Monster Nitrous Killer-B

Price: C$3.00 (current Exchange rate: €2,13)
Contains: 12 fl.Oz (340mL)

This one kinda came out of nowhere,
This time, my friend's mum went to Canada and when he asked her to bring a new Monster drink, we really weren't expecting this one.
We've heard a lot of the Monster Nitrous drinks and have been dying to try them ever since, especially the Kiler-B.
So when she said 'I couldn't find the Monsters you asked for, but will this do? They were on sale, you know', we were like 'HELL YEAH! This is Even better!'.

Packaging:
This can proves that Monster only hires the most skilled of craftsmen to design their cans, since this can really looks amazing.
The drink comes in a quite unusally sized 12 fl.Oz (340mL) can with what we like to call a resealable top à la Burn, meaning that it uses a resealing feature similiar to the larger Burn cans.
But the uniqueness doesn't end there; the design really managed to blow us away.
The eyecatcher is the orangish-yellow honeycomb pattern on the background; which really suits the Killer-B theme.
Within this pattern we can see the KILLER-B text and a black Monster Claw logo, which is slightly tilted and has a 3D effect.
The honeycomb pattern suddenly fades to black when we come to the bottom of the can, clearing an area to display some legible text.
Here we can read the MONSTER ENERGY we're all familiar with, but this time it's accompanied with the NITROUS text in an truly awesome font.
As I alreasy mentioned; the designers did a great job on this can.
They managed to put all of these elements together without making the can look over the top and that is a real accomplishment in my eyes.

Slogan:
No slogan can be found on this can, but we did manage to find one on the internet.
'Unleash the Nitrous Beast!' would be the slogan for all of the Nitrous drinks and we love how they added the Nitrous thing to the well known 'Unleash the Beast!' slogan.

Taste:
Of course, this was the part we all had been waiting for, so we removed the sticker, twisted open the top and poured the drink into some glasses and test tubes.
The very first thing we noticed was the color.
This drink is colored fluorescent yellow and I would't have been surprised if it glowed in the dark.
Also: a very strange thing was going on with the carbonation.
We know that this drink was carbonated with Nitrous Oxide, so that might have been the thing.
Anyway: even though we poured it into several glasses, only the first portion had a small layer of foam.
Weird...
The taste quite surprised us, actually.
We were expecting a very strong taste of honey, but instead, we could only vaguely taste a hint of honey in the aftertaste.
The main taste: citrus.
When looking on the internet we disovered that our drink used a new formula; a formula that switched the main taste from honey to citrus.
I have to say that's quite a bold move, considering that this drink is themed around bees and such.
Anyway: it tastes awesome and unique, but what can I say?
If it's made by Monster, you're in for a treat and that also applies for this bad boy.
I highly suggest that you give this drink a try if you can get your hands on it, because with Monster Nitrous Killer-B you're in for a sensation!

Kick:
Even though we shared this drink, we all felt a serious buzz going on after a very short amount of time.
It was like the 'Big Bad Monster Buzz' times two: an energy drink that can keep you going for quite a few hours.
Great job on the kick, Monster!

Price/Quality Ratio:
The drink is quite pricey, especially if you consider that the Killer-B adds C$1 to the price of the standard 16 fl. Oz Monster, while it contains less fluid.
Monster Nitrous Killer-B has it all, though; great can. great taste and great kick.
Needless to say that Monster has once again made a drink that lives up to the price.

AMP

Price: C$2.00 (current Exchange rate: €1,49)
Contains: 16 fl.Oz (473mL)

It's time to review yet another Canadian drink.
This time we're looking at an energy drink by Mountain Dew: AMP.

