Overview:

Venom Energy drink is 7up/Dr. Pepper Inc.’s first adventure into the energy drink market. This is also the first product I’ve ever seen to come in what is basically an aluminum bottle. That’s right, this 16.9 oz supplement comes packaged in an aluminum container with a lid that is actually leagues above what the folks at Monster showed us with their Mega Monster supplement. Even better is that the can/bottle is very heavy, and since I recycle aluminum I’m gonna be rollin’ in the dough.

Straight from the can:
When you want to stay razor sharp, with the energy to strike first and leave your mark, you need the vicious Venom of a Black Mamba.

The Venom Potency Pack has a powerful dose of taurine, glucuronolactone, L-carnitine and guarana, giving it piercing energy that strikes back.

Wow… Piercing energy that strikes back. That’s metal!

Review:

It’s not very often that a seemingly generic energy drink will impress me. In fact, it’s never happened. Until now.

Venom Energy has a very generic design. Black and red container with a snake’s eye taking up the main of the can with giant, heavy metal letters spelling out venom right under it. Not a very attractive design. In fact, the only thing that even caught my eye was the clever design of an aluminum bottle! As I’ve said, I’ve never seen anything like this before, and I was extremely curious about it. I figured I would regret spending money on it after I tasted it, but I just wanted that can/bottle thing.

After opening the well sealed top I got a wiff of something rather strange. The smell is reminiscent of cardboard soaked in maple syrup, or something. It doesn’t smell horrible, but it isn’t very appetizing either. I kept smelling it in an attempt to guess what it was going to taste like, and I figured it would be your average salt-fest supplement that hurts your teeth and burns your throat. Believe it or not, I was pleasantly surprised.

Black Mamba is good. Not amazing, not great, but good. It doesn’t have that sea salt taste to it that keeps several could-be contenders from getting in the ring with the big boys like Monster and Full Throttle. This drink has, instead, an intensely sweet taste. So sweet, in fact, that it’s almost too rich. There is so much sugar floating through this liquid that I now understand why they used such thick aluminum for the package material. The sugar would eat right through anything else. But like I’ve said, it’s not bad. Not good, but not bad.

This thing comes slightly bargain priced, too. It’s not like $1.00 a can or anything, but there is some money to be had here. The supplement comes in the 16.9 fl oz canbottle thing for your standard price of $1.99. That’s .9 oz for free. Not a big deal, but it’s nice to have a little extra liquid for the same price.

Final Words:

Pros

• Surprisingly good for a 3rd party drink
• Neat can/bottle container beats Cap Can by far
• .9 oz of drink for free

Cons

• Strange smell
• Generic Design
• Almost too sweet

Score:

Overall: 7.0/10
Aroma: 5.1/10 (very weird, unappetizing)
Taste: 7.4/10 (Beats other 3rd party drinks, still not as good as the veterans)
Value: 7.2/10 (almost 1 oz for free isn’t great, but the bargain is there)
Piercing energy strikes: back/10 (so metal)