A new Italian energy drink that roughly translates to 'in the wolf's mouth', but does it taste like it's come from a wolf's nipple?
It seems that every few months there's another energy drink out there, vying for attention. Some of them manage to stick around and completely penetrate the real world, the Red Bulls and Mothers out there, while others fade into obscurity quickly after they're announced. When I got word of yet another new drink, I didn't get my hopes up by much - that is, until I read its name. Boca Lupo. Isn't that just crazy?!
In all seriousness there is a small amount of back-story behind the naming of this pearlescent white aluminium bottle of love, which the press release explains:
‘In bocca al lupo', or ‘Bocca lupo' as it is more commonly used, translates to ‘in the wolf's mouth' and is a phrase that we Italians use to wish each other good luck.
So they're drawing a long straw with the name, but an unexpected side-benefit is the totally bad-ass wolf logo. I've even been wandering around, belting out "Boca Luuuuupo!" in the hopes that an Italian-speaker would notice and say thanks, but alas, that's yet to happen. Ahem.
Ultimately this drink has hit our shores with the aim of battling its way into our bars and cafes, carrying a RRP of $4.40 per bottle*, though it's currently only stocked in Caltex and Star Mart. For your money you'll get one sturdy aluminium bottle with resealable cap, holding 330mL.
Boca Lupo seems to stray from traditional energy drink make-up somewhat, and those with a keen sense of sight will sniff out the 12% fruit juice that is printed on the bottle. To bury ourselves into the specs surrounding a bottle of Boca, we looked at the nutrition information panel and gleaned an unsurprising fact - it's got the standard 32mg of caffeine per 100mL, for a total of 106mg.
This caffeine count is roughly the same as two cups of coffee, but also added into the mix is 413mg of Gurana, which supposedly unlocks a mechanism within cells that makes it easier to use energy. There's no brain-stimulating Taurine or artificial sweetners in this drink, nor any protein or fat.
There is however a phenomenal amount of sugar, and packed into a single bottle of Boca Lupo is 43g of the sweet stuff - which means for every 7.67mL of drink, that's a whole gram of sugar! For comparison's sake this makes Boca Lupo the sweetest energy drink I've drunk yet - and if my teeth are any indicator, those with sensitive chompers might soon be howling from bone-crushing cavity pain.
So there's something different about this wolfish drink, but what does it taste like? I cracked open the bottle to find out.
*Update @ 9:55PM: I've spotted Boca Lupo in the wild at IGA, selling for $2.50 as an introductory price. So keep an eye out for it if you're interested!
Issue: 137 | June, 2012