YJ Stinger Pounding Punch

After waking up early, I want to rid myself of my morning grogginess and a great way to do that is having an energy drink. Out of my small inventory of drinks, I decided to try out the YJ Stinger Pounding Punch, a drink I have long waited to review because better drinks always came first. But this morning, I chose this drink because of the things I've heard aobut it. Taurine Rules mentions that it tastes like cough syrup, which I'm interested in, because that likely means some extemely artificial flavors like artificial grape or cherry. I couldn't tell you why, but reviewing an energy drink with these familiar flavors. I don't want to waste any more time; I want to tear in.

Boy, it's been a while since I've popped open a small 8oz can. This thing feels tiny in the palm of my hand. When I take a whiff, it's another one of those familiar childhood scents, like a frutier, kiddie version of Hawaiian Punch. The tropical flavors in the punch, whatever they may be, are prominent and give this drink a delightful zing. So far, I'm quite pleased. Smelling once more, I may pick up some guava, but I doubt it since I don't expect YJ Stinger to incorporate guava into any of their drinks. Unlike many reviews I have read, I don't believe this tastes like cough syrup, but it is very familiar and I can't put my finger on it. I guess it's just one of the many distinct yet common flavors floating around in many budget drinks. After a few more sniffs and sips I finally have the flavor worked out; this drink tastes like and smells like artificial grape and strawberry, like the kind of strawberry you taste in strawberry mousse and the kind of grape in grape soda supporting it. In my opinion, this really isn't bad, and when I sip, the light carbonation creates a tingling sensation that works quite well. As I pour this out at the last minute, the color reveals itself as a pink/red, just like the color on the can. Halfway through the can, I feel very little gumminess which is a good thing, meaning this drink is very thin. And, yes, it's true that when you sip, you taste a small amount of vitamins in the drink, though, in my mind, it only complements the flavor. I'm going to be thoroughly enjoying this for the time it lasts.

As for kick, I can't say this has a great effect. Just like the other YJ Stingers, there's very little kick, and even only a bit of alertness. Based on the kick, I can't recommend this to anyone, really. In any case, here are the ingredients: Carbonated Water, HFCS, Citric Acid, Caffeine, Taurine, Ascorbic Acid, B Vitamin Stack (Pantothenic Acid, Niacin, Pyrodoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine, Biotin, Cyanocobalamin, Yerba Mate, Guarana, Ginseng, Red 40, Natural and Artificial FLavors, Potassium Sorbate.

It's not a spectacular ingredients list, however I hadn't expected to see Yerba Mate in this. No matter, this ingredients list looks typical of a cheap energy drink, lots of sugar, energy ingredients in small amounts. What else is unspectacular is the amount of sugar: 32g per serving, which I find to be over-the-top, however, you'll find that many drinks are highly sweetened such as this. Per serving there are 130 calories. Overall, I like this drink for it's familiar flavor, but I know that this could be the reason many others dislike it, and the boost is truly lame and nearly unnoticable. I'm not quite sure what to say, but most people probably won't like this.

Taste: 6.7 - Very familiar fruit taste you may remember as a kid
Kick: 4.2 - Nearly unnoticable kick, comparable to a Sprite
Overall: 5 - Not quite an energy drink

Reviewed by: Jeff

YJ Stinger Sinful Citrus

It usually means something dangerous if you see a picture of a detailed wasp on the front of a can. YJ Stinger is going there and putting a fierce wasp on the can, so I'm assuming that I'm in for a pretty gnarly energy drink in terms of taste and kick. I have tried Stinger before, and I know for a fact they are not a mean and dangerous energy drink company, but a mediocre energy drink company. I believe for a can design like they have, they should intensify their drinks, I mean seriously. They also have some pretty neat alliterations they use to describe their flavors as something fearsome. For example, some of their flavor names include: Pounding Punch, Enraged Raspberry, and this one, Sinful Citrus. I admire YJ's attempt at good alliteration. However, that doesn't really mean much, in the sense of actually having a drink with a good flavor and kick to it. Besides the wasp sticking out, the can design is a nice lime green color, with the letters 'YJ' in large letters. 'Sinful Citrus' is printed in much smaller letters rimming the top of the can. Well, whatever, perhaps Sinful Citrus will deliver the flavor I'm craving at this moment.

