Amp Boost Cherry Energy Review

I have to admit, I've really been putting off reviewing all of the new Amp drinks that I've had. I also have to admit that I just consumed a new energy drink, which I'll review eventually, to hopefully help me get all of these reviews done. Anyway, the cherry variety of Amp's new Boost offering is more than likely intended to replace Overdrive, which was Amp's old cherry flavor. Blue has always been my favorite color, but there's something about red energy drinks that I like. Not drinks that have "red" in the name, as those all tend to be a rip off one another somehow. I initially picked up three of the new Amp flavors at once, with this being on them. I can't lie, despite how I've felt about Amp in the past I was pretty excited to have a bunch of new energy drinks to review. Anyway, let's see if Amp's new cherry offering is any good , or if it can "elevate my energy" like their website says. It also says that this drink can help me by giving me the kick I need to tackle the early morning meeting, the 3-hour working lunch, and my kid's after-school recital. Also, it says that I should "get out there, and make us proud". Well, thanks for the pressure. Besides, the reason I drink an energy drink every morning isn't to make it through any meeting. It's so I don't feel like I'm going to die by 2nd period in school, and to prevent the caffeine-withdrawal headaches I get all the time. But nonetheless, let's see how this drink can compete in the can, taste, and buzz categories.

The Can:
I really like the shade of red they picked out for this can, and I find it to be a bit "dim" compared to the other Amp I had before this. All of these cans in this line follow the same basic outline as with pretty much anything, and the only difference you'll find is in the color, some text on the can, and obviously the drink inside. I like these cans substantially more than the old ones, and I can't really find anything to complain about with them.

The Taste:
I originally (and admittedly, rather poorly) described Overdrive, Amp's original cherry flavor like this:

"Mountain Dew Code Red is one of my favorite varieties of Mountain Dew, but despite being red and being made by Mountain Dew, Overdrive doesn't taste much like Code Red. Instead, it does have a cherry flavor but the cherry almost becomes an afterthought after the strong Mountain Dew taste and the other odd aftertaste this drink leaves in your mouth."

Now, something I've noticed with each of these new flavors is how much more "crisp" they taste, at least to me. I also feel like the Mountain Dew taste is pretty much gone. So, what you can expect with this is basically a somewhat artificial cherry flavor that is fairly drinkable. I've been enjoying reading the complaints on Amp's Facebook page about all of these new drinks, and I can't say I blame people for complaining. Amp was never really never my thing, but I would be angry if all of my favorite drinks completely changed too.

The Buzz:
This drink contains all of the familiar energy drink ingredients including caffeine, taurine, guarana, B vitamins, and ginseng. Simply put, this drink is effective in the exact sense that you would expect it to be. I felt a fairly substantial lift in energy from it, and was satisfied. This drink acts as you would expect to, and I would say that it's definitely in the middle of being completely ineffective and way too extreme.

To conclude, this drink is alright. I can't really find anything major to complain about with it, but I do understand not liking the drink if you were a die-hard fan of the old Amp flavors. Anyway, this drink is definitely worth a try if you feel like trying it. I liked it more than I recall liking Overdrive the first time I had it.

Amp Focus Mixed Berry Energy Review

There's a convenience store that I've frequented for many years that isn't far from my house, and to the right of the door is a cooler full of Amp drinks. It's been quite some time since I've bought an Amp drink but I couldn't help but notice the change that happened with the Amp cooler at the convenience store. Amp has re-done their entire line, with all new can designs and re-done flavors. I always recall the early days of this site, from December of 2010 to about May of 2011. A lot of things happened in my life, not all energy drink related. Anyway, I distinctly recall reviewing Amp drinks getting very tedious. It isn't like there are a ton of them, but I never really cared for them and just having to review each one got boring. So, here I am in 2012 with even more Amp drinks to review. I've been on the Amp Facebook page lately and a lot of people have been complaining about the new drinks. The page says "Rethink Energy" and as a frequent consumer of energy drinks I do applaud Amp for trying to stay kind of fresh as opposed to keeping their drinks sort of stagnant. Anyway, let's see how the first drink I bought, the Mixed Berry flavor of the Focus variety fares in the can design, taste, and buzz categories.

The Can:
As you can see, the new cans look very different than the old ones. I like them a lot, and personally think that Amp did a good job with them. They're much more "clean" looking, and they have a ton of information on them about what drinks in the line do what and a few other things. One thing that is missing from the can is the little Mountain Dew logo that used to be in corner of the can. Also, by reading the can I feel like Amp is trying to market this drink similarly to how Full Throttle is marketed. The can includes things such as "Be smart about managing your energy" and if you look on Amp's website you can see a few more examples of this new marketing. All in all, I like the nice blue for this particular drink's can. I can't really find anything to complain about with these, I think they look nice and cater to who they're trying to sell these drinks to.

The Taste:
It's safe to assume that this drink is meant to replace the old Elevate variety of Amp. In my original review of Elevate, I said:

"In case any Mountain Dew fans out there are wondering, Elevate really doesn't anything like Voltage, my personal favorite and Mountain Dew's blue drink. Instead, this drink does have a slight mixed berry flavor that's extremely hard for me to pinpoint, I can't really pick out any noticeable berry flavor in it at all. Instead, you get this odd tasting Mountain Dew flavor that leaves a weird aftertaste in your mouth. Don't get me wrong, it's not horrible but it's not the best by any means either"

Yes, that was still true the next and probably last time I had Elevate. With this drink, I found the flavor to be much more pleasant. A lot of people say that Amp doesn't really taste like an energy drink, and that remains true with these new varieties. I would say that this is almost a "light" version of what Elevate was. It doesn't taste diet by any means, but tastes a little more light and refreshing than I recall Elevate being. I never was the biggest fan of Amp as I've said before, and I would have to say that I would choose this over Elevate.

The Buzz:
The can and Amp's website both say that this drink contains Caffeine, Choline, and Theanine. Still, if you look at the nutrition facts on the back, you can see that this drink still contains all of your familiar ingredients such as Taurine and Guarana. According to the Amp website, this drink is supposed to help "Keep your head on track". I think it would be kind of hard to judge whether or not that works, and for some people I think that's impossible no matter what they do. Anyway, after consuming this drink in the afternoon, I began to feel a decent energy buzz. The buzz was very mellow to me, I honestly didn't feel it to the point where I was in a really good mood and actually felt like doing stuff, as some energy drinks do. But, I did feel quite a bit more alert and awake and I would never say that this drink is ineffective. The buzz was alright, and pretty much what I expected.

If you're a long-time Amp fan, it's understandable why you would be angry with this new change with the drinks. But, for somebody like me who rarely ever drinks Amp, I can say that I'm satisfied and am not really disappointed at all. I would say that this is worth trying if you want to, it's not bad.