Kronik Entourage - Revisited

The Kronik Entourage I tried over two years ago is long gone - and I don't miss it for a second. The over-sweet mess that was the old Kronik has given birth to this new deliciousness - a juicy tangerine orange lemon drink that works amazingly well, and has a decent, but not overwhelming, buzz to back it up. A big kudos goes out to Kronik for seeing a flavor that was in need, and giving it a new life. From what I understand, there is a diet version of this in the works, which sounds like one of the best drinks there could be. Unfortunately, for now I will have to stick to the Full Flavor (high carb) variety.

Taste:9
The old drink was so sweet it was sour, using natural fructose from the 80% juice, and then adding high fructose corn syrup AND sucralose to make this the sweetest drink ever - and not in a good way. I compared this to cereal bowl of sweet tarts covered in orange crush.

This new entourage is a complete makeover. The delicious citrus flavor is one of the best I have had in a very long time - and this time it is not even close to over-sweet. What impresses me even more is that while the last one promoted having 80% juice, this one does not look like it has any at all, but somehow still tastes juicier and more natural. No hints of medicinal flavors, no hints of harshness - just a delicious orangey flavor that comes off clean and refreshing.

I can just imagine how tasty this would be without the HFCS. I gotta find the Lo - Carb version now...

Buzz:8
This time around, they did not change much. Like the last Entourage, this one has 2000 milligrams of taurine, 100 milligrams of Guarana and Ginseng extract, glucosamine, milk thistle and insotol. On top of that, there is all your daily intake of vitamin B and Vitamin C along with a decent 150mg of caffeine, just a bit under normal energy drink standards. Of course, the 200mg of guarana might boost up the energy quotient a bit too.
I got a decent buzz - nothing crazy. It woke me up in the morning and helped me concentrate for about 2 - 3 hours, before leaving my dried up carcass to haul to the energy drink fridge for another pick-me-up.

In terms of nutrition, they have gone from a bug 280 calories to about 240mg a can. OF course, losing the juice and getting more High Fructose Corn Syrup to make up for it is not exactly what I would call a healthy decision. Still, every once in a while, a yummy dose of calories is just the right thing.

Packaging:9
I liked their old design, but this one seems more fitting. It was a shiny aluminum can with lightning bolts and crossed with barbed wire. This has now given way to a single big barb, a lovely printing job, and some cool slogans, like " This is what Willis was talking about!" and a funny and kinda disturbing paragraph about the drink. This is a big improvement over the old one.
Also an improvement is the listing of caffeine and guarana. I love almost everything about the can - as they did just about everything right. The only issue is not facing the drink lid so the logo faces outwards. Still, this is very well done.