Evidently the Red Bull Zero I have in my hands here is a pretty new phenomenon. Having released on Jan 6 of this year, 2025, it replaced the old Red Bull Zero in the gray can. The purpose of both the new and old Zero variants, like any zero-sugar variant, is to closely approximate the taste of the original without any of the sugar. To that end, this new Red Bull Zero uses monk fruit extract, which I had not heard of until I tried this one. This year's zero-sugar Winter Edition uses acesulfame potassium as a sweetener instead of monk fruit; both use sucralose.

The taste is exceptionally sweet on the first sip, then it evaporates into a completely vapid flavor devoid of any discernible taste but its sweetener blend. It's exceptionally artificial and scarcely reminds of of Red Bull at all. The sour apple taste of the OG it tries to imitate is just not there. Even sugar-free Red Bull is more enjoyable to me and is more redolent of the king.