amp Sugar Free

September and October were some of the best months for me as a critic, mainly because I didn't review any dreaded amp flavours. But it seems like November will ruin that streak. amp Sugar Free is actually the last drink (excluding shots) variety in the line, which is good news and bad news. While I'm thankful to finally be getting the line over with, it means I have to suffer through yet another flavour. And to top it all off one of the few remaining variety is sugar free. Now, there has been some great sugar free energy drinks out there, but for the most part, they're poor versions of a better tasting sugared flavour, and I'm sure amp sugar free will be just that.

FIRST IMPRESSION: amp Sugar Free's can isn't the biggest offense in the line. The background pattern isn't distracting, but the white writing blends in with the mostly silver colour, so it becomes kinda hard to read. But perhaps not being able to read the text is a good thing, because once again it's too much. Why in the world does the can need to say "sugar free," "lo-cal," and then "low calorie?" Exactly, there isn't a reason. Though there's less text than previous flavours, it is still a less-than-mediocre can.

TASTE: I reluctantly opened the can and took a sip. The flavour begins sour melon that is followed by a gummy strawberry taste. The sourness of the melon isn't like a War Head candy, but instead a past its prime dairy product. There are notes of cranberry and lime wondering the flavour, but these are rather difficult to notice. The artificial sweetener taste is kept very low, making for a smooth flavour. In the end, amp Sugar Free's taste is truly unremarkable and is boarder line terrible.

KICK: The can says that amp sugar free is "hi power," but apparently the designers were just saying "hi" to another energy drink, because I got one pretty poor kick. For a trivial two hours I felt mildly focused and I had no jitters. I didn't feel like I had a great amount of energy and once the two hours ended I received not crash. Perhaps the biggest slap on the face is that each can only contains 141 mg of caffeine. That amount is criminally low. Other ingredients include: 110mg of maltodextrin, twenty mg of Taurine, ginseng, forty percent of your daily intake of riboflavin, and twenty percent of your daily intake of Niacin, patothenic acid, Vit. B6, and B12.

FINAL WORD: In perspective, the amp line is one of the most overrated, disappointing, odious, and down right worst lines to ever be blessed with the word "energy." Each drink, with a few exceptions, scored less than a 3/5, which is just wrong. The line started out okay. The original amp was nothing special, but at least it could be seen as a worth while purchase, but the line quickly took a turn for the worst. Soon the flavours became syrupy, the kicks grew pathetic, and the can cans became cluttered. It's hard to believe that Pepsi also makes the No Fear line, which are arguably better than any flavour in the amp line. Overall, amp sugar free escapes the usual syrupy flavour, but it wasn't able to avoid a crappy can and an appalling kick...2.1/5

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