Slap Juicy Tropical Juice

There are three big reasons why I like to review energy drinks. Firstly, I LOVE caffeine; I am a caffeine FIEND and loved drinks, coffee and caffeinated junk for years before starting to write about them. Secondly, I love getting to know the world of caffeine; the free samples arriving by mail, the energy review community, the companies, pr firms and distribution houses I have come to enjoy.
The third reason, and perhaps goofiest, is that it gives me a reason to shop at Big Lots. I mean, while I enjoy shopping around at liquor stores and old gas stations like an old granny searching for her antiques, nothing gets close to the glee of looking at the next months booty found rotting on the super - discount shelves.

This time I found Slap Juicy drinks , from a company that refused to send me samples. Maybe that was because they were working too hard trying to keep their drinks OUT of Big Lots. Maybe they were just getting rid of thier old drinks, as their new line does not have a juice drink, and looks about a thousand times better. Either way, I was glad to finally get my hands on them.

Taste:5
Of course, I don't know why I was wanting to try them so badly, but the anticipation made the 50% juice drink that much more lame. It was not bad - but really not so amazing either. It was very tropical and fruity, like a can of Tropical Fruit Cocktail in Heavy Syrup. I don't think you could get more heavy and ...gloppy. really really gloppy. I liked it -but it was certainly nothing I would drink all the time. I tasted pineapple and pear and some other unidentified fruity stuff. This drink is supposed to be 50% juice. The sweetness was way too strong, as it was obvious that they added sugar on top of all the fruit juice, which is silly.

Between the isomaltulose (a sweetener), maltodextrin (another sugar) sucralose (yet, another sweetener), fructose and fruit juice concentrate, I was thinking this would taste just as good on pancakes or as a concentrate. I cut some of this can with sparkling water and it tasted much much better

Buzz:6
The buzz from this was very nice though. There was enough caffeine and sugar to get a nice strong 4 to 5 hour buzz - more than I was expecting certainly. Although there was a decent 200mg of caffeine in the can,I strongly suspect it is their first "Energy 9.0 blend"ingredient which gave me the energy. I mean, I know that if I don't get enough Isomaltulose and maltodextrin in my diet I go crazy.

Packaging:4
First, I gotta say that I love their logo - I always have. Yes, it is a dumb smiley face on a poorly drawn hand - but what do you want with a small drink company called Slap. The can has a green tsunami for no apparent reason - except maybe green swirlies bring to mind tropical storms. They traded double facing for a ridiculous paragraph on how awesome this drink is - so the employees at Big Lots will have something to read while facing all their drinks. It is no secret why this particular drink can now be purchased for .69 cents at the Super Discount stores, as this look was destined to end up failing against the Big Boys of the energy drink world.