🔌Review - Phorm Energy

🔌Review - Phorm Energy - Orange Fury

Phorm Energy - Orange Fury on a car dash in a parking deck

An new energy drink powerhouse, Phorm Energy is a partnership between 1st Phorm Nutrition, UFC's Dana White, and beer giant Anheuser-Busch. The brand focuses on a patriotic and blue-collar segment with slogans like "We do the work". 1st Phorm performs extensive product testing for an energy drink brand and all Phorm products are produced only in facilities that are FDA inspected, SQF Level-3 certified, & cGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practices) compliant. Phorm is made and packaged in St. Louis Missouri from a global ingredient base.

🛒Price: $1 at Kroger, typically $2-3 per can in most formats. Available in 12 oz can 4-packs and 16oz. singles or 12 packs.

✨Calories: 15, 16oz. can

🍵Caffeine: 200mg, on par with Celsius (little less per volume), naturally sourced from green tea extract. The 12oz. format has 150mg of caffeine.

👅Flavor: A relatively thick and indulgent soft orange with some light tangerine that stops short of a bite and subsides into a candy aftertaste. This is much less prickly than Monster or Celsius iterations and may even boarder on slightly creamy/syrupy. Flavors are well formed without excessive minerality and the drink is not overpoweringly sweet.

🧪Ingredients: Phorm falls on the lower end of vitamin concentrations but does include choline and N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine which aid with the replenishment and effectiveness of neurotransmitters. Notably absent are the standard taurine and ginseng from other energy blends as Phorm is taking a more brain-focused approach to energy. It does have enough sodium, potassium, and magnesium to function as a hydrating beverage.

Sweetener: Sucralose
Energy Blend: Caffeine (200mg), N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine (dopamine production & focus), NeuroFactor (increased Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / general cognition), Whole Coffee 100mg
Vitamins: 100% DV of Vitamin B12, 120% DV of B6, 30% DV of Niacin, 70% DV of Choline, 10% DV of Magnesium

🏆Rating: 4 - Great - Phorm Energy drinks are among the easiest drinking in the field and Orange Fury is no different. It treads the fine line between orange candy and citrus flavor without going too far in either direction. Their energy blend is well crafted and I don't ever feel any sort of sharp crash. Pick it up if you like orange sodas of any type.

⚖️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

🥃Review 29: Costco's Kirkland Canadian Whisky - Is it Crown Royal?

Awarded 91 points and a gold medal by the Beverage Tasting Institute, Kirkland Canadian Whisky is known a great value and many in the popular culture have alleged that it is repackaged Crown Royal due to its relative quality for the price. But is it? 📚 Background: Kirkland first introduced their line of spirits in the 1990s and has expanded their offerings over time. While I wasn't able to find a first release date for this product, the first TTB label in the COLA database is from 2016. The whisky is imported for Costco by Wide World Importers in Louisville Kentucky. Digging a bit further reveals that Wide World Importers is an alternative name for SAZERAC . For me, this conclusively busts the popular myth that Kirkland Canadian is made by Crown Royal (a Diageo property). Sazerac has a number of Canadian Whisky brands in-house, including: Rich & Rare Reserve ($19.99 for 1.75L - No Age Statement), Seagram's VO ($22.99 for 1.75L - Aged Six Years),...

☕ All Java Monster Flavors Tasted & Ranked

As a habitual caffeine abuser, I have a soft spot for Monster, both for their expansive lineup of flavors as well as their support for Sports and E-sports. Coffee is my standard caffeination vector, so the Java Monster suite of products is the perfect mix of bean flavor and energy boost. In this post, I'll provide my personal rankings and rationale for what is a very strong lineup. Note that I have not been compensated in any way for this write-up... I just like them. Currently, Monster Energy 's Java Monster lineup has five available flavors: Mean Bean - Vanilla Irish Crème Loca Mocha - Chocolate Salted Caramel Café Latte There are two "triple shot" versions of the Vanilla and Mocha which contain 300mg of caffeine though their flavors are very similar to the base versions above. At this point, we should also take a moment of silence for the two cold brew flavors, sweet black and nitro latte. The nitro latte was a personal favorite and I quite liked the sweet black,...

🥃Review #15 Costco's Kirkland Small Batch Bourbon

Costco's liquor store is a thing of beauty. While not every Kirkland edition is a hit, there are enough standouts on a fun per dollar ratio to always merit a look. Almost all of the house brands are less than $30, and I'm always excited to take a long shot when the new seasonal releases come around. 📚 Background: Distilled by Barton 1792 in Bardstown Kentucky, Kirkland Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey hits the shelves a few times a year. Mine was from batch 1124. The bottle presentation is supposed to evoke the same feel as other small batch whiskeys and there is a decorative purity seal that is reminiscent of the ever reliable bottled in bond green filigree, albeit in a meaningless red. Unlike its bonded brethren, this edition comes in under 100 proof and does not have any age statement. There's not a whole lot of additional information provided by Costco or the distiller, but we can reasonably assume that it shares a similar pedigree as the entry level 1792...

🔌Review - Phorm Energy - Grape Smash

A purple explosion from triple threat partnership Phorm Energy, Grape Smash was one of the initial flavors in the company's drink portfolio. Phorm is the progeny of 1st Phorm nutrition, UFC's Dana White, and beer giant Anheuser-Busch. The brand focuses on a patriotic and blue-collar vibe with slogans like "We do the work" and flavors like " Screamin' Freedom ". 1st Phorm performs extensive product testing and all Phorm products are produced only in facilities that are FDA inspected, SQF Level-3 certified, & cGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practices) compliant. 🛒 Price: $1 at Kroger, typically $2-3 per can in most formats. Available in 12 oz can 4-packs and 16oz. singles or 12 packs. ✨Calories: 15 , 16oz. can 🍵 Caffeine: 200mg, on par with Celsius (little less per volume), sourced from green tea extract. The 12oz. format has 150mg of caffeine. 👅 Flavor: This is the classic natural flavors grape that you're probably used to from Fanta or oth...

🥃Review 53: Costco's Kirkland 15YR Highland Single Malt Scotch 2025

The 2025 release of Costco's Kirkland 15-year Highland Scotch hit shelves in late January and is a recurring installment on an annual cadence. The first pallet to hit my local store sold out almost immediately. Thankfully, we got two more shipments at one pallet each that hung around a bit longer and I was able to snag a bottle. Like in previous years, this Highland Scotch is finished in sherry casks. Alexander Murray & Co. is the bottler with MISA imports out of Texas bringing it to the States for consumption (Costco's standard sourcing pattern for Scotch). The bottle has a nice heft to it and there is an ensconced Alexander Murray Lion adding some nice texture to the front of the bottle. Steve Lipp, CEO of Alexander Murray, calls it "Perfect for after dinner drinking." All-in-all, this shows an attempt to elevate the product and presentation from the ubiquitous blends and non-age stated iterations you'll sometimes find under the Kirkland label. Neither Alex...

Castle & Cairn

Search This Blog