Rip It has a special place in my heart. It is a low-cost energy drink with 160mg of caffeine per 16oz can, and is a relatively old brand in the world of energy drinks. My brief history of energy drinks in the US barely mentions it as it is an underrepresented energy drink on convenience store shelves. A contract with the US Department of Defense pushed Rip It into production in 2004. As the product of a government contract it was widely used within the military where cases of 8oz cans of 2 different flavors were shipped with platoons deployed to Afghanistan. I'm unsure of if this contract still exists today but National Beverage Corp (ticker: NASDAQ:FIZZ) still produces this drink at a crazy low cost, undercutting most competitors by probably 50%. For instance this 16oz can of Citrus X was $1.49. Still, these are rather hard to find if you're not looking. There is a store locator tool that can help.

It is not immediately obvious what any of the Rip It flavors are. Citrus X could be absoultely any kind of citrus. Rip It comes in even more confusing names like C.Y.P.-X, Power and F-Bomb.

Citrus X tastes like artificial orange, like a Fanta or a Sunkist. The carbonation is refreshing and powerful. There is a slight aftertaste of cream soda here as well. It's an interesting flavor. All of this is sullied by the stickiness of the high fructose corn syrup on the finish. This thing is $1.49 after all.

The taste of artificial orange does a poor job of hiding this 51g of sugar; these are the sacrifices we make at this price-point, and most Rip Its are like this. There are only 2 sugar-free varieties, sugar-free Power and sugar-free Citrus X. Personally, because of this large quantity of simple sugar I steer away from these except for celebrations like weddings and birthdays. Rip It is for the special occassions in life. Sometimes I will have one immediately before a workout because it's a nice treat for me, and has the caffeine + simple sugar to push me a bit further.