Do You Like Milk? – Sneak Shakes Taste Test

Since Sneak was put on my radar after sampling a few of their flavours for a review article, I have kept an eye on what the business is doing in the gamer energy drink space. The company followed up with a new flavour a few months after my initial review. This was Yuzu & Mandarin, which was again a cracking refreshing taste. I have yet to have a bad-tasting drink by Sneak. Sure, you have various qualities of good, such as Grape Crush and Purple Storm being the best flavours, but none of them I would classify as awful. I currently use them a couple of times a week when I want to do a long gaming session to get some of the games completed for our Game of the Year awards, which is creeping up on us all at an alarming rate.

Sneak has recently been doing Sneak Labs, a promotion that they specify as “us dicking around to create super limited and super experimental products”. Peach Iced Tea was the first one, a Sneak Energy with a unique flavour. Sadly, I did not get to try that. Sneak then followed up with Sneak Freezies, their energy formula turned into ice lollies. Such a perfect invention for the summer months, but I once again missed out on those. Their next release is Sneak Shake, a combination of Sneak Energy, but now using milk instead of water. As a person who is a big fan of drinking milk (“aint milk brilliant”, does anyone remember that 1990s advert?), I simply had to sample this latest innovative Sneak invention.

Sneak Energy was kind to offer all three flavours and their new Sneak Shake Shaker, a pink shaker that has a new design by Smartshake, for this review. The drinks came in three 150g (15 serving) tubs to cover the three flavours. These are the only sizes that were available and are the same size as the recently launched mini tubs of the standard Sneak Energy drinks that mix with water. Below are the three flavours described.

Caramel Latte, which Sneak advertise as “take your regular caramel latte, ditch the sugar and throw in a load of vitamins, minerals and amino acids instead. Did we just create the perfect healthy alternative to your morning coffee? You betcha. When we said, ‘Sneak ALL day’, we weren’t messing around. Mix with the milk of your choice and enjoy your new favourite coffee-flavoured caffeinated coffee alternative.”.  

Raspberry Creamsicle is described as “If ever a Sneak Shake were to bring all the boys to the yard, it would be this one. Creamy and milky with a sharp raspberry twist – damn right, it’s better than yours. Mix with the milk of your choice and err, better hurry up. The boys are waiting”.

Vanilla finishes off the trip with the description “You know how vanilla has become a bit of a shorthand for ‘boring’? This vanilla is the least boring flavour ever. It’s a staple, it’s a classic, it’s loved by everyone – and for good reason. Mix with the milk of your choice for the best results and enjoy – and remember: normal is boring, vanilla is not“.

Let us start off with the more boring element of the package, the Sneak Shake Shaker. I only say boring because I know you all want to know about the actual drinks rather than this incredibly bright pink plastic shaker, right? This new shaker has a striking and simple design on the outside. There is nothing complex to it. It feels good in the hand and is a decent size; it does not give the impression it will slip out of the hand while using, which would not be good because who wants to smell like milk for the rest of the day?

This new design is by Smartshake, a known company that designs bottles in Sweden. The name is displayed on the side, but not clearly, as one issue with the shaker is that any imprints on the side of the bottle that are not the Sneak and Bunny Logo are ridiculously hard to see. To see the measuring markings on the side requires twisting the bottle into light so that the reflection makes the values easier to see; not ideal when trying to pour liquid into it.  This could have been easily overcome by using the same colour of the logos for the markings on the bottle to make them stand out. The biggest change to the shaker compared to the previous Sneak releases is the sieve inside. These used to be thick plastic lines but now have been replaced by small hexagons, acting as a smaller pathway for the liquid to get through. I am not sure if this is to help add foam to the milk, but it does make for easier cleaning, as any clogs get stuck in the plastic sieve.

All three tubs are white plastic, I guess to be in line with the theme of milk. The labels are then wrapped around the tub and stuck on. The labels have a nice spark to them, as they reflect light on the small nudges that are featured on the label to simulate the gulpy drippings of thick milk. The overall design is not as cool as some of the previous releases, such as the metal shine of the Year of the Bunny 2023 tub or some of the other flavours that have used that design, but in the end, it is not the tub that has to sell itself, but the actual product.

Each Sneak Shake has the same base formula and has the same number of calories as the standard Sneak Energy, but of course, the milk or milk substitute will add to the calorie count of a typical Sneak Energy drink. It remains one scoop per drink, and they also recommend the same 300ml – 400ml amount of milk with each scoop. Included are all the same vitamins and minerals, plus the other ingredients that keep you awake, such as taurine and caffeine. The only true difference is the price, as the 150g tubs are going for £22.50, £2.50 more than the energy variety for the same servings. Sneak specifies that this is down to the additional cost to make it mix better with milk, and so they have had to add a premium price hike to the product. Is it enough to scream in uproar about? Not really, especially once you see the outcome of the review… let us just say that these products are rather fantastic.

