Rockstar Sparkling Energy Peach Review

Fellow Canadians, rejoice! New caffeinated products have met our strict government regulations and are now available on the market. I found cans of this new Rockstar product hiding in a corner at the local Shoppers Drugmart. These cans were not in the fridges, nor did they have price tags. There were a few open boxes of them tucked in the corner of the building where the fridges meet the back shelves. I wasn't sure what the deal was, but I picked up a few and they were rung up without a problem.

Please note that this product has been available in the US under a different (and more eye-catching label in my opinion) label since early spring 2014.

Taste

So what sets Rockstar Sparkling from the standard Rockstar energy drinks? For starters, the Sparkling energy drink is clear. It has no color. Poured in a glass, it looks like a glass of club soda. The flavor is also lighter and there is absolutely no sugar in the drink, unlike some other low calorie energy drinks which do have a few grams of sugar.

Rockstar Sparkling Energy Peach has a pleasant peach aroma that walks that seems both artificial and real. The drink is heavily carbonated and the flavor is lost at first with the multiple bubbles attacking your throat and tongue. Once the bubbles pop, you do taste the peach which seems real at first but soon after you get a dose of the artificial sweeteners and things change. The finish is dry and flavor-wise a combination of your typical sweeteners plus some peach in the background.

Very light overall flavor, very carbonated. I would compare this to mixing a peach flavored vitamin water with club soda and sweeteners.

Energy

OK, first off, you need to see the back of this can. Look just at these insane niacin, vitamin B6, B12 and Pantothenic Acid numbers.

Up until recently these numbers were not shown as the ingredients were lumped with all other ones, so not sure if Rockstar drinks have always been like this or if this is the first one. There is nothing wrong with ingesting more than the amount you need. I just find the numbers hilariously large.

There are 160 mg of caffeine in the can, which is in line with other Rockstar energy drinks available in Canada, but way lower than the new sugar-free Rockstars I had the pleasure of trying from Michigan end of last year.

I felt the initial energy effects within 15-20 minutes and they weren't anything to get excited over. I felt physically just a tad bit more energized, but I was still feeling like a mental zombie. Another 10 minutes later, my body was a bit jittery and I could feel the full effects of the caffeine, but my mind was still semi-asleep and unfocused. This was odd as the last few Rockstars I had from the US had a great mental and physical energy kick...or was I in some sort of a zombie state having had more than 8 hours of sleep (so unnatural for me).

In any case, I didn't mentally wake up until another 20 minutes later, just around the time the jitters had subsided. The effects were definitely on the slow side with this one. Overall, the kick lasted for about 2-3 hours and fortunately there was no crash at the end.

Scores:
Cost - $3.99!!! from Shoppers Drugmart
Taste - 6.8/10
Energy - 7/10

Overall - 13.8/20...very light flavor, highly carbonated with a slow kick