Taste Testing the Beyond NRG Gaming Energy Drink
When browsing popular YouTube/Twitch streamers or watching Esports there is one thing that seems to stand out, powdered energy supplement has become a big market with gamers. Most brands are based in the United States, which can be a pain for anyone wanting to try some here in the UK, having to spend more than ideal prices to import.
There is a solution to this, Beyond NRG, a company based in the UK which does powdered energy supplement drinks. Beyond NRG has made it its quest to create the best gaming energy drink, with a key goal being to eliminate the “crash” typically experienced with traditional energy drinks. It has also teamed up with NetherRealm Studios to bring official sponsored flavours for Mortal Kombat. I was offered the chance to sample a few flavours of Beyond NRG, something I was interested in doing as I have not had many powder-based energy drinks before (a few samples of my brother’s imported flavours), but I do have an old record of been hooked on carbonated energy drinks from my university days that I can use for experience.
What’s in the box?
To help with this coverage, Beyond NRG gave us a pack that was made up of three elements. These were the Beyond NRG Vortex Shaker, one of the Mortal Kombat Beyond NRG Limited Edition Tub flavours (Blue Raspberry Lemonade for Sub-Zero) and a 20 sachet box of five flavours (Wild Forest Fruits, Strawberry Watermelon Lime, Honeydew Melon Grape Raspberry, Mango Pineapple Blood Orange, and Blue Raspberry Lemonade).
The Mortal Kombat Tub is not a limited edition flavour, but rather a limited edition packaging that offers the chance to win a Xbox Series X, Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate and a collector’s edition Sub-Zero mask. This is basically the game’s Kollector’s Editon that came out in Europe for the launch of Ultimate.
Vortex Shaker
Let us start with the shaker, the device used to mix and drink the formula from. The Vortex Shaker is Beyond’s more premium device. Beyond do sell standard shakers for £5.99, which require the power of the hand to give them a good shake, but the Vortex Shaker takes it up a notch by adding battery power (2 AA batteries) to do this work for you. The device is sleek looking, with the Beyond logo on the front that does not stand out much. In fact, the whole shaker does its best to quietly look cool, having a modern style that does not look out of place with the rest of your kitchen utensils.
Thinking about the device, it is such a simple addition to a shaker, yet it works so well at mixing the powder with the water, and it is so easy to work with. There is a small block at the bottom of the holder that can be detached (it warns not to get wet, so taking it off helps when filling with water or cleaning). A small button clicks in to turn on the X-Blades, technology designed by PROMiXX, and the water begins to spin in some hypnotic display. Simply pour the powder in while it spins and watch it do its magic. There is a little kick up of powder, but not enough to mess up a table top. Slap on the lid and you are ready to drink from the shaker, which has a nice lid with a grippy ring to keep it tightly sealed, but easy to flip up with your thumb. The seal is leak-proof. I even tried to heavily shake it above a sink to see if I could force it to pop the lid open, but to no avail did it want to spring a leak.
There is no real negative to the Vortex Shaker. The battery can be detached to make it the standard shaker size, and it’s easy to clean, even allowing you to clean the inside with the battery power if so required. The Vortex Shaker can be had for £19.99. If you are a person who drinks a lot of powder-based drinks, it comes highly recommended to grab one, as it does wonders at giving you the optimum mix without having to give yourself a good arm workout.
The Ingredients
Before getting into the flavours, let us just explain what is in the product. Three key areas are the focus – energy, vitamins and minerals, and nootropics. Beyond states on its site that the formula boasts a unique ingredient for energy – Coffeine (that is not a typo). Coffeine is a naturally-derived caffeine extract from green coffee beans that outrivals synthetic caffeine. Why is this better than synthetic? Because while synthetic caffeine does give you the boosts, and often faster than natural caffeine, it does often come with the “crash” after absorption, which is something Beyond has stated they are trying to get away from. Coffeine is a better source of energy for gamers over the likes of ‘Taurine’ – which is more suited to physical activity.
The Beyond formula contains essential vitamins and minerals that form part of your recommended daily intake. These are carefully selected vitamins and minerals based on the everyday gamer. Now there is certainly a stereotypical joke to be told within that statement, because the drink contains 100% vitamin D, which basically means those gamers are all basement dwelling beings who are scared of the sun. Jokes aside, the inclusion of this is actual great in the current climate, due to the coronavirus lockdowns that have been happening.
