Carabao: Good for what ails you

I’ve never been a big consumer of energy drinks. Regular ol’ pop has enough caffeine for me, thanks. But how could I say no to a bottle of Carabao? I mean, it’s got a freaking skull on the label. Plus, there’s a red bird, possibly a phoenix, emblazoned on the skull’s forehead. The obvious subtext here is that Carabao will give you enough energy to master death itself. How could I resist?

The Experience

I cracked open the bottle and drank the entire thing before I got to work. It was only a 5.7 ounces, plus the brown glass bottle made it look like something I shouldn’t be drinking on the job. Carabao looks like cough syrup. It tastes like cough syrup. And after I drank it, my nose stopped running. I actually had to check out the ingredients to see if it contained NyQuil. I didn’t find anything from Vicks, but did stumble on something called Nicotinamide, which is used in various medicines. It also sounds suspiciously like nicotine. Perhaps that’s why the label says children and breastfeeding mothers should steer clear of Carabao.

The Verdict

Carabao tastes pretty good, if your favorite beverage manufacturer is Vicks. As far as the energy content is concerned, give this to corpse and it’ll have the strength to dig its way out of its grave. It’s not quite awesome enough that I’ll become a regular energy drink drinker, but it didn’t turn me off, either. So if you’re looking for a morning jolt and don’t much care about taste, or you just want to start a zombie apocalypse, Carabao is probably the drink for you. 7 out of 10

Second opinion via Screaming Energy.