Function Drinks

Product Type:Functional: Energy Drink: Regular; Container: 16.9 oz PET
BevNET Review: Of the Alternative Energy flavors that make up the Function line, their most recent flavor, Acai Grape, is definitely the best tasting. The product’s bold flavor is very enjoyable, with a tart pop in your mouth that helps hide any functional ingredients that might otherwise leave a nasty taste in your mouth. It’s sugar sweetened, with a fairly accurate grape and acai flavors. All in all, it’s an extremely drinkable formulation that definitely provides enjoyment and refreshment on top of the product’s functional ingredients. On the functional front, the product’s energy cocktail includes caffeine, muira puama, catuaba, epimedium, guarana, and yerba mate. While many of these aren’t what the beverage industry would classify as “alternative,” the product does pack a good dose of energy. However, their explanation of some of the more obscure ingredients falls a bit flat. Packaging is the same as the other Function products, with a proprietary 16.9 oz.bottle that has a black and silver shrink sleeve label. It has a very technical feeling, with both the illustrations and large “created by physicians” badge letting you know that this is a product that is first and foremost a supplement product. Overall, this is one of the better-executed products that we’ve seen from Function – it tastes enjoyable, provides good functionality, and seems to have a better sense of what type of product it really is. Reviewed on: 8/18/2010

Product Type:Functional: Recovery and Hangover; Container: 16.9 oz PET
BevNET Review: Urban Detox, which is arguably the most well-marketed part of the Function Drinks brand, has been given a new flavor: Pomegranate Cherry. From a taste perspective, it’s very drinkable, with a sugar sweetened mix of tart fruit flavors. You can definitely taste the cherry flavor, but the pomegranate seems to blend in with the product’s functional ingredients. Really, the only thing that we dislike about the flavor end of things is the aroma, which has a slight off note to it. Functionally, this product uses the same blend of “detox” ingredients that are found in the other Urban Detox flavors, including vitamins, electrolytes, prickly pear extract (anti-inflammatory), and N-acetyl cysteine (antioxidant) . While it’s obviously very difficult to gauge the product’s effectiveness, this is one place where the “Created by Physicians” tag line is likely to give the product some credibility. However, if you’re really in need of some detox, deciphering the small white text on the back of the label might be somewhat difficult. So, figuring out a way to further dumb down the explanation would be helpful. Still, we think that it visually looks like a product that’s been designed to deliver a function, so the design definitely helps add credibility. And since the flavor is refreshing and hydrating, we think that consumers who pick this one up won’t be disappointed. Reviewed on: 8/18/2010

Product Type:Functional: Energy Drink: Regular; Container: 16.9 oz
BevNET Review: Strawberry Guava is, in our opinion, still the best tasting flavor of the Function lineup to date. Featuring a noticeably sweeter flavor than what we’ve come to expect from Function, the product’s fruity taste is reminiscent of a sports drink. It seems slightly better than we remember, with more pronounced strawberry and guava flavoring. It’s powered with natural caffeine that’s sourced from guarana and yerba mate as well as muira pauma and epimedium. It seems to have some kick to it, although certainly not as much as products that add straight-up caffeine. On the packaging front, this flavor, like the rest of the brand, has a new bottle as well as an evolved label design. Thanks to the larger “Created by Physicians” logo as well as other front panel text and visual changes, the resulting brand feels like something that is trying to play in the supplement space as opposed to the mainstream enhanced water or energy categories. In addition, we really dislike how they’ve reduced the emphasis on the flavor name, which is certainly a key part of the decision to purchase any drink. Ultimately, these moves leave the brand seeming better positioned to go into the supplement category than to help its presence in the beverage cooler. Our issue is that the mainstream flavor and functionality that are inside the bottle seem out of line with the revised, science-heavy presentation of this brand. Emphasizing the flavor and making it seem “normal” rather than “alternative” is likely to make the brand more appealing with consumers, who are already bombarded with brands that are struggling to create credibility around the science used to create the product. Unfortunately, that leaves us feeling like this latest revision might not be taking this product in the right direction.Reviewed on: 12/18/2009

Product Type:Functional: Recovery and Hangover; Container: 16.9 fl oz
BevNET Review: The Goji Berry flavor of Urban Detox was the first flavor to be introduced the last time that Function changed their bottle. It still has a pleasant berry flavor to it, although we can't say it tastes like goji. There's a moderate level of sweetness to it, which helps mask the slightly "functional" finish that the drink has. The function of the drink is, as the name suggests, detox, which comes in the form of N-Acetyl Cysteine (an amino acid that has been shown to help aide decongestion) and prickly pear fruit extract (which has appeared in hangover drinks for aiding to reduce inflammatory response). On the outside, they've again changed up the bottle, which now has visible ribs to it and is almost completely wrapped with the label. This adds a fair amount of real estate to the label, but we’re not sure that we’re in love with what they’ve done with it. While it certainly looks more polished to the eye, the emphasis on the “Created by Physicians” badge distracts from the important stuff. Namely, what’s the flavor? What’s in this stuff? Both of these elements have been downplayed compared to previous editions, which seems like a step in the wrong direction unless Function is planning on moving to the supplement aisle. If not, we think that they need to do a better job of whetting the appetite – because that’s certainly what the products they are up against in the cooler are doing to lure in customers. Overall, it still tastes good and we like what this variety of Function does from a functional point of view, but their efforts to make this into a marketable product still have some room for improvement.Reviewed on: 12/18/2009

Product Type:Functional: Energy Drink: Regular; Container: 16.9 fl oz (500 ml) plastic
BevNET Review: Function's "Alternative Energy" is still one of the most unique and exotic tasting energy products out there. It has notes of tangerine and yuzu (an Asian citrus fruit) as well as a mild but tart citrus finish and some mellow notes of the functional ingredients. The product, which, according to the manufacturer, was formulated by doctors, has an original approach to energy, which was designed to be smooth and prolonged. To accomplish this, the product uses a variety of herbs, including exotic items such as catuaba, muira pauma, and epimedium, as well as guarana and yerba mate for natural caffeine. Fortunately for Function, the product is refreshing and clean, especially for an energy drink. On the packaging front, we have the same comments as we do for the other newly redesigned flavors: too much emphasis on the physicians who created this product and not enough emphasis on the flavor. Honestly, if they swapped the “Created by Physicians” text with the flavor (and obviously eliminated the emblem), this product would be much more intuitive and marketable. Overall, we’re still fans of this product, but it’s still not at its full potential when it comes to branding. Reviewed on: 12/18/2009

Product Type:Functional: Recovery and Hangover; Container: 16.9 fl oz (500 ml) PET
BevNET Review: Function's Urban Detox formulation is a bright orange citrus-prickly pear flavor. Like the other varieties, it has an isotonic / sports drink flavor that does a great job of quenching your thirst. However, thirst quenching ability isn't the real purpose of this product. Instead, as the name suggests, it is designed to fight hangovers and to "rid your lungs and sinuses of airborne pollutants". "How does it do this?" you may ask. Well, this physician-developed product has added N-acetyl cysteine (an antioxidant) as well as prickly pear extract (an anti-inflammatory). As with most functional products, we can't vouch for its efficacy, but we can say that calling a product "urban detox" could backfire, especially since the word "detox" has a rather negative connotation. We'd suggest a bit more emphasis on the actual flavor and a bit less on the supposed function of the drink.Reviewed on: 12/18/2009