Two scoops of Beyond is all it takes to supplement the vitamins you may be lacking, through long periods of gaming. Ingredients such as Folic Acid (Vitamin B9) and Vitamin D3 aid the body in the production of Dopamine, making you feel even better when you are winning! Which means hopefully people are still happy even if they lose a game – I guess not many people who play Heroes of the Storm drink Beyond NRG…
Nootropics are natural supplements or drugs that have an effect on the brain to improve cognitive function, memory, creativity and motivation. Beyond’s nootropic stack is formed of a series of natural ingredients selected specifically for gaming and the digital generation. Known to improve blood flow, enhance cognitive function, reduce stress and relieve anxiety. Beyond have included these key nootropics in their formula at a significantly higher level than in other energy drinks, to ensure you get the maximum benefit from these next-gen ingredients. I was a little worried about the last part, where it mentions significantly higher levels of the nootropics, but none of the amounts in a serving go over the recommended daily intake for these ingredients. That said, it states on the packaging not to go over the maximum daily dose of two servings, which would push a person over the recommended limit.
One of the bigger selling points for Beyond NRG is that it is classed as sugar free, with only 0.2g of sugars per serving, the removal of sugar helps give it a more healthier look than the teaspoons of sugar found in can energy drinks, plus it is another way to help prevent the dreaded “crash“. It is still a high caffeine product, 150mg per serving, so anyone sensitive to caffeine might suffer from drinking something like this. With less than 20 calories per serving, it will not be expanding the waist line. It also contains no artificial colours and is suitable for vegetarians.
The Drink Review
Making a serving is straightforward, especially if you have the sachets, as a whole sachet is used with between 300-400ml of water – the shaker has measurements on the side. The tub comes with a scooper that makes one serving per scoop. The powder does smell a little of the flavour and is often tinted with the colour, for example, the Blue Raspberry Lemonade has a hint smell of raspberry and a blue/purple tint to the powder, while the Honeydew Melon, Grape and Raspberry has a melon scent.
Jumping into the first flavour I tried, Honeydew Melon, Grape and Raspberry. This one has a strong melon taste that overpowers the other two flavours to the point where if you did not tell me the flavour, I would assume it was just melon. It is a nice melon flavour, capturing what a fresh honeydew melon tastes like with a sweet aftertaste in the mouth. The smell after mixing is also pure honeydew melon. It reminds me a little of the honeydew melon KitKat I had in Japan, a good comparison, since the Japanese are great at capturing the flavour in their products. If you are one for melon, then this flavour comes recommended due to the overpowering distinctive melon taste it has to the drink, it is refreshing, but if you were hoping for a cocktail explosion in your mouth, this does not seem to capture the three flavours it says on the packet, but a phenomenal melon flavour you will get.
Next up is Mango, Pineapple, and Blood Orange, something I was excited for because I am a huge fan of orange, and this does not disappoint. Straight after mixing there is an aroma of strong diluted orange with a hint of mango. The powder turns the water a similar colour to diluted orange juice. The taste is striking, an exciting mix of pineapple and mango, with the blood orange coming in the aftertaste. This is not as sweet as the Honeydew Melon, Grape and Raspberry, going down smoother and does not suffer from a lingering aftertaste like the above flavour. This is more on the tropical side, so will be favoured by anyone who enjoys some of that totally tropical taste. As a fan of that, this was my favourite flavour of the five.
Forest fruits often has a rich flavour in drinks, and the Beyond NRG Wild Forest Fruits mixture has a fruity smell, with a hint of sherbet undertones, a little Parma Violet when it has been mixed. The colour is a strange shade of grey purple, certainly one of the more unique looking colours in the bunch. The flavour is not too rich, and there is a slight taste of a berry that hits as soon as it is in the mouth. It is not sweet as it goes down, but then there is that sweet aftertaste that comes without the berry flavour that was before. Wild Forest Fruits is a pleasant drink that does not overpower the taste buds that some artificial wild berries drinks do, but the sweet aftertaste does give it a sense that this is not juice.
