Drinks

Recent Drink Reviews

Liquid IV Hydration Multiplier

The Liquid IV electrolyte mix offers a variety of flavors, but none of them are overly sweet. I ordered the product directly from the company. The product was delivered quickly and ahead of schedule. I ordered the variety pack which included three flavors—Lemon Lime, Acai Berry and Passion Fruit. There were eight packets of each flavor. It is recommended that each packet be added to 16 ounces. or 0.5 liter of water. At first I found it a little difficult to open the packets cleanly. I then realized… Full review

Hotshot Sports Shot

Relieves muscle cramps fast! I had returned from several days of backpacking in the Trinity Alps. The last day was long and hot, and I'd probably not drunk as much water as I should have. But the beer was cold, and it was sooo nice to sleep in a real bed. And at 3 a.m., the cramping started. It began in my right calf, and as I tried stretching/rubbing it out without waking up my wife (sorry, honey!), the left calf started to kick in too. As they both got tighter and more painful, I remembered the… Full review

Tailwind Rebuild

Tailwind Rebuild drink powder is easy to mix, tastes good, is digestible and provided an ideal balance of carbohydrate, protein and electrolytes to replenish the body immediately after exercise. I’m a big fan of recovery snacks and Tailwind Nutrition has developed an easy solution for replenishing needed nutrients efficiently with the new Rebuild drink powder. The recovery period is often overlooked for long-distance backpackers but the concept has been around sports nutrition for a long time. Full review

Médique Medi-Lyte

Medi-Lyte is a low cost electrolyte supplement in tablet form that allows you to easily manage your electrolyte replacement with your activity level. This summer I took a different approach in how I went about replacing my electrolytes. Instead of using any one of the many powdered forms that are offered by many of the sport drink manufactures, I decided I would try using an electrolyte supplement from Medique called Medi-Lyte. I purchased Medi-Lyte off of Amazon and it cost $7.65 for a box of 50… Full review

Cusa Premium Instant Tea

Cusa Tea is a powdered tea with no other ingredients except tea (with fruit in some flavors). It’s a clean, mostly organic product that is easy to use in the backcountry. It’s a good alternative to tea bags if hot water is not accessible or you don’t want to carry wet tea bags after steeping. Cusa Tea is a premium instant tea that makes tea drinking as easy as those ubiquitous skinny packets that coffee drinkers use. Several tea flavors come in the same kind of stick packaging, making it easy… Full review

Cusa Premium Instant Tea

Hot or cold tea in an instant, no steeping required. Black, Oolong, or Green tea in several flavors. Sometimes all you need on a trip is a simple cup of tea. Cusa Premium Instant Tea makes this super easy. Packed into small slim packets, hot or cold tea is ready in seconds. During a recent Tahoe to Yosemite through hike, I tried all five of the Cusa tea flavors and they all passed my taste test. Being a green tea drinker in the morning, it was as simple as boiling some water and opening a packet,… Full review

Hammer Nutrition Endurolytes Fizz Tube

Hammer Fizz is my go-to ingredient in my bottles. Replenishes electrolytes and helps prevent cramps. I give it 4 stars. If the taste was completely non-bitter, it would be 5 stars. Highly recommended. I am a road cyclist, and Hammer Fizz has become the primary ingredient in my water bottles. For many years I have used maltodextrin (et al)-based drink mix. No matter how I prepared them, even combining several mixes, I found them either too light or too syrupy.  For long rides here in the Northeast… Full review

Hammer Nutrition Perpetuem

This has been my secret to sustained energy and endurance on very long hikes and bike rides. It has everything you need to not "hit the wall" in your last mile! I swear by it! I have tried almost every sports drink on the market and this still tops out at #1 for me. Single serving packages seen here. This is marketed as a fuel source for extreme athletes and a product that will utilize fat storage for energy sparing the muscles of increased rate of atrophy. I have used this and other Hammer products… Full review

Packit Gourmet Mango-Kale Jump-Start Smoothie

Despite ALL of the rest of their products being THE BEST, this one's a swing and a miss. I FINALLY FOUND IT!!! A Packit Gourmet product that I don't love... Just gotta say that I really miss the "Eat a Peach Fruit Smoothie". The berry and tropical are BOTH GREAT, but that peach smoothie was my favorite. One of these fruit smoothies, a Clif bar (or equivalent), and a cup of coffee in the morning and I'm ready for the trail.   And now, as the late, great Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story... Full review