Mississippi

This is one of the first energy drinks I bought. I can't recall when I bought it but the "best before" date is late -98 so I'd guess I bought it sometime during 1998.

The design is one of the better ones I've seen although the only explanation I can find for a Spanish energy drink to be called Mississippi is to make it seem exotic (to the Spaniards that is).

I have yet to find a web site for the manufacturer of this drink, Global Drinks SL, but it seems as if they have discontinued this particular brand.

By the way, did you know that Mississippi is an old Indian name? It means "great river" or "gathering of water" and is attributed to the Ojibwe tribe of Native Americans (Chippewa). ¹

The Mississippi river is prone to flooding and sever flooding has occurred 1927, 1937, 1965, 1973, 1982, and 1993. The 1993 flooding was the most severe recorded in American history. ¹

The longest river in Spain is the Tajo river and runs for 1,007 km (626 miles). There's said to be over 18,000 rivers in Spain and Spain actually owned the lower part of Mississippi from 1769 to 1783. <sup>1

1</sup> Answers.com

X-RAY energy drink, blue

I actually don't have a photo of this can (yet) as the only one I could find at the store was quite badly damaged. Still, it looks the same as the black X-RAY, only blue (hopefully you figured that out for yourself). It even tastes the same.

In my post about the black X-RAY I said I wouldn't bother with picking their stupid slogan "X-RAY your drink for the taste of strong power" apart.

Well, I lied.

I sent off an e-mail to The Swedish Radiation Protection Authority, SSI inquiring about the effects of x-raying your drink. The reply I got was twofold.

If you mix the drink with a radioactive source - like heavy water used in cooling nuclear plants - the drink will become radioactive and, depending on the strength of the radiation in the source, lethal.

Not a good idea, but then I'm not interpreting the slogan that way (although it very well could be interpreted that way). I read as if they want you to actually x-ray your drink.

That is, in a way, a better idea but not very useful. You see, when you x-ray your drink with a extremely powerful source of radiation three things happen:

1. You kill all the germs in the drink, sterilizing it.


2. You raise the temperature with 1 degree Celsius (at the most).


3. The water turns into hydrogen, oxygen and hydrogen peroxide. As soon as the radiation source is removed the water returns to normal.

In other words, the most you get out of x-raying your drink is that it becomes sterile a short while after the treatment.

Well, better it than you I suppose which most likely could be the case if you drink radioactive water.

Die Blaue Sau

As you can see from the image this design is one of the most out there I have - not only does it feature a flying pig but a blue one to boot.

For my non-German reading readers the name means "The Blue Sow", but I guess that's kinda obvious (apart from the "sow" part - at least I can't spot any telltale signs of gender).

The manufacturer, InDrinks, still has this brand as well as the Blox brand of drinks. The Blox drinks are also available in 500 ml cans which means that the 500 ml Frank's Energizer has more company than I previously thought.

After a short and rudimentary search on Google I discovered a very in-depth paper on pig skin color. I'm not going to pretend that I understood all of it (especially since I stopped reading after two paragraphs) but what's important here is that there are no blue pigs in real life. And now you know too.

There are, however, purple polar bears.

A word of warning

I never thought I'd utter the phrase "Drink responsively!" when it came to energy drinks but according to this article on LiveScience.com there's a large number of kids that abuse energy drinks one way or another.

Personally I drink them when I need to get a boost of energy, perhaps because I slept too little or just need to be extra focused for a couple of hours. To be drinking them like you drink regular soda sounds like a bad idea - just like drinking too much coffee is a bad idea.

Frank's Energizer 500 ml

Time for big brother to enter the stage! This behemoth of an energy drink really made me look twice when I first saw it as it looks more or less like some sort of beer.

Consuming one of these in one go makes me quite fluttery and my stomach isn't all that pleased but hey, you'll be on your toes forever afterwards.

After talking to Jaana Bohman from Kopparbergs I found out that the name Frank's Energizer is the idea of the CEO of Kopparbergs as Kopperbergs has a vodka called Frank's Vodka.

The reason a beer brewery has a vodka to begin with was in response to a number of foreign liquor distributors that offered cheap vodka to bars and restaurants if they also bought beer from the distributor.

Kopparbergs decided to make their own vodka to compete with the foreign distributors and the owners, in order to honour their late father who died much too young, decided to call it Frank's Vodka. They then named their energy drink in that same spirit (no pun intended).

Jaana also mentions that Kopparbergs sells a lot more Frank's Energizer since they introduced this can. Sounds logical to me, especially since some places sell 500 ml of Frank's for half the price of a 250 ml Red Bull.

