Dew did it again

After taking a shot at Relentless Dew have again drawn some battle lines in the world of social media.

This time it was Monster.

Not neccesarily an employee as I've seen a lot of people wearing Monster clothing lately? What is up with that by the way?

Mountain Dew Energy seem to be taking it to the competitors. Will Red Bull be next?

Boylans Natural Cola

I spotted this bottle in a local deli and was instantly in love with the bottle.

This bottle is a thing of beauty. Honestly. An embossed bespoke bottle proudly stating the selling points of this cola above all others.

That is a thing of beauty.

I was thirsty at the time but was so taken by the label that I bought a drink I had no way of opening. This is a proper bottle cap. This is like Nuka Cola from Fallout and I think I would wander across a post-apocolyptic wasteland in search of these bottles.

The fun doesn't stop with the bottle, the stuff inside is pretty good as well. On opening the bottle there is a lovely true cola aroma and I was straight in. It's maybe a little less carbonated than you would come to expect and doesn't slap you as hard in the chops as Curiosity Cola but it's smooth. It's a really smooth taste and dare I say gentle. You can taste the cane sugar and I mean that as a massive positive the sweetness really does kick in and come through.

There is a note in there that's different to most of the other colas , including the premium brands, on the market. I think it's the caffeine source. Caffeine from cola exclaims the bottle and I think that gives us a background taste that brings this Cola to a different place than nearly every other Cola.

Rating : This is hard. In terms of straight up Cola I probably favour Fentimans Curiosity Cola due to the strength of the flavour. How can I put this though? It's Day and Night. Fentimans is a day cola and this is an evening cola. This is a smoking jacket cola. This is to be enjoyed in a brandy glass with some Hennesey on a yacht. I think you owe yourself that
I'm very much wanting to get my hands on some of the grape, black cherry and the Creme. I might even buy a hunting lodge and one of those globe drink cabinets to enjoy the experience properly

I'm on that Philleas Fog shit

Is Red Bull a Sports Drink?

So today I was at the gym and approached by a bevvy of Red Bull Ladies handing out cans of the sugar free version of the drink.

Now this isn't the first time I've seen Red Bull being marketed or used as a pre-sports drink but it's something which sits a bit oddly with me. I've seen people drinking the normal red bull before a game of football for an energy kick during the game and people taking the Red Bull Energy Shots*, now I'm aware of the links to extreme sports, brought about by some super savvy marketing from red bull of course, but for traditional sports I'm not sure I see the appeal or the benefit.

New York Red Bulls home to the very marketable Theirry Henry

Is this the reasoning behind the sponsorship/rename of two football sides (one in New York and one in Salzburg) are Red Bull wanting to become the defacto sports drink?

What do you guys use as a sports drink? My most common is just normal water but if I'm branching out it normally seems to be Powerade if I'm buying a pre-made bottle or I use the lucozade sports powders to make my own. What do you look for in a sports drink something for an energy boost, I know 5 Hour Energy in America tries to market itself to body-builders and the like before a big session, or something for rehydration?



* Interestingly Red Bull are discontinuing the Energy Shots and their Cola
http://www.cspnet.com/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications::Article&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=3E440A3ECCDB404E9DCCC97669D24D4C&AudID=4AD8BF14480842378CC24C182A48D9D7

Cherry 7-UP

I grabbed a can of this from my local Poundworld store. As strange as it may sound these type of bargain stores are brilliant for picking up some of the less accessible but still main market brands. They will often have cans of Sunkist, Tango and Vimto which are unlikely to be found in most stores. So yet another top Fizzness tip there for you.

This incarnation of Cherry 7Up is uncoloured. It's refreshing but sadly the cherry flavour, or more specifically the after-taste of the cherry flavour, seems a bit odd and perhaps tinny in taste. I think it's pretty similar to the flavour tones being used in Diet Coke with Cherry (which again seems different to the normal Cherry Coke flavouring).

I wasn't a massive fan of this version of 7UP. There are better Cherry flavoured drinks out there, especially considering this isn't a diet soda.

I was left feeling disappointingly flat after this.

Rating 3/10 Not Cherry Nice

Give peas a chance

Hello one and all,

we're breaking a bit of new ground at the fizzness blog this morning. Turns out, and this may shock you so grab onto something nearby, that not only do we drink too much but we also eat too much as well. I know earth shattering. We've decided to share with you some of our favourite snacks as well as tasting some new varieties of common snacks. Some of them will be readily available in the UK (like this our first snack) and some of are imported goodness which we are either picking up from online importers or from local specialty shops.


