Base+ Energy Drink Review

I found this energy drink at a Mac's convenience store in Montreal on the weekend for $2.99. This is my first Base energy drink and as it turns out, this particular one, is Base's strongest drink.

Taste

The drink comes with the all too familiar, and hated by many, Red Bull-like aroma. Unlike all those clones out there, the similarities stop at the aroma. I was pleasantly surprised to find the taste to be completely different. It starts off very bubbly with some cherries and cranberries and a lot of citric acid which gives it a nice bite and a crisp finish. There is a bit of that candy-like, Monster, flavour but it comes and goes as the citric acid easily overpowers it. The finish is dry and crisp and the aftertaste is fresh and mostly clean with only minor cranberry and candy notes.

Bottom line is that I liked it because of its sour nature and clean aftertaste.

Energy

Knowing that this is Base's strongest energy drink, I was expecting to see a caffeine content north of 200 mg, but unfortunately there only 151 mg, which seems pretty standard, if not slightly below the standard. The energy comes in almost instantly. I woke up a little groggy and opened this drink to try it. In less than a minute I was almost fully awakened and within 10 minutes I was experiencing some minor jitters. Perhaps the sourness gave my body the jolt it needed to wake up, or perhaps the sugar was absorbed very quickly.

The real energy did not starting coming in until around 25 - 30 minutes later once the jitters had died down a bit. The effects were similar to many of the other 473 mL energy drinks and lasted for over 3 hours and surprisingly I did not experience a crash. Base...not bad.

Medicinal Ingredients:

• Taurine - 1,892 mg
• Caffeine - 151 mg
• Sodium - 130 mg
• Inositol - 95 mg
• Potassium Chloride - 64 mg
• Vitamin C - 47 mg
• Nicotinic Acid - 38 mg
• D-Calcium Pantothenate - 9.5 mg
• Vitamin B6 - 9.5 mg
• Vitamin B12 - 9.5 mcg
• Vitamin A - 946 IU
• Vitamin E - 6 IU

Non-Medicinal Ingredients: carbonated water, glucose-fructose, dextrose, citric acid, natural and artificial flavours, colour, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, gum arabic, juice concentrate (cranberry, blackberry, aronia), ester gum.

If you are like me and actually read the ingredients and your attention was focused on "nicotinic acid", do not worry, that just means niacin...according to whoever edited the Wikipedia page.

Scores:
Cost - $2.99
Taste - 8.8/10
Energy - 7.8/10

Overall - 16.6/20...great taste with a great bite and a decent kick