(Before I get started—this review applies to both sizes of this drink. Both the 16 oz. can and the 20 oz. bottle possess 300 mg of caffeine, so the proprietary ingredients of the bottle are just less concentrated.)
As a general rule, energy drinking isn’t the healthiest habit in the world to get into. If you plan on drinking energy drinks, plan on getting lots of high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, artificial flavorings, etc. I myself try as best I can to limit my intake so as to prevent any real lasting health effects, but addiction to the things makes doing so a lot harder than I like.
Now…along comes Viso, bringing to us the following challenge:
“At VISO, we want you to read our label and compare it with our competitors’. During this enlightening process, the more you discover about VISO’s ingredients, the more likely it is you’ll drink VISO. Once you’ve selected VISO for it’s superior contents, you also leave behind fake tasting and nasty flavors. With VISO, you’ll enter a world of amazingly fresh and fruity flavors your palate will luxuriate in. Enjoy VISO, and let us know what you think!”Ballsy stuff, coming from an emerging energy drink company with a modest staff of 15. Anyway, I have in my hands a can of VISO Dynamo, and now report to you some of the ingredients: certified organic evaporated cane sugar, organic concord grape juice from concentrate, organic grapefruit juice concentrate…by now, you should have the idea. The stuff is 100% natural, and promises to be a healthier, more palpable alternative to the mainstream. Let’s see how it performs….
CAFFEINE CONTENT
300 mg
EASE IN ACQUISITION—2
The closer you get to Portland, the easier Viso products are to find—which means you’re out of luck once you get much further east than Boise, unless you’re willing to go online and buy it by the case.
APPEARANCE/PRESENTATION—10 (CAN); 9 (BOTTLE)
As far as the layout is concerned, the Viso Dynamo can is pretty simple; the giant diagonal Viso logo is the only really distinguishing feature. However, with the gold shadowing of the dark blue lettering over the purple background, the simplicity takes on a very distinguished quality—the end result being a drink that one can be seen drinking with absolute confidence.
Don’t like the bottle quite as much—the crinkly, brittle wrapper drives me crazy—but it’s still pretty dang snazzy.
TASTE—10
Pouring this into my Energy Glass, it became apparent that what I had here was an energy juice—which led me to feel a bit apprehensive; my last experiences with energy juices (Rumba, Samba, and Tango) left plenty to be desired. I took a sip, and…wow. You can definitely taste a serious (and positive) difference from just about any other energy drink out there. As indicated by the label, the first thing to grace your taste buds is an appropriately intense hit of concord grape juice, with a bit of tartness from grapefruit adding dimension to the second half of the taste experience. This stuff is the real deal, and you really need to experience it for yourself to know what I’m talking about. If you need to hear any more than that, let me say this—it took me about 15 minutes to get this down. I was savoring it, sip by sip, and was quite disappointed when the very last sip was gone.
KICK (INTENSITY)—9
Having seen the conspicuous red warning label to the side of the can regarding the drink’s 300 mg of caffeine, I was expecting Viso Dynamo to deliver a pretty serious hit—and it was plenty intense, although it wasn’t the tremendous blast of energy I expected. Apparently (I only learned this after the fact), Viso drinks are formulated to deliver a slightly lower level of energy over a longer period of time than most energy drinks—and in this regard, they deliver. I was never jittery or particularly wired, but I was shockingly lucid and alert—for the most part, I felt like my eyes were about to bug out of my head.
KICK (DURATION)—10+
Viso Dynamo delivered about seven hours of solid energy before tapering off, at which point I simply felt tired—no crash to speak of.
THE DRINK OVERALL—10
Like juice? Like energy drinks? Like beverages? Whatever niche you fall into, you need to try this drink. I for one can proudly call myself a new convert to the Viso line, and look forward to reviewing more in the future.
WEBSITE: drinkviso.com
KEYWORDS: Viso Dynamo energy drink review, Viso energy drink review, energy juice, concord grape, grapefruit, all natural, organic, non-carbonated, high caffeine