Monster Nitrous Super Dry

As much as I'd like to be a movie or video game critic, being an energy drink critic certainly has its perks. My favorite perk is that there's not too much pressure as a drink critic to review the newest product. While it is nice to claim the first review, you can still get away with reviewing age old energy drinks. I couldn't exactly review Transporter 2 in 2009 and expect my opinion to count. Monster Nitrous Super Dry is an example of this. While it's not as old as Transporter 2, it isn't the newest drink on the block and my opinion can still influence whether or not someone purchases it. Monster Nitrous Super Dry is one of the three flavours in the Nitrous sub-line, and probably the one I'm looking forward to the most. Hearing the flavour's main focus is lime attracts my attention, and hopefully it will turn out to be a worthwhile investment.

FIRST IMPRESSION: Monster Super Drys can is impressive. The green colour nicely fits into the line and the screw top, while not as interesting as Monster Imports, is still an improvement over the old pop top. The actual name to Super Dry is debatable. It could be read as Nitrous Super Dry, Nitrous Monster Super Dry, or even Super Dry Nitrous Monster Energy. This has to be the most expensive energy drink I've ever bought per oz. At a staggering $3.49, Monster Super Dry is only twelve oz. Personally, I don't think the nitrous carbonation gimmick is worth skimping out on oz. and jacking up the price.

TASTE: I popped off the top and took a sip. The flavour starts out sour lime that blends with a light ginger ale taste and fades, leaving a subtle chalky lemon/lime mix lingering about. The chalkiness becomes less noticeable the more you sip, letting the lime/lemon become the main focus of the aftertaste. There's some mild notes of several berries through out the experience, and they are more noticeable near the transition from ginger ale to chalk. The carbonation doesn't really leave me impressed. While the liquid was rather light and bubbly, it really didn't seem like it did too much. For a drink named "Super Dry," I really didn't find it terribly dry. Nitrous Super Dry still had a measurable amount of sweetness, so a more proper name would be "Mildly Dry." Overall, while I really enjoyed the lime ginger ale concoction, it's not terribly complex and the nitrous carbonation seemed like a wasted opportunity.

KICK: Each can of Monster Nitrous Super Dry contains: caffeine, Taurine, glucose, inositol, yerba mate, ginseng, and 200% of your daily intake of Vit. B12, B2, B3, and B6. Unlike most in the line Nitrous Super Dry gave me a decent at best kick. While I did feel quite awake for a steady three hours, it all ended in a hard crash. Super Dry will definitely not my drink of choice for when I'm playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii all day Sunday.

FINAL WORD: All in all, Monster Super Dry is a disappointing energy drink. Even though I enjoyed the flavour, the can was too small and the kick was less than stellar. If your a hard core guy looking for an energy drink that fits your image, than there are many cheaper and more powerful energy drinks on the market. Maybe there's some sort of super rich hard core community I'm not aware of, but for $3.49, your not getting your moneys worth. Overall, Nitrous Super Dry seems like it should be a test market product and not a nationwide drink. While it was an interesting attempt, Monster Nitrous Super Dry seems half completed and the nitrous carbonation is a gimmick that doesn't wholly succeed...3/5

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