I have had their Black Ice formula before, only as a Slurpee drink that had a tendency to turn your poo green. Not that I did a whole lot of checking, but I don't believe that is the problem anymore. This is a very nice energy drink, although it was a more harsh than I expected, and not nearly as high octane as I hoped. I was also a little excited to try the new Monster line of Nitrous drinks - as sucking the Nitrous Oxide is definitely the best part of whipped cream.
Packaging:6
Monster has been stepping up their packaging design in the past few products, going for much more grungy than they used to. In this case, the design really works, giving the whole product a dirtier, more intense look and feel than previously. they accomplished this while still having a very readable and accessible design on top. They also used the Jolt Cola creation of that awesome Rexam resealable lid, perfect for holding all those extra bubbles from the nitrous.
Of course, they still do the dumb paragraph comparing this drink to an X-Games After Party, and trying out their “Ice Luge”. "In homage to this fiendish brain chillin abomination we created Monster Black Ice." Yeah - extra points off for using the word Chillin, not to mention the lack of caffeine information.
Taste:7
The first thing I did when opening is give out a yelp, as the can POOFed open andstarted foaming out of the can. While I do appreciate the sealable cans these come in, The fwoomp every time I opened the can took some getting used to. This sound is because of the Nitrous, which to my dismay has absolutely nothing to do with Nitrous Oxide. Nitrogenated water is carbonated water to which nitrogen is added to give it more of a fizz. They also do this same thing with beer to give it a larger head. So basically, all nitrogenating the will just give you more bubbles, make the drink foam out the top and make your drink lid pop.
Besides the fizziness, the drink tasted just fine. It is more harsh and certainly more concentrated, giving off the strong flavor of berries and citrus. Really, if you just concentrated the regular flavor of Monster to the point it got almost too harsh, you would get the flavor profile. I did like it, but I can certainly see how this is not for everyone.
Buzz: 7
They manage to pull this off with no sugars or carbs, which I appreciate too. Instead, they use a blend of the usual Ace K, Sucralose and Maltodextrin, and introduces to the energy market a brand new awesome sweetener called Erythritol! Erythritol is like other sugar alcohols, except that it has the least impact on blood sugar, and is easier to digest and convert into energy, all while having almost zero calories, carbs, and glycemic index. All in all Monster black ice was brilliant for adding it to their ingredients.
I also found some other odd ingredients in there, like whey protein and of course the nitrogenated water.
Taurine, Ginseng, L-Carnitine, Inositol, Glucuronolactone, and your daily energy drink overdose of vitamin Bs.
In terms of energy, this was a let down. If I knew going into this it was going to be a light monster drink, I probably would not have been disappointed. This wasn't extra strength, or even full strength. While I got almost a standard Monster amount of energy, I would have loved something stronger than their usual buzz. While they don't list the caffeine anywhere, my guess is this would have something slightly less than a 16 ounce's worth of sweet sweet caffeine fueling things.
Caffeinaholic.net
Edjunkie.com
Energy Drink Ratings
energyfiend.com
energyheaven.blogspot.com
