🔌Review - QuickTrip Energy

🔌Review - QuickTrip Energy - Ultra

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. Around 2022, they rolled out a 16oz canned line simply titled "QT Energy" to capitalize on continued growth in the energy drink segment, particularly with gen-z. The cans feature a digital camouflage design, in this case gray pixels, and seem to be primarily marketed at young men. In the store, they're usually about knee level on the left hand side of the main energy drink cooler, somewhat hard to spot 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: 160mg, slightly less than a cup of coffee

👅Flavor: Whereas the red original flavor was very much a Red Bull clone, this one tastes very much like the original Monster Energy, almost exactly the same as their Zero Sugar offering. Mouthfeel is very similar to the Monster and you get very much the same citrusy sweetness of lemon/guava candy.

🧪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 (447% DV) Co-factor in amino acid metabolism and neurotransmitter synthesis.
B12 (Cyanocobalamin) - 2.1mcg (87% DV) Essential for DNA synthesis and neurological function.

The only other deviation I noted from other common competitors is that it has 10% of your daily value of sodium at 230mg which is a good step down from the original QT Red which was nearly double, presumably to offset some of the sugar sweetness. This is more closely aligned with what I see from other companies.

🏆Rating: 3 - Good - This is an reasonable upgrade over the original QT Energy Red flavor. It's less overwhelmingly sweet and I actually feel somewhat satiated after drinking instead of thirstier. If you're between Monster Zero Sugar and this can for less money, grab the QT Ultra.

⚖️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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