The can opened up smoothly to expose a scent not very appetizing. It's more like an herbaceous lemon-lime scent, with some minors amounts of orange and bitterness. Hm, the color pretty much shocked me. Sinful Citrus has a color similar to the Kronik, but not as blue and a bit more green to it. It's definitely not a turquoise color, if that's what you're thinking. Yet, I'm still disappointed in the flavor I found. It tastes almost exactly like a carbonated version of the FRS Lemon-Lime and the Hooah! Lemon-lime put together. It's got that strong herbaceous flavor mixed in with a diluted lemon-lime flavor fading away with a bitter orange-peel flavor. The general flavor is really lame, and once again, YJ Stinger has left another disappointment on the table. The aftertaste is that crude HFCS flavor that's just plain -I don't want to say nasty- not great at all. Another oddity about this rather Terrible Citrus energy drink is that it's heavily carbonated, almost as carbonated as a can of soda. I've noticed HFCS-filled energy drinks haven't been as gummy anymore, but this one has the same gumminess, that I remember being just 'bleh' to me. Overall, this is just another failure in the line of Citrus energy drinks, and I don't recommend you get this one. You want to stick with the major Citrus flavors like Crunk Citrus, Rip It Citrus X, and various other juice flavored drinks.

The ingredients I see here in this 8 ounce can of Citrus are carbonated water, HFCS, citric acid, caffeine, taurine, ascorbic acid, B vitamin stack, niacin, thiamine, biotin, yerba mate, guarana, ginseng, and natural and artificial flavors. Well I first notice Stinger did put a whole lot of vitamins in this small can, but didn't mask that powerful herby flavor it contains within. Yerba Mate flavor, didn't go well with the vitamins because it helped out what I believe was the bitter flavor it gave to me. I found quite a bit of artificialness in the drink, due to the ingredient 'artificial flavors', well duh. Per can, you get 130 calories, and a useless 32g of sugar. I used the word 'useless' only because the amount of sugar I found really wasn't necessary for the amount of sweetness in the drink itself. The calorie amount is similar in the situation but you know, there's nothing I can do. The energy I'm feeling now is pretty good, actually. Like it notes on the can "Improve Performance, Increase Energy, and Enhance Concentration." I'm feeling all three of those right, let's see how long this can keep me up tonight. So, YJ isn't the best company to look for if you want a good citrus flavor, but the kick actually isn't bad. I can easily say I felt the Sting.

Taste: 6.4 - A lame and too vitaminy knockoff of a citrus flavored energy drink
Kick: 7.8 - The kick is pretty good, it lasts for quite awhile as well
Overall: 6.8 - I wouldn't recommend it anyway, there are too many better citrus energy drinks on the market that would deliver what you really need.

Reviewed by: Chan

YJ Stinger Enraged Raspberry

I've got a whole lot of drinks to review, including some great ones like Jolt Power Cola and BooKoo Wild Berry Zero Carb, but I pulled this thing out of my fridge instead. I wanted this one because I was hankering for some classic raspberry flavor I heard this had. Also, it would be a great drink to compare to the Jolt Blue and the upcoming review of Jolt Blue Raspberry. I'm not too happy to know that there are about 30g of sugar per serving, 32 per can. I am definitely not one for super sweet drinks, and the sweetness in the Enraged Raspberry is probably going to really bug me. Perhaps that is the reason they only come in 8.4oz cans. Probably by the end of this review, I'm going to be glad this isn't 16oz. I've already discussed the look of the can so I'm going to tear in.

I popped it open and observed. The smell is pretty faint blue raspberry with a kind of weird metallic wang I've never smelled before. Odd, but I'll forget about it for now. I poured it out and the color nearly blew my mind. I haven't seen such an electric sky blue before. With a small sip, I taste a very tiny and lame berry that I can just barely tell is raspberry. I thought it might take me a larger sip to get he taste right, but that's not true. It's still fizzy with fine carbonation and hardly any flavor. I was thinking this would be packed with flavor, but I was wrong. Also surprising, it isn't super sugary like the Freeks and some of the BooKoos. It's instead just at the right level, but I still taste that weird salty or bitter something; I'm not sure what it is, but I can't seem to enjoy the drink with it in there. Well, when I block it out, the drink still doesn't seem to impress me. It tastes not as sweet as the Jolt Blue, but then there's a whole lot less flavor with no tartness whatsoever. I wouldn't buy this again, nor would I recommend it to anyone. It's just totally mediocre.

