A (Very) Honest Review of New Skittles Drinks

I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of tasting the rainbow. What if I want to lick the rainbow? Or maybe scoop up the rainbow with a spoon. Or better yet, on a sunny day, perhaps I want to sip the rainbow. Well, candy fiends, sipping the rainbow has become a possibility now that Skittles has released four new Skittles bottled drinks (not to be confused with Skittles drink mixes, which have been around for a bit). The non-carbonated bevs come in four flavors: Original, Wild Berry, Tropical, and Sour. Turns out my desire to sip the rainbow may have been a little misguided.

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Skittles Drink Original

Willy Wacky Snacks

Original Skittles come in five flavors: Strawberry, Lemon, Orange, Grape, and Green Apple. I’m going to assume this red Skittles drink is intended to taste like the Strawberry Skittle, however, it could be a combination of all the flavors. Honestly, it was hard to tell.

Pros: This violently red Skittles drink is very, very sweet, like liquified candy. Skittles are, in fact, candy. So, hey, nailed it on that front. 

Cons: At risk of being a bummer, the entire experience of consuming this drink was unpleasant, from the smell to the aftertaste. It smells awful—so artificial, so sugary. And the smell only begins to prepare you for the flat, saccharine substance you are about to imbibe. It’s like under-diluted Kool-Aid or bad generic fruit punch. Oh and the flavor lingers. If you insist on drinking the Original Skittles drink, consider diluting it some sparkling water.

Credit: Liv Averett / Willy Wacky Snacks

Rating:

3/10

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Skittles Drink Wild Berry

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I’ve never actually had Wild Berry Skittles, but the flavors all sound appealing: Strawberry, Raspberry, Wild Cherry, Berry Punch, and Melon Berry, which I just found out is an actual berry. Are those flavor profiles present in the Skittles drink version? 

Pros: I mean, I guess there is a berry taste. Can I place which berry in particular? No. But there is something berryish about the drink, which makes it seem a little less like straight-up food coloring and sugar water. Compared to the Original Skittles drink, this one has a milder flavor profile, but it all just falls so flat. I actually sort of missed the aggressive punchiness of the Original once it was gone.

Cons: The Wild Berry Skittles drink still suffers from a lot of the same problems as the Original: it’s too sweet, very artificial, and would really benefit from some carbonation. Anything to cut the sweetness.  Managing editor Gwynedd Stuart observed that it tastes like Flintstones Vitamins, and I wish I could disagree. It was difficult to slurp down this drink without having flashbacks of the chalky horrors of childhood.

Credit: Liv Averett / Willy Wacky Snacks

Rating:

2/10

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Skittles Drink Sour

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Personally, Sour Skittles are my favorite type of Skittles. They’re the Sporked crew’s favorite sour candy, too. I’ll even admit that I’ve been guilty, on occasion, of licking the sour coating off and discarding the candy itself, and I couldn’t help but hope that maybe this bright green mystery liquid would bring me that same citric acid satisfaction.

Pros: I actually quite enjoyed this Skittles drink. Because the other drinks are so one-note, the added sourness makes this one a much more balanced drink. It may be the bright green color swaying my mind, but I detected a sour green apple candy flavor that I really liked. It’s still quite sweet, but I would actually consider consuming this one in the future, as long as it was cut with some sparkling water. 

Cons: It’s still terribly sweet and the aroma is pretty gross. While I like it more than the other flavors, it’s still like choosing one bad medicine over another. I think this drink has potential if it was more sour, less sweet, and had some fizz.

Credit: Liv Averett / Willy Wacky Snacks

Rating:

5/10

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Skittles Drink Tropical

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Okay, I’ll say this: I appreciate the bright blue color of the Tropical Skittles drink. The unnatural color helps communicate that this beverage will not taste like a naturally occurring fruit. 

Pros: This blue Skittles drink tasted like blue raspberry to me, and I enjoyed that more than the undecipherable flavors of the other bottled drinks. It feels slightly lighter and less syrupy than the other fruity flavors, which made it a bit easier to stomach than some of the others.

Cons: You know the drill. Too sweet. Needs fizz. Bad smell when you open the bottle, and a lingering aftertaste. I think the base flavor is well suited to candy, but if you just turn that into a drink without tweaking it for the format, it’s just a recipe for nausea. These drinks are clearly for kids. Adults should stick to tasting the rainbow in candy form.

Credit: Liv Averett / Willy Wacky Snacks

Rating:

4.5/10

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