Is Smart Energy as Smart as It Claims to Be?

Our final energy review for #ERoundup is Smart Energy.  While we started out with regular energy shots and drinks, the products have slowly evolved and our final product can actually be used as a mixer, and not just for alcohol either!


After doing some research, we found a nice backstory to Smart Energy we know you'd love to hear.  It's actually really motivational.   The founder of Smart Energy, Elliott Johnson, went through a self-changing journey that required him to cut back on things he loved.  One of these was alcoholic beverages.  While at a bar, Elliott noticed, as many of us do, the lack of quality non-alcoholic drinks. Instead of waiting for one to be made, he decided to make his own healthy and tasty choice.  His inspiration and drive, combined with a team of experts helped him create this mixer. Thus, Smart Energy was born. But with all the mixing, is Smart Energy really as smart as its name suggests?

Packaging:  This was actually a really awesome story. I was caught off-guard by the simplicity of it mixed with the coolness.  Just holding the giant bottle of Smart Energy shots, I felt as if I were a bartender.  After all, the bottle looks like something you'd see behind the bar at a nightclub.  It's translucent, smooth, and has the pretty bad-ass logo on the front which reminds us of Harry Potter's scar.  The logo isn't the only thing magical in this bottle, though.

Taste:  Alone it had a slight citrus taste.  It wasn't extremely strong and it definitely wasn't bitter.  Knowing it was a mixer we couldn't just shoot it straight:  it was begging to be mixed.  While we did try two of the drinks on the menu to your right, we even made up our own which we encourage you to try:

• Smartkist - Orange Soda of choice (Ours was Sunkist) and Smart Energy
• Albert Palmer - Half-Sweet Tea, Half-Lemonade and a shot of Smart Energy (named after Albert Einstein and the original Arnold Palmer)

Instead of doing a Smart Soda, we did a Smarten Up!  Using 7-UP instead of Sprite since it was available to us.  It tastes the same, we're sure and it was really tasty.

Energy Level: AVERAGE  We didn't get any bursts of energy from taking the shots, which is a good thing considering that some people are mixing Smart Energy with alcohol.  Too much energy + alcohol is not a very good decision, trust us.

Focus: HIGH  We didn't get jittery from it and even found ourselves being more productive than usual.  I personally credit it for flowing into the next morning, where I stayed productive and got going as soon as I woke up.  We even found our brain functioning better than normal which is an amazing feeling.

OVERALL GRADE: B-  This was a tough grade to give.  While we didn't feel that burst of energy, the focus was definitely there and more than made up for it.  We even felt better about drinking it because it's a healthy alternative to any other mixer on the market.  It was fun to be able to make up our own drinks and the taste was pretty good, just very subtle.  If you have the chance, grab some Smart Energy and add it to your favorite drink.  It'll be the smartest decision you make.

You can find Smart Energy at their website.

Can you think of any good mixes with Smart Energy? Let us know on Twitter @GeekPreview using the hashtag #Eroundup!

That's it for the Energy Review Roundup!  We plan on having our awards article up by Friday, guys!  Keep posted for some surprising favorites!

I'd like to take a moment to thank Elliott Johnson, the inspiring entrepreneur, for allowing us to use his product for our Energy Review Roundup.  We appreciate the effort he put into helping us review Smart Energy and we love the back story.