The first snack is from UK supermarket Marks and Spencers and is.... WASABI PEAS

Don't let the pale packaging and friendly tree shapes deceive you, these peas pack a punch. Roasted to give a satisfying crunch the super sweet peas are coated in wasabi, which is part of the same family of plants as Horseradish and Mustard for those not in the botanical know, to give a powerful warm flavour. The contrast between the sweetness of the peas and the mustardy kick of the wasabi is brilliant. You will find yourself snacking on these until you lose all taste and feeling in your tongue, and even that doesn't stop me most of the time.

These are one of the most perfect snacks to have whilst enjoying a film or game. Great alternative to crisps and can be a brilliant alternative to nuts (although check the packaging as a lot of the time they will be in the same factory as nuts)

Highly recommended.


FACT : Did you know that Broccoli is also a member of the same family of plants are Horseradish, Wasabi and Mustard

The first shot of a suprisingly civil war

Monday July 18th 2011, a day war broke out. That date will soon be in history books as the date the first shots were fired in a skirmish between Mountain Dew Energy and Relentless.

Since Mountain Dew Energys Launch in the UK it's been growing a market share, recently Relentless has been making a push for the same demographic. They have a big advert campaign at the moment starring Chase and Status and MMA fighter Roger Gracie which has been showing in cinemas. I've put a link to the video below.

For those unfamiliar with relentless they have a larger product range than Dew Energy at the minute and seem to be getting some traction at the minute especially with the Inferno product.

I'm sure this is nothing and was probably a photo opportunity too good to miss for those at Dew Energy but on Monday we saw something which was a little out of place in the UK market which was 1 company referencing an other. In the US it's common place to have referential advertising, there's a series of long running commericals about a Pepsi and Coke delivery man for example but in the UK that's never really been the case but this week we might have seen a movement towards it.

A relentless employee getting himself some Mountain Dew Energy on one of the legs of their tour. Now perhaps the fact it was social media means we shouldn't take it too seriously but it does show a possible shift in attitudes to mentioning other products. Dew Energy haven't gone to the air yet with an ad so it would be a bit naive of me to suggest they would do something like this in traditional media. Relentless are yet to respond to the picture in any manner, I'm a little suprised they haven't asked for it to be taken down.

You can find details on the Dew Energy tour on which this happened as well as their latest Dew Project at their facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/#!/MountainDewUK?sk=wall&filter=2


There's a really good article here talking about the legalities of using another companies trademarks in  advertising. http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/in-practice/comparative-advertising-ecj-fizzes-it  which probably indicates we won't get something as insanely brilliant as the following Pepsi Max ad which has a Coke Zero driver failing to get one over on the Pepsi man

So in basest terms, who was right? Who has the better drink? What's next? Will Relentless take a shot back at Dew on their social media?

This Soda-War Correspondent is keen to find out

Lorina Pink Lemonade

I was in work getting lunch at the canteen, kindly minding my business I'll have you know, when my eyes were drawn to a new product in the drinks fridge. Lorina Pink Lemonade. Being a man of the world I think nothing of having such an effeminate coloured drink in my hands so I picked up a bottle and went on my merry way

I was instantly transported to something out of Amelie I think. It's iconically french in design, you can tell that without even looking at the name etc. It's a bottle that Christina Hendricks seems to have based her figure on almost and it craves your attention

It got mine. It really got my attention and I was very excited about getting to try it. So I was perched at my desk in no time at all. I opened the top and heard that tremendous  PSSSSSTTT noise as the Lorina lemonade was about to tell me it's secret. The secret is it's a bit too grown up for me.

This is a nice drink, it's subtle and mature with it's flavours. It's a grown up soft drink and a very good one at that. The citrus slaps you in your chops a lot more powerfully than you would expect for something so pink and demure. It's a really good drink there's no problem with the drink, the problem is with me. I still favour Bubblegum flavoured soda above most things in the world so a proper old fashioned pink lemonade was maybe a little too sharp for me personally.

It's a grown up soft drink with robust flavours but maybe just a little too refined for me at the minute and this brings me great amounts of shame

http://www.lorina.com/uk/fla/home_us.html