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Spike Shooter/Original
Highest kick of any ranked beverage. Strong cherry flavor that hits as soon as it touches your tongue. If you want a drink to get you buzzing, I highly recommend Spike.
Overall
8.1
Taste
7.8
Appearance
7.1
Kick
9.9
Intro
The Spike Original Energy Drink used to just be Spike Shooters, so I am going to essentially review both. I used to have Spike Shooters, which delivered one hell of a kick. It was 300mg of caffeine in 8oz cans (37.5mg/floz). This is double the concentration of caffeine than in most “performance enhancing” energy drinks. It has an extremely bold cherry flavor that is enhanced by a significant amount of artificial sweetener. There is no sugar to mask the bitterness of the mass quantity of caffeine, so sweetener and a strong flavor are needed to make this drink taste great. The Spike Energy Drink is 16oz with 350mg of caffeine (21.875mg/floz), which is still a ton, but less concentrated than the shooter. The two taste very similar overall, but not quite identical.
Upside
Either version will wake you up in a heartbeat. The moment the shooter hits your tongue, you know you are in for a wild ride. The 16oz version also will deliver a kick superior to any other beverage I have reviewed so far, so I will give the kick a 9.9/10. The shooter may be a perfect 10/10, but I want to leave some room in case I ever find something superior. The bold cherry taste is also fantastic. I would rank it higher, but I know many people do not like an overload of sweetener, so I ranked taste 7.8/10 as to not be misleading.
Downside
If you are not fully acclimated to caffeine, please avoid these beverages. You will become jittery, and it could be dangerous if you consume too much. If you do not like excessive artificial sweetener, you will probably not enjoy these as much either. They are not meant for casual consumption, and can be distracting if you are sitting down trying to focus. If you are out and about or working on your feet, then one of these variants may be better suited for you.
Upshot
Spike is potent both in flavor and caffeine. This is enough to wake anyone up both with mouth feel and 300-350mg of caffeine (depending on the version). I enjoy Spike on occasion, but would not have it excessively. If you want a beverage with a kick unlike literally any other, I recommend Spike Shooters. If you do not think you can handle that much caffeine and still enjoy yourself, I would find a different more mild energy drink.
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