Between the time of the release of Red Bull in the US in 1996 and the formation of Rockstar in 2001 and Monster Energy in 2002, the US thirst for energy drinks went from nonexistent to red hot.

Pushed further by insane bids on behalf of Monster Energy and Red Bull, energy drinks forced their way into the US public consciousness around this time. Red Bull heavily sponsored Sauber Motorsport AG in F1 races from 1995 until 2005 when it purchased its own F1 team, formerly Jaguar Racing, from Ford. Monster Energy pushed its rockstar image by handing out cans at rock concerts, and it became a sponsor of Vans Warped Tour in 2003. Rip-It secured a contract with the US Department of Defense in 2004 to provide energy drinks in 8oz cans to US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Monster, Red Bull and Rockstar formed the triumvirate of top 3 energy drinks by sales volume by 2007. Here is a snapshot of the market that year, by brand.

The energy drink market from ~2000 through 2007 was a time of innovation, experimentation, failure and success in the energy drink indusry. Virtually every company was a newcomer and household names were only being formed by the mid 00s.

I argue that, in contrast, following this period of massive revenue + explosive growth, the decade from 2011 to 2021 was a dark-age for energy drinks, due to the natural contraction and concentration of the market and to these special two factors.

Factor One — Four Loko

In 2010 we see the reformulation of Four Loko, a caffeinated, canned, alcoholic malt beverage packaged between 6% and 14% ABV, sold by Phusion Projects. I argue that the public hysteria around caffeine plus alcohol, and consequent FDA warnings issued to Phusion Projects and other caffeinated malt producers, spooked the market as more Americans became aware of the dangers of not just mixing caffeine and alcohol, but of caffeine ingested on its own. Outlets state that the inclusion of caffeine in Four Loko makes consumers feel “wide-awake drunk” and causes them act out of character. This gave Four Loko a cult-like status. Many publicized incidents from late-2010 involved people drinking more than one can of Four Loko. If these were just normal 6% to 14% ABV malts this event would not be newsworthy but the hysteria surrounding the “alcohol plus caffeine death cocktail” I believe tainted the perception of caffeinated, carbonated energy drinks, as many outlets stated at the time it was the caffeine that made people do stupid stuff, not the amount of alcohol, nor the often mixing of Four Loko with other (non-malt) liquors. This is when I should mention that each 23.5 oz can has 156mg of caffeine, about 50% more than the 8.2oz redbull can at the time, and at 12% ABV about as much alcohol as 4x 1.5oz shots of 80 proof liquor. 23.5oz is a significant amount of liquid, mind you. Consider it a near-strictly worse vodka redbull in every single regard except for the fact it can be sold almost anywhere instead of requiring a liquor license.

There were a few producers of caffeinated malts in the US at the time. In the Four Loko case, as the result of several widely publicized incidents, injuries and probably 1 death, Four Loko was banned across many college campuses and at the state level in some cases, with the hysteria peaking in October and November 2010. In November 2010 the FDA publicly warned the producers of caffeinated alcoholic beverages, Phusion Projects included, that caffeine may be an unsafe food additive in their products; Four-Loko was reformulated to remove the caffeine in December of the same year in compliance with this FDA guidance.

Factor Two — Michelle Obama

Another factor which hurt energy drink sales during this time was the beginning of the acceleration of the decline of per-capita sugary drink consumption in the US. From 2007 to 2008 US sugary drink consumptuion fell 1.8% and continued to fall as childhood obesity became a defining issue of this time in the US. This sentiment was highlighted and bookended by Michelle Obama's Let's Move program in 2010.

Energy drinks, which had few sugar-free formulas at this time, suffered as a result of the downturn in US public perception.

These two factors contributed to a slowdown, causing the environment that bore so many distinct energy drinks, brands and companies to enter into a brief lull. New introductions into the energy drink category slumped, brands were pulled from shelves and power was centralized in larger market participants by acquisition. Here is a list of companies that sold the bottom:

• Coca-Cola, who bought NOS in 2007 from Fuze, sold the brand to Monster Energy in 2015
• Coca-Cola also dumped the Powerade Energy brand in 2013
• SoBe No Fear / Adrenaline Rush distribution was scaled back heavily in the US market
  • As of 2024 a company in Guatamala produces Adrenaline Rush, without the SoBe branding, under just the name "Adrenaline Rush" with the subtext "bebida energizente"
• Mtn Dew experiments with Game Fuel and removes the Mountain Dew logo from Amp cans entirely
  • In 2018 Mtn Dew pulled a 180 and un-rebranded it back to "Mountain Dew Amp" again

Shareholder presentations from this time confirm that, in addition to acknowledging concerns about sugar content, companies were also aware that consumers living in (what I propose as) a post-caffeinated Four Loko society were more aware of the risks of caffeine on health, as below:

