Uforce Lo-Carb Cherry Limeade

Value Brands can be very hit or miss when it comes to energy drinks - mostly miss. With very few exceptions, the energy drinks that big name department, grocery and Convenience stores come out with are a failure. 7-11 tried this a couple times, and about all the big grocery chains have had their FreeFalls, Deton8s and Archer Farms. I usually don't even bother with these, because they are by-and-large Red Bull clones and not at all worth the money.

Today this changes with Diamond Shamrock and Valero's new Uforce energy drink lineup. Like Circle K's Gazzu drink, these turned out to be thoughtful and carefully crafted energy drinks - much tastier and classier than their 2 for 2$ price let on. Uforce is a new brand Valero created for their 16 ounce cans of Lemon Lime Rita, Lemonade, Blue Pomegranate, Cherry Limeade, low-carb Cherry Limeade, low-carb Blue Pomegranate flavors. EdJunkie talked me into trying these, and for a buck these were downright winners.

Packaging:7
For being a private label, this looked pretty cool. They decided to actually print things up nicely and put some design work into it, as opposed to just having their graphics department spend an hour and throw an Xtreme font on a bare aluminum label (Take note of this Kmart). Being in the business of stocking their coolers, they did a nice job double facing the can and designing something that would stand out on the shelf. The only issue with placement is that the lid of the can is not necessarily facing any direction, and is just plopped on top of the can. If should be facing out, for the consumer to be able to show off this cool Explodey swooshy design.

My bigger problem is that they don't list the amount of caffeine, or really any of their energy ingredients clearly. Through looking at the ingredient listing on the can, I can see there is some glucurolactone and others, but no idea how much of whatever I am consuming. They don't even list a website for me to try and find it out. You have to call the company, and hope they call back.

Taste:8
What I was most surprised about was the flavor of this drink. I expected a cheapo Red Bull knockoff, or something that had the flavor and consistency of a fountain drink with caffeine tossed in. Instead, I got a lightly carbonated Cherry Limeade - cold and refreshing on a hot day. For a buck, there was no way to go wrong. While this was, of course, like a soda, it did not have any medicinal flavor to it,no aftertaste, and no artificial sweetener flavor - which is saying something for a low-carb drink.

Buzz:5
In terms of health, you won;t find it here. This is nothing but your average energy stuff, along with food dye, preservatives and the usual Ace K and Sucralose blend of sweeteners. While I have no idea how much of anything this has in it, I can tell you that it does actually contain caffeine, taurine, glucurolactone and B vitamins. Tis is obviously the one area in which Valero chickened out. Rather than go for anything unusual, they went with the safest energy formula, and then hid how much of that they used.

As for energy, I felt a mild boost- enough to get me through dinner, but not enough to affect going to sleep that night. My guess is there is between 100-150mg of caffeine in here. Overall, a pretty weak entry for this first Valero offering. While I could understand their first attempt to not take many chances, I would have still stepped it up a little.