Well, I do feel a kick, but it's just below average. The energy ingredients aren't listed in their amounts, sadly, but they are in the ingredients. Caffeine comes in after the third ingredient, Citric Acid, which should have given the drink a nice acidity. Taurine follows, then there's Ascorbic Acid, which also failed to give the drink some sourness. The rest of the list is as follows: B Vitamin Stack, Yerba Mate, Guarana, Ginseng, Blue 1, Natural and Artificial Flavors, and Potassium Sorbate, as a preservative. I can't tell how much of what is in here, but it looks like the predominant energy ingredients are Taurine and Caffeine. Toward the end of the ingredients is where you see Ginseng and Guarana, telling you there's very little. The kick may vary depending on your Caffeine tolerance, meaning coffee-holics won't get much. This drink is just a drink you want to skip for something better.

Taste: 5 - Faint and muted fake raspberry
Kick: 6 - Delivers slight alertness, nothing more
Overall: 5 - Forget about it

Reviewed by: Jeff

YJ Stinger Chronic Cola

Back at Big Lots! I found all of the Stinger energy drinks. They come in 8.4oz cans in flavors like Punch, Lime, and Raspberry, and sport a fierce hornet on the cover. They looked good to me, so I got a few. Out here, where it's 100 degrees, you crave something chilled and refreshing, so I took this baby out of the cooler and decided to give it a try. I recently learned how Cola is made and what's in it, and I'm becoming a bit more critical of every Cola I try. I learned that, contrary to what you may think, the Kola nut, which Cola is named after, contributes to very little to none of the Cola taste. It's actually very bitter, not something you want to drink. Cola flavoring is made up of stuff like vanilla, cinnamon, lime and orange oil. It shocked me to know that it was so easy to make and I'm looking forward to spotting these extracts in the Chronic Cola.

Pop goes the can and immediately I am taken by surprise. This is some unique cola, all right. The smell is very strong which allows me to spot every little flavor individually. First, I smell a little lime peel, which reminds me quite a lot of Pepsi Cola, the way it's got that bit of citrus flavor. In the background linger a smooth vanilla and a muted cinnamon, without the bite you usually attribute to cinnamon. Tasting it, it's very much the same, but the bitterness of the lime is subdued and it's much more delectable. If you didn't know it was cola, you might be a little puzzled about the taste. No, the first sip and smell don't make you immediately think "Cola!" Rather, you've got to delve deeper. On the rocks, it's even better, getting rid of more of that lime and making it seem more robust. The carbonation and sweetness are also toned down on the rocks, turning it into the most refreshing cola I've had in a long time. If you try this, you've got to have it warm and on ice. I realize after the can is empty that this is one of those rare drinks that says "Lightly Carbonated" and actually is. With no gumminess, this drink's got some great flavor to offer if you're up for trying something new.

Out in devastating heat like this, it's so hot, you don't feel like moving a muscle. Well, with the Stinger, I'm up and about regardless of the temperature. The energy ingredients are pretty strong as Caffeine comes in at number 4, right after water, HFCS, and Citric Acid. Taurine is next, followed by Ascorbic Acid and A mess of B Vitamins. Then, Yerba Mate, which had to contribute to the earthiness and herbalness of the drink. Toward the end reside Guarana and Ginseng, which tells you they're there in very small amounts. What gives colas their brown color, if you didn't know, is the caramel color, which comes next. Overall, the ingredients list doesn't look bad, and it's very nice in comparison to regular sodas. There's much less aggravating acidity because of the lack of phosphoric acid, which I've come to dislike. Per serving, which here is 8.4oz, there are 32 grams of sugar, which sounds like a lot, but if you figure out how much is in 8oz - a standard serving for an energy drink - you get close to 30 and a half grams. Still quite a lot of sugar, but look at Shasta Cola. It's that large amount of sugar that makes it still very tasty on ice. A minuscule amount of 20g, close to what's in Coca Cola will make the drink taste terribly diluted over ice, which I definitely don't like. Stinger did a good job creating a tasty and unique cola that provides a superb kick. I would definitely buy this again.

Taste: 8.5 - Unique, complex cola
Kick: 7.5 - Energy ingredients are solid and kick was great
Overall: 8.5 - Good if you're up to trying something new

Reviewed by: Jeff