Red Bull Silver/Blue/Red Editions Review

It has been a while since a new energy drink penetrated the Canadian market due to tightening regulations and pushes from the government to eliminate certain key ingredients from energy drinks. But this didn't stop Red Bull and I am so glad for that because I was looking forward to trying these new Red, Silver and Blue flavours for months...and now I can.

Taste

Silver

I normally don't pour my energy drinks into glasses, but I got curious and poured this into a clear glass. Surprisingly the Silver edition is almost completely clear. It's as if I had taken a glass of water and squeezed a bit of lemon juice. That's it. That's all the color there is.

The aroma is a bit odd. It is like a blend of cough syrup with a bit of lemon in it. The taste is very similar and is nowhere close to the original Red Bull. Imagine a cream soda. Now imagine you squirt a bit of concentrated lemon juice in it...and just a tiny bit of cough syrup. Well, now you have the taste of Red Bull Silver.

Don't let the tiny bit of cough syrup flavour discourage you from trying the drink. The finish is actually very crisp and the cough syrup appears only for brief moments before it disappears thanks to the lemon flavour. The aftertaste is very refreshing and unlike the original Red Bull, the only trace notes are those of lemon...refreshing.

Blue

I also decided to pour the Blue one into a glass an inspect it a bit closer. To my surprise the liquid inside the can looked a lot like blueberry juice with its deep purple color. The aroma also resembles that of blueberry juice...plus some sweet cough syrup-like notes.

The taste is mellow at the start with a decent amount of slightly sour blueberry flavour, which quickly starts building up around the edges of your mouth. The finish is crisp and rather clean with just hints of blueberries.

Overall, the blueberry flavour is well done and I have to admit that it is probably one of the better tasting blueberry energy drinks on the market.

Red

As expected, the Red is...well...red in color with a strong, sweet cranberry/strawberry aroma. The taste reveals sharper, tart cranberry notes along with some underlying candy-like sweetness. To be honest, this flavour goes very well with the candy-sweetness. I felt like I was eating a sweet candy with a tiny sour kick.

The aftertaste is moderately clean with just a reminder of the candy-like cranberries. I also did not detect any of a cough syrup flavour.

Energy

The same 80 mg of caffeine are present in all the cans and the effects are identical to those of the regular Red Bull - quick, slightly jittery sugar rush followed by a caffeine kick which lasts about 1.5 hours. Since I had each can first thing in the morning, I did not experience a crash at the end, but had I had this in the afternoon, I would have probably felt something.

Scores:
Cost - $2.99 per can from 7-11 and stores that typically sell Red Bull
Taste - 7.5/10 (The Silver Edition), 8/10 (The Blue Edition), 8.3/10 (The Red Edition)
Energy - 6/10

Overall - 13.5/20, 14/20...refreshing and different, but I still prefer the original taste