Tag: Sports Drink

As someone who gets thirsty, doesn’t consume the daily recommended amount of protein, and likes to drink things with names that describe how I’m feeling, I think I can get behind Gatorade Zero with Protein.

The no-sugar thirst quencher is available in three flavors, and if you’ve explored the Gatorade rainbow, your taste buds have probably come across them before in other lines the sports drink brand offers. There’s Fruit Punch (a classic G flavor), Glacier Cherry (a flavor that I always want to add red food coloring to), and Cool Blue (a blue raspberry variety with a name that could also be a cologne or aftershave product).

Because these are part of Gatorade’s sugar-free Zero line, there are artificial sweeteners, which in this case are acesulfame potassium and sucralose. As someone who regularly drinks zero sugar beverages, I’m okay with the sweetener combination here.

I would also like to note, and this is going to make you wonder if my taste buds are broken, they taste fine at room temperature. With almost every other sugar-free beverage I’ve consumed that was not chilled or was out for too long, the artificial sweeteners overwhelm the flavor. But that wasn’t the case with these. Of course, your taste buds may vary.

The cloudy drinks get their 10 grams of protein in every bottle from whey protein isolate, which makes these thirst quenchers slightly gritty. Although having had other protein beverages, I did expect that. What I didn’t expect was that the additive makes my mouth feel quenched one moment and then parched the next. It’s definitely weird. I imagine this will be a deal-breaker for some. It isn’t for me.

Look, I don’t have a physiology lab with dozens of scientists to test the recovery efforts of Gatorade Zero with Protein. But I have a tongue and thousands of taste buds to determine if these sugar-free sports drinks taste good. I think for zero sugar protein beverages, these are surprisingly good, and I enjoyed them all equally.

Purchased Price: $19.99 (3 flavor variety pack)
Size: 16.9 fl oz/12 pack
Purchased at: Amazon
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 bottle) Cool Blue – 50 calories, 0 grams of fat, 230 milligrams of sodium, 1 gram of carbohydrates, 0 grams of sugar, and 10 grams of protein. Fruit Punch – 60 calories, 0 grams of fat, 230 milligrams of sodium, 1 gram of carbohydrates, 0 grams of sugar, and 10 grams of protein. Glacier Cherry – 50 calories, 0 grams of fat, 230 milligrams of sodium, 1 gram of carbohydrates, 0 grams of sugar, and 10 grams of protein.

Update 5/5/21: We also tried the Restore varieties! Click here to read our review.

What does the 24 in Gatorade’s BOLT24 mean?

I assume it’s 24 hours because of the following quote from Gatorade PR (bold emphasis is mine), “With this launch, Gatorade’s commitment to fueling athletic performance goes beyond the field, supporting athletes’ athletic lifestyle around the clock by providing advanced, all-day hydration.”

So BOLT24 could be consumed before, during, or after working out. Or you could drink it while chillin’ at some kid’s birthday party you crashed at 3:29 p.m., watching the sun dip below the horizon on a clear day to let you know when its time to take your pants off and exhale at 6:43 p.m., binge-watching a show on Netflix about the cooking techniques of nomadic tribes of Northeastern Asia at 11:41 p.m., or listening to your favorite gardening podcast while pulling out weeds in your marijuana garden at 10:21 a.m.

BOLT24 is a lower calorie sports drink, 80 calories per 16.9-ounce bottle to be exact, and provides 100 percent of the daily value of vitamins A, C, B3, B5, and B6. It contains no artificial sweeteners or flavors. And, because it’s Gatorade, it has to have electrolytes, which it gets from watermelon and sea salt. The line launched with three flavors Mixed Berry, Tropical Mango, and Watermelon Strawberry.

Cane sugar (yum) and stevia (blech) are the sweeteners used in BOLT24. I didn’t know there was stevia until I looked at the labels after taking swigs of all the flavors. It surprised me when I found out because products I’ve tried with stevia ALWAYS end up in the trash or placed aside for a food bank donation soon after consuming it because the sweetener makes everything taste off or bitter (Hi Zevia!).

Well, that’s now almost always because I bought a 12-pack of BOLT24 from Amazon and all of it is going down my throat while binge-watching an anime on Netflix about Yakuza members being turned into female pop idols at 7:23 p.m. or watching the sun rise above the horizon on a clear day to let me know when its time to put on my pants and inhale at 5:56 a.m. While I may not taste the stevia, I imagine others might notice it more than I do.

All three BOLT24 varieties are excellent flavors, although they all have the exact same color (thanks lycopene!) and they’re ones we’ve seen before from Gatorade in other lines. But if I had to rank them I’d pick Tropical Mango first, followed by Watermelon Strawberry, and then Mixed Berry.

Tropical Mango has a pleasant aroma that’s noticeably more mango. The same can be said about its flavor, but I do taste a bit of pineapple. Watermelon Strawberry it smells like strawberry candy, and its flavor leans more towards strawberry than watermelon. It also has a slight tang from the strawberry. Finally, Mixed Berry pretty much smells and tastes like a fruit punch.

There’s a lot to like about BOLT24 — great flavors, no artificial sweeteners, no artificial flavors, electrolytes, lower sugar content than regular Gatorade, and all those vitamins. I do wish they came in bigger bottles, but I understand why they don’t. Imagine lugging around a 32-ounce bottle while frolicking in a field of daisies at 1:39 p.m.

Purchased Price: $19.99
Size: 16.9 oz. 12-pack assorted flavors
Purchased at: Amazon
Rating: 9 out of 10 (Tropical Mango), 8 out of 10 (Watermelon Strawberry), 7 out of 10 (Mixed Berry)
Nutrition Facts: (16.9 oz. bottle) 80 calories, 0 grams of fat, 230 milligrams of sodium, 20 grams of carbohydrates, 19 grams of sugar, and 0 grams of protein.