Packaging:
AMP comes in a typical American sized 473 mL (16 oz.) can.
It is neatly designed with stripes in various shades of green running down the can.
On the front there's the AMP logo, which can be described as a silver tribal flame
With a bit of imagination you can see that the flame vaguely resembles the letter 'A', but I'm not sure if that was the purpose.
Underneath the logo there's the 'AMP ENERGY' text.
Usually, the American cans have their key ingredients listed around the top of the can.
With this AMP can the top only says 'POWER', but after a little search you'll find it on the bottom, at the right-hand side of the logo (see photo).
In my opinion, this can is very appealing to say the least.
I especially like the green striped pattern since it worked out very well.

Slogan:
Well, since I couldn't find a slogan on the can again (which is getting a little annoying now), I decided to 'cheat' for a little and looked it up on the internet.
It didn't take me very long, as it is frequently proclaimed on AMP's official website.
AMP's slogan is 'AMP UP!' and they use it on all their products.
I think it's a clever way of incorperating the name in the slogan and I like it.

Taste:
The CR team was honored to be part of the very small group of people to ever taste AMP in the Netherlands.
So once again, three people volunteered to unite their taste buds with mine in the 'quest' of reviewing this Canadian beauty.
I cracked open the can and poured it into several glasses.
The color of this drink was quite a shocking surprise.
It is colored yellow, but in such a bright manner that 'fluorescent' would not be an unfitting description.
The smell was somewhat difficult to identify; we knew it was familiar but none of us could really pinpoint it.
After a moment of intense attempts at remembring one of us finally cried 'I know, it smells like Groene Ranja!'.
Well, people from around the world are probably clueless after reading that last line, so allow me to explain.
Groene Ranja basically is a green tainted lemonade that tastes like Reine Claude/greengage prunes.
So to keep it short: this drink smells like prunes.
The taste wasn't that much of a surprise, as it pretty much was what the smell made us think.
It is a little tea-ish at first, but very swiftly the greengage kicks in.
There is a presence of carbonation that can be noticed, which isn't really needed in my opinion, but it doesn't kill the drink in any way, so I guess that's okay.
Another thing that should be mentioned is that AMP is rather sweet; it doesn't really kill the taste, but people without a sweet tooth might want to keep their distance from this drink.
My overall opinion: for the 'regular' variant of a brand this really is something special.
It has a very distinctive sweet taste you should give a try.

Kick:
For an energy drink from across; the kick is just decent at best.
We've tried several drinks from from this particular area and they usually give a considerable buzz.
After those, AMP is a bit of a disappointment really.
We did feel something, but it certainly wasn't worthy of being called a 'Big Bad American Buzz'.

Price/Quality Ratio:
2 Canadian Dollars seems to be a standard price for energy drinks in Canada.
It is pretty much the equivalent of €1,49, which is what we usually pay for top quality drinks.
None of Canadian drinks have disappointed us up until now, so I hope they can keep it up.
The C$2 are certainly worth it when you buy AMP, thrust me.
Even though it doesn't provide you the kick that some drinks of the same value can give you, the special taste makes sure that it's worth a try.
So when you ever encounter this can and have a sweet tooth: AMP UP!

Monster Assault

Price: C$2.00 (current Exchange rate: €1,49)
Contains: 16 fl.Oz (473mL)

We've been offline for a while and because of a very simple, yet understandable reason.
We ran out of interesting drinks to review!
Well, loyal readers; time has come for some updates.
You see: a friend of mine went to Canada for the past few weeks and he was kind enough to bring us one of these (along with some other cans, you'll see).
When he was in Canada; I went on a trip to Germany and another friend went to Paris.
So no shortage of drinks to review in the following month...

The CR crew was very pleased with this baby and a four-man testing squad (constisting of me, my brother, my friend and his brother) was put on this can...
We all are big fans of the Monster drinks and from the start we were expecting something awesome.
So, was the transatlantic trip worth the effort? Let find out, shall we?

