A Beverage Review by Josh

My friend Josh wrote a great review on the various beverages he's tried and placed it on his Facebook page.  I asked him if he'd let me post it to my blog and he agreed.  Remember these are his thoughts and opinions based on his personal tastes and experiences.  
 
Wolf's Den Presents...

Lap It Up-  A Drink Guide to Thirst Quenching Soda, Sports Drinks, Tea, & Others.

Drink 1 -- Gatorade Series 02-Perform: Fierce Strawberry
Container: Plastic
The “Fierce” part caught my eye early on when I was standing before the large glass doors of one of the local gas stations. Arrays of colors catch you eye when you're looking through the glass and to pick out the pinkest drink you can find doesn't do much for your masculinity, but I do enjoy strawberry's when I get the chance. To be honest it's not the best of the drinks you could try, but there is a sweetness to it, very bland strawberry, but slightly tangy and sharp. All drinks feel fresh and refreshing when they're cold but I did enjoy the time spent writing this and draining the 32fl oz container. The aftertaste isn't anything to write home about but I can see, much with any electrolyte infusing drink, a sense of refreshment after a hard days work. So in conclusion the Gatorade Perform 02 called “Fierce Strawberry”, the pink powerhouse, seems a bit bland but does the job.


Grade: 3
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Drink 2 -- Gatorade Series 02-Perform: Fierce Grape
Container: Plastic

 Yet again, Fierce is the title of the morning. I've gone through a few of the aforementioned aggressive fruit flavored sports drinks and I have to see grape juice in general goes back to my childhood. My family made wine, muskadine grapes to be precise, and upon being a kid and slightly sampling the family brew at holidays in small glasses I always enjoyed the fruity flavor. Powered Kool-Aid for example was a kids soda back in the day. Flavored water with sugar, that good ol'fashioned flavor of grape is something I am very familiar with. Now when I first look at the drink I see more blue than purple, but color is never something to judge a drink or anything else by. Opening the cap I smell grape, always a good sign. The taste is pretty watery with the backhanded slap of fruit that Gatorade is mastered so well. Fresh cool liquid that suddenly smacks you with some kind of fruit. There is a lot of grape flavor in this when you drink enough and as you're supposed to be reinforcing your lost energy I'd say if you're a fan of the grape this drink does it's duty. Best part about sports drinks vs soda is the combination. Sometimes you want that carbination but other times you don't. The worst part for me is the after taste. You're left with a dry grape cling in the mouth that honestly makes me want a glass of cold water... or more grape. Perhaps it's a buying ploy from Gatorade? Now, grape soda's have a sharp bite, but sports drinks hit you like a wave. So enjoy a swim, ride the grape wave, and refresh yourself.
 
Grade 5

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Drink 3 -- A&W Root Beer
Container: 16 oz Can
One of the things I remember from my youth is sassafras tea. My mom would dig up the roots when we'd go camping the she'd clean it and then boil it. When I smell root beer sometimes I catch that hint of that familiar smell. Now it's only for a moment, and root beer is so much more, but it does take me back to the times when I was young and full of energy. A thing I love in a can is EASE OF OPENING. I have a bad habit of chewing my nails so lifting a tab can be a bit of a chore. The larger can opened easily. That's a plus in my book. Taste? Good old fashioned Root Beer. It doesn't wrench out your tongue, it's smooth like a root beer float. The carbonation doesn't even give it a soda taste, in fact it almost tastes like I'm drinking light syrup. I suddenly want pancakes.
 
Grade 5

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Drink 4 -- Barg's Famous Olde Tyme Root Beer
Container: 12 Oz Can

What can I say? It's smooth root beer with a bite that lasts, it's not a horrible attack to your mouth but it's sweet, powerful, and it's like the root beer is hanging from your tongue like a psychotic monkey. I'm loving Bargs, and it's a refreshing change of pace if you normally drink Coca Cola or Sports drinks. You take a sharp breath after you drink it initially and it's not a bad thing. Your taste buds are just sighing... it's ok. Just tilt you head back and have another gulp.

Grade 9


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Drink 5 -- Everfresh Island Punch
Container: 24 Oz. Glass
 Not as much of a 'Island Punch' as I would have expected, but it's sweet and... clear? For a drink that is sales with a message on the side saying 'juice drink from concentrate' the color is blue and none of the fruits on the side are blue. Is it fruity? Yes indeedy. I said clear earlier, what I mean to say is that it doesn't attack my tongue, it's not trying to give me anything more than the sweet taste of whatever fruits it's supposedly getting me to drink. I can taste the orange and pineapple slightly and there is supposed to be, from the cover, lemon and possibly grapefruit? Either way it's rather refreshing, after a while you start to really get that citrus feel. Like drinking a cup of orange juice or grape juice. So upon finishing the drink I'll have to give Everfresh a bit higher of a grade that I had originally figured.


Grade 5

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Drink 6 -- Gatorade Series 02-Perform: Frost Riptide Rush
Container: Plastic

I've mentioned I'm a grape fan, I've also mentioned a sports drink is supposed to quench without driving your taste buds wild. Fresh, frosty, smooth, refreshing Riptide does that. It's not overly grapey that it leaves an aftertaste in your mouth, but it is very very fresh and refreshing. First time I tried this was after swimming for 2 ½ hours at a friends apartment. I got halfway through before I stopped to actually taste anything. It was the flavor that I suddenly realized was what I was gulping down instead of being exhausted and hot and needing a drink. I actually caught myself laughing and told my friends, 'holy crap this is good.' but by that time I only had a little left in the bottle and fiddled with the idea of grabbing my keys and trying to go buy another bottle. I know I'm gonna score this high, mostly due to the fact that for a sports drink, this one stands out to me and doesn't make me want to do anything else but sit back and drink it without following it with a large glass of ice water.
 
Grade 7

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Drink 7 -- Gatorade Series 02-Perform: Fierce Melon
Container: Plastic

This should honestly be called 'Fierce Cantelope' cause it tastes like someone gutted a cantilope, mashed it into a paste, strained it in water, then dropped in all the goodies that go into gatorade. It's not quite fresh enough to make me feel like my tongue has just touched fresh melon, but it does have the wonderful taste of cantelope. There's a slight aftertaste, and I do want to drink a glass of water, but I enjoyed the flavor while drinking it. It's not as 'refreshing' as you'd expect from a gatorade however so I'm gonna have to look slightly unfavorably upon this drink. It's good, don't get me wrong, but it just doesn't hit the mark for me, however it is much more 'fruity' than say the strawberry predecessor.
 
Grade 4

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Drink 8 -- Gatorade Series 03-Recover: Mixed Berry
Container: Plastic

I don't bash drinks, because if there is a drink bottled and sold there is a person out there who loves the flavor. Mixed Berry is one of Gatorade's Recover 03 drinks and it's labeled as a Post Game Protein Recovery Beverage. If so... the person drinking this is recovering from horrible taste or lack of taste, and has yet to recover. The smell and taste is like sour berries that are not right. Imagine eating a grape that is not quite finished growing? That sour young taste of a blackberry not quite done? Like biting into a sour apple but not with that pleasant feeling when doing so. I honestly don't like this drink. It smells like it's gone bad, like milk mixed with raspberries, and the taste doesn't leave much to mystery, it just tastes sour. It might have tons of vitamins, might be great at 'post game' recovery but I'm not feeling it in my taste buds.
 
Grade 1