Strawberry, Watermelon and Lime comes in with a banging watermelon smell upon mixing. I cannot smell anything else once the vortex has finished doing its spin. The water turns a pink red, as one would expect with watermelon taking centre stage. Taking a sip, the first thing that smacks the sensors is the watermelon note with that hint of cucumber taste that makes up the flavour of a real watermelon. The fruity strawberry takes more of a back seat in this, coming into the flavour as the watermelon begins to fade. It is a soft strawberry taste that does not stay for long. The aftertaste belongs to the lime. A hint of bitterness can be felt lingering behind, but again, this does not last long before it fades away. This is another mix that does not suffer from the sherbet taste in the mouth that Wild Forest Fruits did, coming across more like a flavoured water.
Blue Raspberry Lemonade is the last flavour available. I found this to be least exciting. It smells a little sherbety with a hint of raspberry. The colour is a strange grey blue once blended with the water, a little off-putting, but thankfully the taste is quite clean. The taste is not sour, actual it is quite sweet, bizarre when you think about it, as it includes lemon, which comes into the flavour at the back end of the swallow. In the scale of the flavours, this one was kind of straightforward and not attacking my taste buds like the watermelon or honeydew melon variates.
Did Beyond NRG Work?
Let’s get one thing straight, I am not a researcher/doctor/professor with any degree about the human body or how it uses all these ingredients to convert into energy function. All I can do is say how I felt after using this product for two weeks and match it up against my history of branded energy drinks. The lack of sugar does help stop the “crash“. I never once felt exhausted or suffered from headaches or any other side effects. I felt “normal” in sense that I was not getting tired later in the day. I did not feel I was being artificially bumped to stay awake or having to force myself to. I was going about my daily business without feeling tired.
One scenario worth mentioning is that I decided to have a drink late on in the night at around 10pm, as I was doing some hardcore Monster Hunter Rise (great game, by the way) sessions. Oh boy, was this a mistake in the sense that I could not get to sleep when I decided it was late and jumped into bed at 1am, only to not able to shutdown. I had a podcast on to see if that helped. The last thing I remember was it was around 2:30am, so I must of drifted off after that. To me this means it was having some effect on me, as I am pretty good at getting to sleep. I did learn my lesson and decided to not drink any after 7pm.
Beyond NRG Verdict
At the end of it all, validation of a product comes down to if I would be willing to purchase. I can confirm that I would gladly use Beyond NRG as an energy drink if I was needing that boost of energy. The flavours range from decent to great, and most of the flavours do not have an artificial taste or bad aftertaste. A couple do feel like they have come from a powder formula, as there is that sherbet aftertaste to let you know this is a mixture, but my favourite ones did not suffer from this. I probably would not make it a habit of using it daily, but when I knew a long day was in the pipeline, a drink of this seemingly would help me keep going for the day.
This is a great alternative to carbonated energy drinks, and maybe as a way to throw in some flavour in replacement of a coffee drink during the day. Beyond NRG idea to focus on providing energy for people who are not exercising/moving around a lot, but still need that boost to keep their day going makes total sense (there is an often stereotypical gamer joke that we are all out of shape), and with low calories, it should not be hurting anyone’s weight. With tubs costing £34.99 for 40 servings, working out around 87p per serving, it makes it cheaper than buying a carbonated energy drink, and seemingly, for me, works as advertised. If you want to sample all the flavours, a sachet pack goes for £23.99. I highly recommend giving them a try to see what you think, I feel people will be pleasantly surprised at how it tastes.
About Beyond
Beyond is a team of gamers and creatives with a love for all things digital. They have been obsessed with video games since they were kids, music addicts since they could afford CD’s and have injected creativity into their lives since they developed an imagination. As a crew of various ages and backgrounds, they wanted to create a powdered energy supplement that would appeal to the widest audience possible. A drink specifically designed to support a diverse range of passions that works for the people using them, giving that extra energy boost to perform at peak potential. Whether it’s streaming and competitive gaming, to music production and video editing, whatever your skill set. Beyond is here to support you.
The Beyond head office and manufacturing plant are located in the South East of England. All of their supplements are proudly formulated and produced here on home soil. This way, they can ensure customers receive the best quality ingredients, made to the highest standards.
More can be found out about Beyond NRG at their official website.