V8 Energy Zero Sugar Drinks: Our Honest Review

V8 makes vegetable juice—some of the best vegetable juice, actually. But the company is doing its darndest to break out of that niche. It’s branched out to fruit juice. It’s made moves into the booze category, with its sparkling canned Bloody Mary made in collaboration with Spritz Society and its canned mixers (like the new Michelada mix). And then came the V8 energy drinks. And it really feels like V8 is going hard on those. There’s a lot of them—including powdered energy drink mixes and now zero sugar energy drinks.

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The new sugar-free V8 energy drinks all come in at just 5 calories in each 8oz can and they contain B vitamins and 80mg of caffeine. For reference, that’s a bit less than your standard cup of coffee. All the flavors are also 1% juice. V8 vegetable juice is 100% juice. So you know they have access to the stuff. I guess what I’m saying is I want caffeinated carrot juice. Anyway, are these new V8 Energy Zero Sugar flavors any good? I tried all three flavors to find out.

New V8 Energy!

V8 Energy Zero Sugar Blueberry Raspberry

Walmart

Pros: It does have a berry flavor. It doesn’t have any of that “energy drink” flavor. And the can is small, so you don’t have to drink a ton of this stuff to get your 80mg of caffeine.

Cons: This is one of the sweetest things I’ve ever tasted. Like, sweeter than a straight spoonful of sugar syrup. It tastes like the syrup you would mix with sparkling water to make an actual energy drink. And there’s a strong stevia aftertaste that lingers and lingers. I could barely take a second sip.

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

2.5/10

Sporks

New V8 Energy!

V8 Energy Zero Sugar Strawberry Lemonade

Walmart

Pros: Imagine classic pink lemonade, now pour in some stevia. That’s what this tastes like in a not too bad way. It has a true strawberry lemonade flavor—there’s even some lemony tang in the background. If this was carbonated, that tanginess would be accentuated, but as it is uncarbonated, the sweetness overpowers it. And for some people, that’s a real pro.

Cons: While it’s not as sweet as the Blueberry Raspberry (I’m not sure anything is), it’s still quite sweet. But if you’re accustomed to stevia-heavy beverages, you’ll be able to handle it.

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

6/10

Sporks

New V8 Energy!

V8 Energy Zero Sugar Cherry Lime

Walmart

Pros: This is the best of the bunch. It’s unmistakably cherry-lime—not medicinal with actual citrusy tartness. It’s more balanced than any of the others. I could totally get through one of these 8oz cans.

Cons: It’s still too sweet for my tastes, thanks to the heavy hand with the stevia. At the same time, if you don’t like tart things, you might think it’s too tart. In that case, stick with the Strawberry Lemonade.

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

7/10

Sporks

About the Author

Hi! I’m the editor-in-chief of Sporked. I will never turn down a fresh-shucked oyster but I’ll also leap at whatever new product Reese’s releases and I love a Tostitos Hint of Lime, even if there is no actual lime in the ingredients. Why you should trust me: I have been writing about food and beverages for well over a decade and am an avid at-home cook and snacker. I began my career writing about fine dining and recipes, moved into cocktails and spirits, and now I talk about groceries. If you can eat it or drink it, I’ve probably written about it. What I buy every week: Trader Joe’s dried okra. Appleton Farms prosciutto from Aldi. Some sort of Trader Joe’s cheese (I’m into the aged gouda at the moment). Frozen waffles (usually the Eggo Cinnamon Toast Minis). Spindrift water (loving the Cosmopolitan right now). Favorite ranking: Smoked salmon. Imagine me as Scrooge McDuck but instead of coins I’m diving into a vault of slippery smoked salmon slices. Pure joy. I also found some real steals in that taste test! Least favorite ranking: Canned oysters. I had such high hopes for this but it quickly became a chore. The kitchen smelled like an uncleaned aquarium.