In the background of the 10 years from 2011 〜 2021, something was brewing. I believe the market saw the trends of sugary drink consumption and realized that dumping high-fructose corn syrup into an energy drink was not sustainable if the sugary drink trend continued (and it has). Although there were a few zero- or low-sugar energy drinks available, the field was still budding in these years and these products had little traction. The first sign of life we see is a product from Monster called:

The Monster Zero Ultra (white can) launched in Q3 2012 without much fanfare from the company. Immediately after hitting shelves though the drink becomes an instant success. By 2014 the barely 2 year-old line is Monster's #2 sub brand and Zero Ultra in particular is Monster's #2 SKU.3 Prior to Zero Ultra the only entries in Monster's low- / zero- sugar category were Monster Lo-Carb and Monster Absolutely Zero, which saw limited success but failed to hit the mark as well as Zero Ultra did.

Monster scales up the Ultra line quickly, trying to capture more of the market that Ultra Zero tapped in to before anyone else can.

With the sugar concern mostly solved through zero-sugar offerings that are sweetened artificially, and now having clear product-market fit, the only remaining problem looming is the public's concern about caffeine, and a lack of clear FDA guidance about safe and healthy caffeine dosing by age.

In 2014, 2 cases of death by overdosing caffeine anhydrous are recorded and further stoke public fear of caffeine. Another death in 2017 (not anhydrous) causes the FDA to look more closely into the issue.

Then, in April 2018 the FDA issues guidance about caffeine, effectively limiting the sale of anhydrous caffeine, and around the same time began recommending adults with no special heart conditions to stay below 400mg of caffeine / day.4 This guidance, I believe, was the final domino. After this guidance was released I believe the energy drink market saw a clear path forward and began to innovate and, later, flourish again. Newcomers flooded the space in the years soon after this guidance is released. Some came from from the athletic supplements (preworkout) fields. The entrance of new participants into the market reenergized the old guard and brought about the flourishing energy drink renaissance that we exist in now. Well, at least the one that I exist in now. If you're reading this way in the future maybe they've regulated this beautiful space out of existence. For shame!

Amid the growing hype, and as more newcomers entered the market, the old triumvirate of Red Bull, Monster Energy and Rockstar became a new triumvirate of Pespi, Monster Energy and Redbull after PepsiCo acquired Rockstar for 3.85 billion USD in cash on in April 2020.5 Monster begins buying companies left and right to pad its portfolio and seriously closes in on Redbull. Here is a breakout of the market share as of Q4 2023.

It's worth noting that more energy drink brands emerged from the world of preworkout supplements than during the 2000s boom. Ghost, C4 and some incumbents not on this list like Bucked Up, Lit and Alani Nu were preworkout powders before or around the same time that they were reformulated and sold in cans.

This table is ripped from a Monster shareholder report so it doesn't break out the relation of other brands, but many of these are owned by common parent companies. For instance, Prime Energy and Alani Nu are owned alongside 3D Energy by Congo Brands, a company that seems as much a digital marketing machine as an energy drink distributor. Rockstar and Celsius are both PepsiCo brands after being each acquired in separate deals in 2020 and 2022 respectively. Bucked Up, which doesn't make this list beyond ALL OTHER is a notable independent company that began in the preworkout space. Bang is presently a brand of Monster Energy after being sued out of existence by Monster itself.

Many energy drinks, like Bucked Up and C4, tease the FDA's 400mg per day suggestion. These drinks, mostly with a past (and present) as preworkout supplements, market themselves as anaerobic performance enhancements to be consumed prior to a workout like their preworkout supplement formulas. Their purpose is to provide more impetus for explosive performance in the gym and to increase your max effort output, which they do quite well. And similar to preworkouts they often have other additives like beta alanine, which makes my skin tingly (this is evidently intended), and L-theanine and taurine. Of course these energy drinks also have elevated levels of caffeine in them, often 250mg and 300mg in a single 16oz (sometimes 12oz) can. These levels are quite normal for a serving of powdered preworkout formula but as a prepackaged energy drink this serving size is a significant step up from what was on the market 20 years ago. There seems to be (currently) little concern of regulating this as the market has kept a soft cap at 300mg per 16oz can, though Prime Energy's clear marketing towards children, even if not intended, does raise some concern despite Prime's amazing virality as the 400mg number is the FDA guideline for those over 18.

Personally regardless of caffeine content I will try every one that I find (I have a risk-taking personality). I will fill out some reviews here soon on ones that I have ready access to, as I've become an encyclopedia on this knowledge since I began exploring the landscape in 2019. I found this review site called everyview.com where I found charming reviews for many energy drinks, some of which I will never get to try, from 2008 to 2012. Thank you, XAQuiri Daiquiri, your writing is inspirational.

Dan Lourenco, the founder of Ghost described the current energy drink market as being “on fire”7. I couldn't agree more. Here is a list of company and brand launches that I noticed in my day-to-day which I cross-referenced with publicly available information to determine a launch date as accurate as possible.