🔌Review - QuickTrip Energy

🔌Review - QuickTrip Energy - Blue

QuickTrip has a solid history of being in the energy drink business with it's "Rooster Booster" brand, most often in a Big Q from the fountain or a Freezoni branded slushi. A few years ago, they rolled out a 16oz canned line simply titled "QT Energy" to stay abreast of continued consumer preference trends. The cans feature a digital camouflage design, in this case blue pixels, and seem to be primarily marketed at young men (like most energy drinks). In the store, they're usually about knee level on the left hand side of the main energy drink cooler, somewhat hard to find compared to blocks of larger numbers of SKUs for other brands.

🛒Price: $2.39 (often 2/$4 or with a BOGO coupon in the app). This one was a BOGO for me

✨Calories: 10, 16oz. can

🍵Caffeine: 140mg, less than a cup of coffee

👅Flavor: A tingly and unapologetic blue raspberry. There is a pleasant tartness to it but I also get a decent bit of metal and multivitamin in the transition to the finish.

🧪Ingredients:

Compared to the original, this iteration switches out the glucose for acesulfame-K and sucralose, the industry standard for diet energy drinks. In addition, it packs the following standard lineup of nootropics and B-vitamins, pretty much the same as other QuickTrip offerings:

Taurine: An amino sulfonic acid that regulates intracellular calcium and osmolarity. In the context of this beverage, it is used to modulate the "jitteriness" of caffeine. While studies vary, standard inclusion levels in this class of beverage are approximately 1,000mg–2,000mg per can.
Glucuronolactone: A naturally occurring glucose metabolite. It is included based on a largely unproven industry consensus claim that it enhances detoxification via glucuronidation in the liver.
Inositol & Choline Bitartrate: Both are "lipotropic" agents and precursors to neurotransmitters (acetylcholine). They are added at sub-therapeutic levels (estimated <150mg) primarily to support the "mental focus".
Vitamin C - (ascorbic acid) mood regulation, immune health, antioxidant protection, tissue repair, iron absorption, collagen production.
B3 (Niacinamide) - 40mg (250% DV) Critical for NAD/NADP synthesis; aids in glycolysis.
B5 (Pantothenic Acid) - 10mg (200% DV) Precursor to Coenzyme A (CoA), essential for fatty acid metabolism.
B6 (Pyridoxine HCl) - 7.6mg (450% DV) Co-factor in amino acid metabolism and neurotransmitter synthesis.
B12 (Cyanocobalamin) - 2.1mcg (90% DV) Essential for DNA synthesis and neurological function.

Weirdly the three QT flavors have very different amounts of sodium. Blue has the least at 5% of your daily value of sodium at 110mg which is a good step down from the original QT Red which has nearly four times the amount, presumably to offset some of the sugar sweetness. Blue aligns much more directly with norms from incumbent brands.

🏆Rating: 2.25 - Fine - I had hoped this would be my favorite of the three, but I think I prefer the Ultra. QuickTrip Energy Blue's flavor profile can't overcome the minerality of the energy mix, and I almost get some of that dreaded orange juice and toothpaste combo at points.

⚖️Scale:

1 | Bad | Don't Drink it | I Wouldn't Drink it

2 | Poor | I would drink it if there was nothing else or it was free

3 | Good | Serviceable | Buy it on sale

4 | Great | A Cut Above | White Monster | Buy at full price

5 | Excellent | Standout in the Category | Pay venue prices

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