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Catch the buzz
Energy drinks fused with alcohol make for kicky cocktails
BY CAMILLE DODERO

ON A RECENT NIGHT, I was ambling around Brooklyn with an open container of alcohol. Not very smart to be walking around with booze on the street, I know. But it was Sparks, a citrusy malt-beverage blend in an orange-and-silver can designed to look like a six-inch battery. The drink’s container is so innocuous, so childlike, I’d forgotten that I was, well, breaking the law.

A cop pulled up beside me and spotted the can in my hand. "Miss," he called, "what’s that you’re drinking?"

Oops. I covered the can’s six-percent-alcohol inscription with my thumb. "Energy drink?"

He stared suspiciously. "Oh. Something new?"

"Yep. Something new."

It wasn’t a lie, exactly. Sparks is an energy drink, a liquid rocket-launcher amped with taurine, caffeine, guarana, and Siberian ginseng. But the fizzy concoction is also six percent alcohol — making it stronger than your average beer. Consequently, Sparks is rapidly becoming all the rage — a lowbrow, hair-of-the-dog alternative to a Red Bull–and–vodka cocktail. At a recent party in Somerville, young women swigged Sparks while their male counterparts drained 40s; a Somerville liquor-store clerk, who had no clue what Sparks was, said cans of the stuff had been flying off his shelves.

But people aren’t knocking back Sparks for its flavor. It tastes like carbonated cough syrup, sickly sweet, with a wince-inducing, orange-lemon flavor that takes a few sips to stomach. Out of curiosity, I recently played the "how many gulps of Sparks does it take to like it?" game; by my calculations, it takes seven whole gulps — count ’em, seven — before the stuff actually tastes good. But at $1.50 per 16-ounce can, about 60 cents cheaper than an 8.3-ounce can of Red Bull, it packs the triple-buzz punch of alcohol, taurine, and caffeine for a much lower price than a Red Bull and vodka — which can cost anywhere between four and eight bucks, depending on the bar. And once you get past those seven bad gulps, with 50 or 60 good ones left, Sparks is definitely worth the price.

Another alcohol-and-caffeine concoction, and one that tastes good from the start, is New Century Brewing Company’s MoonShot, a lightly carbonated, caffeinated beer. Processed with 45 milligrams of caffeine (the average cup of coffee packs 70 milligrams), MoonShot is a clean, light-bodied ale with hints of pear. I once ordered it at the Rosebud Diner, in Davis Square, and the waitress exclaimed, "You’re a brave one!" I have no idea what she meant — MoonShot goes down smoothly, and gives a crisp, pleasant, coherent buzz. There’s no reason to be afraid.

Another tasty addition to the influx of energy/alcoholic drinks is Zygo, a peach-flavored vodka packed with taurine, D-ribose, guarana, and yerba maté, which sells for $30. Marketed as the "morning vodka" at 35 percent alcohol, Zygo has a sweet scent that’s ripe and juicy rather than overpowering; it also has a fruity flavor that’s not candied, but smooth and delicious. Although its luminescent, frosted bottle casts the product as a hiply sophisticated elixir, Zygo’s Web site (www.morningvodka.com) and marketing campaign reveal the company’s target demographic: partygoers who’re still up at 4 a.m. prowling for action. For example, the Web site’s suggested cocktails are salaciously named concoctions like the Zygasm (chilled Zygo topped with Chambord), the Z-Spot (chilled Zygo with lemon), and the Morning Stiffie (Zygo on ice). Thanks, but we’ll just call it a Zygo on the rocks.

Aside from those ready-made products, the two-buzzes-in-one trend appears in energy drinks used as cocktail mixers. Coca-Cola has been trying to market KMX combined with Finlandia vodka as a Blue FX. Battery has been promoting its energy drink mixed with Absolut Kurant and blue curaçao as a Deep Sea Battery. Nearly any energy drink can be a mixer, especially if you combine it with vodka. But Boo Koo, a 24-ounce can sold in convenience stores, is perhaps one of the best mixers. Marked with the warning DO NOT CONSUME MORE THAN 2 SERVINGS PER SITTING (even though a single can contains three servings), Boo Koo is a kick in the pants. With no carbs and a sweet, citrus taste — think orange Fanta without the skin-staining color and the teeth-gritting sugar — Boo Koo goes very well with vodka. And because there’s so much of it, it does seem to help counter the depressive effects of alcohol.

Even Glacéau’s Vitamin Water has been used in cocktails in some bars. At Mirabelle, a fancy joint on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip, they came up with the "Dragonfruit Vitaminwater Martini": vodka, pineapple juice, and Glacéau’s vitamin-C-and-taurine-enhanced water. In New York, at the Stone Rose, they’re serving "WET Water": Beefeater gin’s WET, Glacéau’s Power-C water, and a splash of Chambord. Here in Boston, adding Glacéau to cocktails hasn’t really caught on in the bars, but it’s easy enough to make your own at home.

All these new additions notwithstanding, the energy-drink trailblazer Red Bull is still the most popular cocktail mixer around. There’s a Red Jagger (Red Bull and Jägermeister), a Dead Bull (Red Bull, Jägermeister, and orange juice), and a Billiard Bull (Red Bull, Bacardi Limón, squeezed lime, and soda). There’re also the Rush (Absolut Mandarin and Red Bull in a highball glass) and the Kebas (Bacardi Limón, Red Bull, Sprite, and a dash of grenadine). Not all bartenders will know these cocktails by name, but they’re simple to request if you know the correct ingredients.

Red Bull, according to Mantra bartender Paul Yates, is "typically a late-night drink." He says that in addition to Red Bull and vodka, Mantra’s clientele orders Black Bulls, which are Red Bull and Johnny Walker Black. Mantra also stocks both regular and sugar-free Rock Star, the bubble-gum-like carbonated drink that should’ve been called Pop Star, but customers don’t usually ask for it mixed with liquor.

Other bars refuse to kowtow to the trend. For them, the best way to cop an energy buzz is simple: good ol’ coffee and espresso. Says one Bomboa bartender, "Coffee never goes out of style."

Camille Dodero reached at cdodero[a]phx.com.


Issue Date: October 22 - 28, 2004
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