Time to get creamy – the trio flavour review

Of the three flavours out in front of me, the one that had my attention the most was Caramel Latte. This was mainly because I am a fan of coffee and I do enjoy flavoured coffees. Each tub has a seal with instructions on how to make; saying milk first, one scoop of powder, shake for 45 seconds, leave to stand for 60 seconds and finally serve with ice for extra shaky goodness, but I never have any ice around, so could not try that last comment. Ripping the lid off the Caramel Latte flavour, a powerful scent rushes out that smells fantastic. The aroma is like the flavoured instant coffees that are in sachets, such as Nescafe Gold. There is a hint of coffee within the scent, but not that much of the sweet caramel, as it’s more of a general sweet scent, but still, it smells good. The colour of the powder is a surprising grey colour, not the hint of brown that I was expecting. Once the powder touches the milk though, it instantly turns brown and into the colour you would assume a caramel latte cold milk drink would be – Starbucks caramel latte cold instant coffee for example.

Enough of that, it was time to shake. A difference in shaking the Sneak Shake in the shaker compared to the standard energy formula is that after a few shakes it begins to foam up and the feeling of the milk moving around begins to stop as the volume is filled. This is evident when pouring into a glass, as it gains quite a head, like a badly poured pint of beer. The mixture solution smells wonderful, thanks to the sweet fragrance of coffee. This flavour is incredibly sweet. It was my instant reaction on the first sip, as its sweetness hits hard. I am a fan of sweet things, so for me, this was perfect, a winner. This Caramel Latte tastes like someone made a creamy coffee and poured loads of caramel syrup into it. The taste is simply beautiful. I could easily keep drinking this flavour as a replacement for coffee, it’s that pleasant and delicious. Of all the Sneak drinks that I have tasted, this one is up there with Grape Crush and Purple Storm as one of my favourites, and the bonus of being creamy adds more taste to the substance. An easy 9/10.

Next up was Raspberry Creamsicle, a stimulating name, as creamsicle is an ice lolly with an ice cream centre. For us Brits, that would be a product in vain of a Solero or various fruit-flavoured Splits. In essence, Sneak is saying this is raspberry with vanilla ice cream. Peeling off the seal of this pink and white tub, the odour was not as powerful as the Caramel Latte, instead, it required a closer sniff to get its hint of raspberry and vanilla ice cream. It reminded me of the Australian release of the Nestle Milkybar Allen’s Raspberry Chocolate. Dropping the scoop of Raspberry Creamsicle instantly made the milk pink.

After shaking and pouring it into a glass, watching the head increase in volume at the rim, it looked very much like a strawberry milkshake. The smell in its final form gave off a small hint of raspberry Chewits; that whiff which releases when opening a fresh packet, but it was not a strong odour. After sucking all the head off the top of the Raspberry Creamsicle mixture, my first sip was again very pleasant and incredibly sweet. This flavour had more of a creamier taste and texture compared to Caramel Latte. The overall flavour has a slight tang to the taste. I guess the best way to describe is that someone went to the ice cream van and asked for a vanilla ice cream cone and then popped a hole within the cone and squirted in loads of that raspberry sauce. A worthy flavour to slot into the top end of the Sneak flavour rank, earning a great 8/10.

The final flavour was Vanilla. This is a flavour that by name is one of the most simple and generic flavours probably in existence. I have nothing against vanilla, who does not love a vanilla slice or ice cream from time to time? But as a flavour, nothing special. Sneak did say not to take its name lightly as this is more than simply Vanilla, but is it? A sniff of a freshly opened tub indicates that it does smell like vanilla ice cream, but also the smell of milk bottle sweets. Visually, the powder is not exciting, white powder, as to be expected. Reacting with the milk caused the milk to turn a hint of yellow. Think of someone who poured in too much water with custard concentrate. Interestingly, this flavour hardly foamed up compared to the other two, meaning it could be heard shaking throughout the 45 seconds. I am not sure why that is, maybe it is down to the flavouring for Vanilla that does not cause a reaction during the jolting.

Popping open the shaking, the scent does not smell like real vanilla essence, instead, it just increases the smell of milky bottle sweets. This makes me want to grab a few milk bottle sweets and blend them to see if it would taste the same. The taste of Vanilla is once again sweet and creamy. The flavour is strong, so the vanilla cream taste lingers around. Thinking of other products that this tastes like made me conclude that those meal replacement drinks, such as Nurishment. Their vanilla flavour tastes very similar to this Sneak Shake vanilla. Is it exciting? Nah, but it is sweet, pleasant and creamy, and that makes for a great drink to enjoy. While it might be the “worst” of the three flavours, it is still very good and earns itself an 8/10.

The verdict? I cannot recommend Sneak Shake enough. I was impressed with the product so much that I would take these over the standard Sneak Energy drinks. The fact I like milk is certainly a factor in that decision, but the flavours are so nice and sweet that they simply go down well with each sip. I have already advised friends and colleagues to give Sneak Energy a go in the past when seeing people drinking canned drinks or coffee. But now with the ability to have the same benefits from the Sneak formula with a different group of flavours, plus the benefits of milk as well, is enough for me to want to scream to the leaders at Sneak HQ and say… YOU BEST MAKE THIS PRODUCT PERMANENT! Simply put, the concept of throwing energy drinks with milk makes it one of the best available energy drinks on the market and Sneak would be insane not to take such a successful product and make it a permanent feature in their catalogue.

Back this refreshing invention, Sneak, it is a winner. Now make more flavours….Rum and Raisin Sneak Shake anyone? Until then, keep an eye out for their HOPEFULLY return to stock on the Sneak website.