One oddity to note is that although the contents of the 300 ml and the 500 ml is identical (they should be after all) the 500 ml can claims that 100 ml contains 220 Kj of energy while the 300 ml can mentions a value of 180 Kj per 100 ml.

Frank's Energizer 300 ml

The Swedish brewery Kopparbergs has an energy drink called Frank's Energizer. The odd thing about this one isn't the taste nor the design - both are quite alright but not especially outstanding.

No, the interesting thing is the size of the can; 300 ml. With the exception of Battery, who uses a standard 330 ml can, this is one of the very few energy drinks with a can that holds more than the "normal" 250 ml.

One of the two other cans that are bigger is the 500 ml version of Frank's Energizer (see this post for info on that) and the alleged Cult version that also contains 500 ml. I say "alleged" because I still haven't seen it.

Here's a comparison shot with both the 300 ml and the 500 ml version of Frank's next to a regular 250 ml can, in this case the Shark Energy Drink.

According to Jaana Bohman at Kopparbergs they choose to go with the bigger cans in order to make an impact, something I would say that they managed to do.

The 300 ml can is no longer being produced - although you can still find it in stores for a while - and is being completely replaced with the 500 ml can.

X-RAY energy drink, black

The X-RAY (or X.RAY as it says on the can) energy drink originates from Denmark, Harboe Brewery to be more precise. They also produce the ISO-TONIC energy drink which I have in my collection, although bruised and battered.

X-RAY tastes almost like Red Bull but not as pronounced and with a somewhat sweeter after taste.

Interesting to note is that although they proclaim to have a high caffeine content they actually only have 24 mg caffeine per 100ml compared to the 32mg per 100 ml that almost every other drink has.

The design of the can is not much to get excited about but Harboe deserves a pat on the back for being consistent with their colors. They also deserve a kick in the nads for the cheesy tag line: X-RAY your drink for the taste of strong power.

I'm not even going to bother picking that one apart.

X-rays - also called Röntgen rays after Wilhelm Röntgen, the man who "discovered" the phenomenon - are a form of electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength in the range of 10 to 0.01 nanometres.

X-rays are generally considered invisible to the naked eye but Röntgen created an experiment where he managed to see x-rays without any sort of aid. This experiment is considered very dangerous due to the ionized radiation and is therefor not repeated today.

Seeing (pun intended) that x-rays are quite dangerous to humans I think there's quite a bit of evolution needed before we'll be able to acquire x-ray vision. An X-RAY energy drink will have to do for now.

New cans and more

Thanks to a tip from my colleague I visited one of Gothenburg's largest supermarkets and was thrilled to find a bunch of neat energy cans. As a bonus I also found three bottles, that although they won't end up in my collection, I couldn't resist buying.

The M150 is more or less a "traditional" non-carbohydrated Red Bull and it tastes the same. The Cult Shaker (the glass bottle to the right) has a small alcoholic content - 3.5% volume - and tastes quite nice actually. Just as the energy drink it's based on it has no Taurine in it.

I'm not sure that I'll ever get around to actually drinking the big-ass 1500 ml Dark Dog - that's a lot of energy drink. :)

The other cans will be incorporated into my collection as soon as possible, increasing the number of cans to 61.

Bullit

Here's a can that in a way is typical for a lot of the designs and brands that popped up when energy drinks were really popular.

The design is a horrible mess of fonts, colors and shapes. Sure, it stands out from most of the competition but not necessarily in a good way. I mean, yellow and white on light grey? What genius came up with that?

The new can looks better but it's still not great. Nice to see that it's still around - a lot of these brands died off as fast as they popped up.

The image used by Bullit is Leonardo Da Vincis famous Vitruvian man and is often called Canon of proportions as it is said that it illustrates Leonardos interest in proportions.

The name Vitruvian Man comes from the roman architect Vitruvius who's description of the male human body Leonardo based his drawing on.

If you can help me get my hands on a can with the new design - please drop me a line!

The life of a collector

I'm quite aware that my collection of energy drinks is abysmal, especially when I find lists like this. I mean - the guy has 12 versions of Dark Dog - I have one!

Then again, having a small collection means that there are so many more cans for me to get excited about. A friend of mine (the one that went to Japan) collects "classic" Transformers (IIRC). He only have eight left to collect and then his collection will be complete.