Packaging:
Monster always blows us away with their can designs and yet again, they managed to make our jaws drop on the floor.
This can is a welcome variaton on the Monster cans we know and love.
The eyecatcher remains the Monster claw logo, which has a nice shade of red on this occasion, but this time there's another detail that really sets off this can: the camo pattern.
Yes, Monster cans always scream 'hardcore' and this is certainly no exception.
The camo pattern really adds to this theme; it's different than any other camo pattern we've seen, though.
It consists of shades of gray and has a rather pixelated effect on it.
Underneath the usual Monster text, 'ASSAULT' is written in silver with an army stamp effect.
Because this can is from across the atlantic, it also shows two minor differences to the Monster cans we got used to.
The first difference lies within the size; this can is addapted to the United States' fluid ounces system.
Therefore: the content of this Monster can is 16 fl.Oz, which is the equalivent of 473mL.
The visual difference? Well, the can has the same thickness as the half-a-liter Monster cans we got used to, but it's slighly shorter.
The second difference is the pull tab.
European Monster cans just have the regular, rather standardised silver pull tabs, which is nothing to be excited about really.
This Canadian can has a custom pull tab; it has the same shade of red as the Monster claw logo on the front and has a really nice and professional touch to it: there's a small claw logo on the pull tab!
First time in our lives that we've ever encoutered that, actually, so it's quite a shock to see how much more effort is spent on the American/Canadian Monster cans when compared to the European ones.

Slogan:
Sadly: we couldn't find a slogan on this can... anywhere!
We were a little bit disappointed with this; so many things within the Monster Assault theme can easily be converted into a cool or cheesy slogan.
It's a bit of a shame, really...

Taste:
We stood in awe when we cracked open this can and as soon as it was done, a strong raspberry and cinnamon smell filled the room.
We started filling some glasses and test tubes (yes, we have test tubes now, we've finally reached that level of insanity) to share the drink amongst the test squad and noticed a nice, deep red color.
And then the moment arrived where we all had been waiting for, you know: the bumping glasses, cheers and bottom's up moment.
As we expected from the smell: this drink tasted like raspberry, but we could easily taste the cinnamon as well.
We knew from the very start that this drink was going to be special, but this exceeded our expectations.
With the Lo-Carb and Juiced drinks, we still tasted the Original Monster flavour through it.
With Assault: even this familiar taste has vanished.
This really is a drink on it's own and if I would have to go through a blindfolded taste test, I wouldn't recognise is as a typical Monster drink.
At first, I wasn't completely sure about the cinnamon; I thought that it's presence was a little bit too strong but later on, I found it to complete this drink rather than spoiling it.
The sugar and carbonation also are really well balanced, so that's no problem either.
I noticed the drink has slightly less carbonation than the other Monster drink, but frankly, I don't really mind.
Pretty much saves you on gas, doesn't it?
Maybe it was just the excitement of having a new Monster again, but we all agreed this to be the best Monster drink yet, as it slightly surpassed Khaos in flavour and originality.

Kick:
We shared the drink, so we shared the kick.
Monster Assault gave us a decent buzz and I'm sure that if we all had one on our own, the four of us would all have the notorious Big Bad Monster Buzz experience, which basically means that disaster would have struck upon the testing room.
I noticed that the key ingredients, which are displayed on top of the claw logo as always, are different than the usual Monster key ingredients.
They are more or less the same, actually, but there seems to be a lack of l. carnitine and the ginseng magically transformed to panax ginseng (nah, just kidding; it's still everyday ginseng, nothing new here).

Price/Quality Ratio:
2 Canadian Dollars converts to €1,49 on this date, which is really convenient because that's what we always pay for a can of Monster.
Monster did it again, folks: they've made this drink live up to every cent we paid for it.
But this time; our favorite energy drink brand has accomplished even more: now we want to go to Canada!
No kidding: we, as energy drink lovers, are so jealous of the transatlantic countries, such as Canada.
They get the full line-up, whereas us Europeans usually can get only three.
Well, I guess we'll have to order from the States sometimes, for the sake of this site and for the sake of our collections of course.
Too bad that those shipping costs are outrageous...