Mountain Dew Kickstart Energy Drinks Review

I got a bunch of cheap Mountain Dew Kickstart energy drinks from the US on my most recent trip down south.Vending machines were dispensing these for $1.50, but I got them for $0.99 from a Meijer.

Taste

Orange

As the label says, this drink tastes like orange with an unidentifiable combination of citrus fruits in the background. I say unidentifiable because it tastes like a generic citrus drink with a bit of lime and tangerine poking here and there. Aside from the mix of citrus, the real juice can be noticed briefly at the start and a bit towards the finish before being overpowered by the lime. 

Since there are only 80 calories per can, a sweetener was used and....yes, you can taste a little bit of it in the aftertaste. Fortunately its presence in the aftertaste is nowhere near as heavy as that in drinks labelled as "sugar free" or "diet" so don't be afraid.

Fruit Punch

Not sure what I can say about the fruit punch, other than that it has a very generic taste (OK, it does have a tiny bit more citrus than most generic fruit punches) and that it is carbonated. I guess one thing I might add is that since there are only 80 calories, sweeteners have been used and you can really taste them in the aftertaste. Unlike full diet or "sugar-free" drinks, the aftertaste is not as intense so didn't find it too bad.

If you like the taste of generic fruit punch, need some caffeine and don't want to ingest too much sugar, then this drink is right up your alley.

Energy

I decided to combine this section since both flavours have similar ingredients and work the same way.

There are 92 mg of caffeine in each can, but because there is also some sugar (only about 20 g) the effects are quick and slightly jittery. For the orange flavour, the taste of orange also helps as it pepped me up a bit right at the start. As for the fruit punch, the citrus undertone didn't do much.

Unlike the sugar-full energy drinks, the jitters are minimal and probably if you drank this slowly you would not experience them. Once the caffeine kicks in, you will be moderately energized (read: not uncomfortably energized) for about 1.5-2 hours before you starting coming back down to Earth. I did not experience a crash at the end, which is always good.

Scores:

Cost - $0.99 from Meijer

Taste - 7/10 for each

Energy - 6.2/10

Overall - 13.2/20...both flavours are very generic, but since there is less sugar than comparable drinks, the jitters are kept to a minimum, but so is the energy boost due to the presence of only 92 mg of caffeine