My brother's in the Marines, my Dad is retired from the Air Force, my girlfriend was a "military brat" and I used to play with little green army men when I was little. So, I guess you could say I'm pretty much a military expert. As the can and name collectively imply, Tribute is in fact a tribute to the military. Rip It is a "military" energy drink, and my brother himself has drank many of the small Rip It cans that are available in the military. This drink caught my eye in the cooler at the Sparkle Market in East Palestine, Ohio. Sparkle used to have a huge variety of energy drink a couple of years ago, but believe it or not Tribute is now one of the only energy drinks there. Let's see how this military-themed energy drink can stack up in the can, taste, and buzz categories."Ooh-Rah!"
The Can:
The can looks nice, and if I'm not mistaken is the first Rip It can that doesn't really look like the rest. Rip It typically follows the theme of the same can with just a different color scheme. With Tribute, there are a few additions to fit the theme of the drink. On the can there's a camo design, stripes, a star and a soldier holding a gun. Naturally, this is the only Rip It drink with a soldier holding a gun on it. I like Tribute's can, it looks good for the theme. It also caught my eye in the cooler and I immediately knew that it was a new Rip It drink. No matter what anyone says, I'll always like Rip It's designs. Some don't like them, but I've always appreciated them.
The Taste:
This shouldn't be surprising to anyone that drinks energy drinks or even anyone that's read a few of my reviews but I thought that this would taste like Monster at very first glance of the can. Monster has created a placebo of sorts by plastering their logo all over convenience stores, jackets, and hats alike. I've had a lot of Monsters and something about black and green makes me think of Monster usually. Tribute, however, is not a Monster clone. It's actual flavors are "Active Mandarin" and "Live Wild Lime". I wouldn't call myself "wild" or "live" most of the time but I thought this would taste pretty good anyway. When I took a sip, it reminded me of citrus pop like Mountain Dew or Mello Yello. The energy drink "bite" that I've been talking about for so long is there with Trbute too, but it's minor. This drink would taste great to anyone that likes citrus-flavored pop. Coincidentally, I happen to like citrus-flavored pop.
The Buzz:
It's very understandable why Rip It supplies free drinks to the military. It's important to be alert and awake, and therefore energy drinks come in handy. To me, energy drinks wake me up and get rid of my caffeine withdrawal headache. With my head hurting from not having an energy drink in a little while and feeling sluggish, I eagerly awaited the arrival of this drink's effects. It contains 1010 mg of Taurine, 100 mg of Caffeine, 100 mg of Inositol and 3 mg of Guarana. That blend works quite well as I found out, I felt alert and awake not long after consuming this. The buzz also lasted for quite some time, and I enjoyed it a lot.
I found myself buying Tribute a lot after my first can since it was the only energy drink that I have not had 1000 times before at the store down the street from my house. So, you should buy it and try it too, as it's only $1.
