Monster varieties, not including the Java Monster 300 line, which I find less flavorful. Now that I think about it, I’m surprised this didn’t roll out when Java Monster debuted or sometime over the past 16 years since then.

But my well caffeinated brain still doesn’t remember what specific drink this tastes like. I found a Reddit post that says it tastes like the discontinued Java Monster Kona Blend. It could be it, but I feel I’ve had it sooner than the last time I had Kona Blend, which was a long time ago. So I’m guessing it’s probably one of the Starbucks Doubleshot or Tripleshot energy drinks. I could find out by buying them all and comparing them, but I don’t want to spend the rest of my day AND evening wired.

Purchased Price: $3.19
Size: 15 fl oz can
Purchased at: Times Supermarket
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 can) 220 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, 3. grams of saturated fat, 15 milligrams of cholesterol, 440 milligrams of sodium, 38 grams of carbohydrates, 35 grams of sugar (including 24 grams of added sugar), 8 grams of protein, and 200 milligrams of caffeine.

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