I owned a Volkswagon bus once. It was the cutest car I ever had - and was too awesome. It also had only 2 cylinders, so it died going up inclines (you could forget about going up hills). Things are much the same here. It is a good looking drink with a whole lot going for it. However, it is really freakin hard to get where you need to when you dont have enough oomph to get you out of your driveway.
Packaging:4
Part of the problem with Acute Fruit is it is just so darn small. I know they make other Acute Fruit flavors in big 16 ounce cans, but I have yet to see one of those around. Instead, I have seen a couple coolers filled with these little dark red eight ounce cans - and there is really not big enough to do much power. I know that Red Bull and a couple other energy drinks still comes in this size, but for a juice drink this is just too small to do a whole lot of good.
There is also the issue of a whole lot of words - and none of them are about caffeine content. On the front of the can you are told that this is a Non Carbonated-Powered Drink-Sin Gas. Underneath that, we have the full name of the beverage, Tropical Blast Acute Fruit Fruit Juice and Active Mix. You then get the vitamin alphabet, along with a callout for taurine + anti-oxidants as well as reduced calories. With all those words on just the front of the can, any message is going to get lost.
They also put a whole lot of stock in selling this drink in Central and South America, and the packaging is littered with enough spanish to make that work. If they really want to go international though, they really aught to list the caffeine, and I would have liked to know the content as well.
Taste:9
I dont put a whole lot of stock in the taste in diet juice energy drinks, as they usually taste mike a bad mix of Vitamin Water and Grape Juice. Acute does a very decent job of it though, comin out with a fruity drink that actually tastes fruity - all while keeping the calories down. This drink is not flavored Tropical at all - but it is pretty darn tasty anyways. It tastes just like the ingredients read - like they blended apple juice, orange juice and water - then used maltodextrin - a low calories sweetener - to make things refreshing. I dont think I have ever tried miing apple and orange juice together, but it seems to work very well!
Buzz:6
I think the energy in here s a second thought - and what they were really concerned with was the vitamins and the flavor. The energy blend of taurine, glucurolactone choline and inositol really offers nothing new, and is really nothing special. There is a small bit of caffeine in here too, using lab caffeine, guarana and yerba mate. It is a good mix of energy drinks, but there is not a whole lot of it in here. I got a very mild energy boost - about the same as a small coffee. I would expect this to have about 55-75mg of caffeine from all those sources. It is not bad, but it just is too small and weak to really do much.
Vitamin-wise, I did like their blend. Even though it is just 50% juice, they still provide 100% of vitamin C, 50% RDA of Vitamin A, a big of vitamin A and E, and did not feel the need to completely overdose you on vitamin B complex like most energy drinks do. I really like how they made a nice juicy drink and kept the calories and sugars down too.
While I am not very impressed by Acute Fruit's ability to give any energy, for a juice drink this rules. For taste and nutrition Acute Rules - but don't expect much else.
