One of the perks of this job is that we get invited to a lot of events. For practical reasons, we cannot attend everything we’re invited to all the time. One of our favorite PR professionals invited us to a tasting of 5 Hour Energy in Manhattan, and it was such an intriguing proposition that I really wanted to send someone.
I don’t drink a lot of caffeine if I can avoid it, mostly because it makes me feel terrible. I’ve long wanted to send a member to a press launch, so this seemed like a good test run. Certainly, there’d be some member in New York up for the challenge.
BTW, here was the invite:
Oh, that looks good. There are two kinds of drinks I like: straight rye whiskey in a tumbler or the frutiest, brightest concoction you can imagine. One of my all-time favorite cocktails is the eponymous Commodore from The Commodore in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, which is basically a very strong Piña Colada with an amaretto float.
Honestly, looking at this makes me wish they made a non-caffeinated 5-Hour Energy, although at that point, I’d just be drinking juice (I’m a man of the ’90s, I want to be refreshed naturally, calmly).
I posted the invite to the discord server to see if anyone was interested in going to the event on short notice, and was pleased to see that members Matt G and Cristiana were down.
Photo: 5-Hour Energy
What was the mission? Just go, cover the event, and have a good time. As I said, I eventually want to send a member to a car launch (btw, you can become a member here). Without further ado, here are Matt G and Cristiana’s writeups and photos.
The Autopian Asked Me To Taste Test 5 Hour Energy Drinks – A Scene Report
Photo: Matt G
It’s 2:30 PM on a Wednesday, and I’m on a PATH train under the Hudson River. Instead of doing my real job, writing the software for a green-colored car auction website you might know, I’m on my way to a 5-hour Energy press launch in Manhattan. Despite drinking copious amounts of coffee at some points in my life, I’ve never consumed any energy drinks. I think that makes me either the best or the worst person to send to a 5-hour Energy event, and I’m excited to find out which.
Photo: Matt G
I arrive at the private event space at Pebble Bar in Midtown and meet up with the PR rep, Steve, and the other Autopian member here, Cristiana. They’re raffling off a few watches from their partner brand Cobalt to attendees. Do we have to send the watch to Matt Hardigree if we win?
[Ed note: You can keep anything you get on a junket if you’re not me, since we just send that stuff to members anyway! – MH]
In celebration of Dry January, they’ve had the Beverage Director at Pebble Bar, Tim Sweeney, create mocktails that incorporate the new 5-hour Energy flavors. I am not participating in Dry January, and when I first read the invitation, I thought it said “cocktails,” so I am a little disappointed there’s no alcohol involved.
Photo: Matt G
I get my first drink, the Strawberry Rainbow Lemonade, incorporating the Fruity Rainbow flavor 5-hour Energy. It is extremely sour, and heavy on the strawberry. I taste none of the off-flavors that I would expect from an energy drink (not that I would know). I’m told there’s 3/4 of an ounce of 5-hour Energy in each drink, which is about 1/3 of the 2-ounce bottle. I am not planning to completely finish any of the drinks.
I’m enjoying watching the mechanics of the event take place around me. A still photographer, videographer, and sound guy with a boom microphone ambush the attendees and the bartender to get B-roll footage. Cristiana and I pose for a photo while clinking our glasses.
Photo: Matt G
My second drink is the Cotton Candy Spritz, made with Cotton Candy 5-hour Energy and raspberry non-alcoholic sparkling wine. The Raspberry flavor overpowers everything else, but it’s quite pleasant! Cristiana decides to taste the 5-hour Energy straight. She is not a fan.
The founder and CEO of 5-hour Energy, Manoj Bhargava is here. Steve tells us that this is a big deal, as he rarely leaves the Detroit area, where he lives and where 5-hour Energy is headquartered. He’s doing interviews with the real reporters here, and I don’t want to interrupt that.
Another attendee asks who we are and what outlet we’re with. We attempt to explain.
“We’re with The Autopian, it’s a car website. We’re friends of the Publisher, Matt”
“Oh, he’s here?”
“No, he sent us in his place”
“Oh, as his proxy!”
“Yeah. We’ve never met him.”
“…you’ve never met him.”
“Yeah…”She extracts herself from the conversation.
Photo: Matt G
Time for my third drink, the Confetti Cake Break. Birthday Cake 5-Hour Energy, coconut cream, and assorted fruit juices, topped with sprinkles and a maraschino cherry. This is definitely the best drink (the other bartender working the event, Dante Colicchio, agrees), well balanced between the coconut and pineapple flavors. Still no taste of the energy drink.
