Taste Test: V’s Carnival Energy Drink Tastes Just Like Clown Puke

The makers of V energy drink have unveiled a new flavour to kick off the spring. It’s called V Carnival and it’s an unmitigated disaster. Read on for our shell-shocked verdict.

V Carnival is a limited-edition energy drink that packs in 611kJ of energy, 300mg of guarana extract, 118mg of sodium and a massive 34.6g of sugar. That works out to 38% of your recommended daily sugar intake, or around nine teaspoons. Yeuck.

Before I continue, let me preface this review by reiterating my enduring love for the V brand. The blue and green variants are pretty much my joint-favourite beverages of all time. I was therefore filled with excitement when I saw this limited-edition flavour peeking out of my local IGA’s refrigerator…Excitement tempered with trepidation.

V’s previous special editions have been very hit-and-miss affairs: V Kaboom! bordered on sickly-sweet while V Graphite was indistinguishable from arch-rival Mother. The others range from “meh” to acceptably novel, but none have been a patch on the mainstay flavours.

So did Carnival manage to buck V’s trend of subpar special-edition flavours? No. No it did not.

But first, let’s talk about the positives: I like that the company went with the sensible spelling of “Carnival” instead of trying to be all trendy with “Carnivàle”. This is the only positive.

In terms of taste, this is the carnival equivalent of puking on a ferris wheel after getting ripped off and emasculated on the high striker. And then spilling beer all over your pants.

Even for hardcore sweet-tooths, this drink is off the charts. It also has an aftertaste that can only be described as vile: it’s kind of a cross between creaming soda and caremelised popcorn. I feel like my taste buds were molested by a grubby-handed carnie.

In conclusion, V Carnival is a bit of an acquired taste. They certainly nailed the flavours of a carnival, but it’s not something that should ever have been put into a can. Best avoided.

Taste rating: 1/10


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