This - on the other hand - provides what I would guess is an even bigger thrill. Chasing after these last, elusive items that completes your collection. I also know what it feels like not having a goal, not having something to fight for and to be honest, I would say that for some collectors the worst day of their lives is when their collection is complete.

My collection will never be complete. Unlike the Transformers toy line where you know that a certain amount of models were produced there's a plethora of energy drinks not only produced in the past but also being produced as I type this.

Good thing I'm the kind of collector that prefers the hunt to the catch. ;)

Erektus

Erektus is one of the reasons I started collecting energy cans. I mean, just look at it, it's fantastic!

I'm not sure if the guy on the can is the "before" shot or the "after" shot, he looks semi-limp if you ask me. Then again - he also looks like a hunchback Sid Viscous wannabe so I'm not sure if it matters if this is a "before" or "after" shot.

The most common reasons for erectile dysfunction (ED) is long-lasting high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol values and other diseases that damage the blood vessels in the male genitalia.

Other sources also claim that psychological issues such as stress, low self-esteem and depressions can cause ED but this is not a commonly adopted theory.

So don't go downing Erektus instead of talking to your doctor when the trouser snake won't perform.

Erektus is still being manufactured although the design I have is an older one. The can in my collection is manufactured in 1997 which makes it one of the older cans in my collection. I'll have to get the new can as well - being a completionist and all.

The makers of Erektus, Pinelli, of course has a couple of other brands. One of them is Semtex - of which I have the base product - but the most interesting right now have to be the Truck Power drink. Cripes what a horrible design! And I love that it's a "Special Drive Drink".

Oh well, I guess I'll have to to send them an e-mail as well to see if they can hook me up. :)

Calorie Mate Cocoa

The other can my friend got me from Japan is the Calorie Mate Cocoa - a fantastic name. The design is pretty boring though.

Unlike the VAAM this can has information in english on it and reading the list of ingredients it's quite clear that this is not your typical energy drink:

• oligosaccharide


• milk protein


• corn oil


• chocholate


• caramel powder


• cocoa powder


• sugar


• dextrin


• salt


• flavors


• acidifying agent


• cellulose


• lecitin


• potassium chloride


• magnesium sulfate


• sodium phosphate


• potassium phosphate

Yikes! I would love to taste this one.

According to the Calorie Mate home page there are three other flavors besides cocoa; corn, coffee and café au lait. So now I have to get those as well. :)

My personal favorite among the multitude of Calorie Mate products has to be the Calorie Mate space jelly though - despite it not being a can. I have no problems picturing japanese astronauts happily slurping away at this while orbiting earth.

VAAM

A friend of mine visited Japan some months ago and as instructed he brought back a couple of energy drinks with him. One of those is called VAAM (or V.A.A.M, depending on where on the can you read).

The VAAM homepage offers a lot of information about this drink - all in japanese though so I have no idea what it says. Reading off the can the only information not in japanese is: 3000 mg, 1, 190g, 50kcal, 2.9g, 0, 9.5g, 100mg, 1, 100km, 17, V.A.A.M, 190g, 1-2-10, 0120-262-369 and www.vaam.jp. Not a lot to go on in other words.

The site of the makers of VAAM, Meiji Dairies Corporation, is even more confusing with a giant picture of a zombie baby being spoon fed what looks like a chopped off thumb. Also, you seem to be able to buy academic degrees and cell phones from them, besides VAAM and thumbs that is.

Seriously though, if anyone could help me translate some of the information on the VAAM page (I'm dying to know what "Let'sƒXƒ^ƒfƒBI" means) just post a comment.

I never got to taste this as my friends brother emptied it before I got it (long story). A very nice addition to my collection none the less.

Shark Energy Drink redesign

This is a new design of the Shark Energy Drink that I stumbled upon in my local grocery shop. I have the old can (I'll post about that one later) and the new design is a lot better. The old design wasn't as garish as some of the designs I've seen but is was on the other hand quite bland.

The Shark Energy Drink is also called Shark Cool Bite (screencap from Shark's website) in some areas of the world. I don't have this can so if anyone knows where to get it or can help me get it - please leave a comment.

The makers of Shark, Osotspa, has a number of very interesting and fascinating products that I'm hoping to get my hands on. Some of them are not energy drinks so I won't be able to add them to my collection, but it would be kick ass to have Shark Up - Shark Energy Drink pre-mixed with Slava Vodka - in my collection.

And who can resist a range of products with names like Hang Foreplay and Hang Virgin? :) Plus I really love that design and the fact that they use a mutated dog to market the brand (included in the picture for your benefit).