Red Bull's Summer Edition is more proof the company runs on a different plane
Welcome back to FTW's Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey.
Few companies put the care into their press mailers that Red Bull does. About once every three months, a uniquely shaped package arrives at my door. Inside is the latest seasonal energy drink and some branded swag that's moderately on theme.
The Winter Edition came with fake ice to crack and an ice pack for warmer days ahead. The Spring Edition... well, I don't quite recall what came with that one.
But the Summer Edition? Oh, friends, I will remember this Red Bull... item no matter what.
I do not know what to do with this... poncho? Muumuu? I feel like I should be overseeing the process to elect the pope of Burning Man. I look like the last person you want to sit next to on any form of public transportation. If I wore this to pick up my child at school the police would be informed, and rightfully so.
Still, it's a lovely gesture. Importantly, it also has zero effect on the actual taste of the newest varietal. So let's see if Red Bull Summer Edition is any good.
Summer Edition Sugar free: A
True to form, it pours a cloudy white. This makes it look like old arctic cherry Powerade, a flavor that definitely understood where cherries grow. It smells, bam, like gummy peach rings. That's not a Red Bull thing; it's pretty much endemic to peach flavor across the booze to energy spectrum. I may not be using "endemic" correctly. But I use it often and it's resulted in the splotchy pink abomination seen above, so clearly it's working.
The first sip is a clean balance between juicy peach and the acidic backbone of Red Bull. That tang hangs over each gulp, but it's a winning formula that snaps off each pull cleanly to leave minimal aftertaste and keep you coming back for more. The peach plays into that, adding noticeable sweetness to the Sweetarts base to create a full-bodied drink.
There's nothing complex about it. It's what Red Bull does best; adding new fruit flavor to the drink that defines the basic energy drink structure. That simplicity makes this a crushable caffeine boost; even poured over ice this can was finished in about five minutes. It thrives in sugar-free form, leaving behind few hints this is a sucralose product even if nothing about it feels especially natural.
All in all, pretty great. Even if I'm uncertain what to do about the muumuu.
Would I drink it instead of a Hamm's?
This a pass/fail mechanism where I compare whatever I'm drinking to my baseline cheap beer. That's the standby from the land of sky-blue waters, Hamm's. So the question to answer is: on a typical day, would I drink Red Bull's Summer Edition over a cold can of Hamm's?
Yep. It's great.
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