I eavesdrop on Steve and another reporter. “Our new slogan is ’17 flavors of tasty caffeine.’” I think he’s joking at first, but he’s not. “We’re switching to flavor,” he says.
One hour in, having sipped on my three drinks, I can feel the caffeine making my heart beat faster in my chest. All is still well, though.
We watch Sweeney (that’s how Steve refers to him, “Sweeney, can you make a drink?”) teach a reporter from Parade Magazine how to make the Strawberry Rainbow Lemonade. She requests the Cotton Candy Spritz, but Sweeney says it’s boring to make. “It’s not the most stimulating,” he says. It has 5-hour Energy in it, of course it’s stimulating.
Photo: Matt G
In the end, we don’t win the watch raffle. We get gift bags containing six 5-hour Energys, a branded mini-Stanley tumbler, and a branded mini-beer-coozie, each of which would perfectly fit one shot of the drink. On the train home, I start to get a headache. – Matt Goldman
Thank you, Matt, for taking the bullet for me! Please enjoy the mini-beer coozie. For a different view of the event, we’ve got Cristiana, who has experience with energy drinks. [Ed note: and Kia Stingers! – PV]
My Take On The 5-Hour Energy Drink Experience
Photo: 5-Hour Energy
Right next to 30 Rock, where Jack Donaghy plied his wares, was the Pebble NYC bar, where at he top floor was the candy-forward 5-Hour Energy tasting room.
Photo: Cristiana
Once I got there, I explained to several people why I was there. They were pretty confused as to why someone barely associated with the premier car site on the internet was there. But there I was.
At the event, they were focusing on their three new flavors: Birthday Cake, Fruity Rainbow, and Cotton Candy. The flavors were each used in a mocktail specially crafted to match with the candy flavors.
Photo: Cristiana
The bar was decked out in glass jars filled with various sweets. Cotton candy, sprinkles, gummy bears, and Runts. For some reason, I really enjoy Runts, especially the hated banana flavors. So I was disappointed that they were not used for anything.
The drinks were crafted with great ingredients such as ginger syrup, strawberry puree, and coconut pineapple juice. Plus, two were made with a non alcoholic spirit, ‘Seedip.’ Two different varieties were used; one is styled as a citrus-forward gin, and the other is more like a traditional gin. Neither contains juniper, so they aren’t as herbal as a traditional gin. Regardless,
both did add a gin-styled component to their drinks.
Photo: Cristiana
The first drink I tried was the one I was most excited about, the ‘Confetti Cake Break’ featuring the ‘Birthday Cake’ 5 Hour Energy. Once the drink was made, I got a creamy white beverage bedecked with sprinkles and a cherry. Once tasting it, I got citrus with a bit of coconut, and a hint of gin-like spice, with no cake to be found. Seeing the coconut in the ingredients made me think of coquito (look it up, it’s delicious). But in the end, it was kind of a let down.
Photo: Cristiana
Next, I tried the ‘Strawberry Rainbow Lemonade.’ Tasting this was also very citrusy, with a hint of strawberry. It contained the ‘Fruity Rainbow’ energy shot, and I have no idea what a fruity rainbow tastes like, but I didn’t feel that with this mocktail.
Photo: Cristiana
Finally, I tried the ‘Cotton Candy Spritz.’ Cotton candy is one of my favorite flavors, but like the others, I couldn’t taste its namesake ingredient. Again, I mostly tasted citrus, that added with the non-alcoholic sparkling wine made it taste like a simple mimosa.
What was baffling was that I watched the bartender make the drinks, and they were perfectly made, even the ice was quality. Maybe my tastebuds were off today.
After the drinks, I tried sampling all three 5-Hour Energy on their own. I am quite familiar with how they taste, having drunk many during my clubbing days. All three had a chemical taste that hid any of their flavors. I understand they are made to be downed as a shot, not sipped like a fine
whiskey. So, as an energy shot, it was exactly as expected.This was a pretty standard press event, but the most interesting thing I learned was about the founder and CEO of 5-Hour Energy, the billionaire Manoj Bhargava, who was in attendance. He is not the typical billionaire who hoards their money; he gives away a significant amount to
philanthropic causes, including clean water access, education, especially for rural Indian women, and energy access for the poor.Knowing about the CEO greatly uplifted the zero feelings I had about the company. Quite often, you have to close your eyes about the higher-ups in a company, especially if you are purchasing their product. Not with this company. The world can be quite dark, and knowing there are people out there like Manoj makes the world a tiny bit brighter. – Cristiana.
A huge thanks to both Matt and Cristiana for taking the time to file these reports. I think we should do this again. What do you think?