We Tried McDonald’s Red Bull Dragonberry Energizer Drink

I actually tried the McDonald’s Red Bull Dragonberry Energizer Drink immediately after a dentist’s appointment. To be fair, the dentist never said “Don’t chew anything hard or sticky or try out that new McDonald’s Red Bull Dragonberry Energizer.” 

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It should also be noted that, for all the hype and crazy cool colors of it (they’re like that in real life), McD’s new Red Bull drink isn’t zany sugary. In fact, the Dragonberry Energizer is one of the more restrained of the (zillion) new beverages out there―just Red Bull (or Red Bull Zero), plus blue raspberry syrup and those freeze dried dragon fruit pieces that are so trendy right now. 

McDonald’s Red Bull Dragonberry Energizer Drink

Pros: Like Red Bull itself (which I tend to think tastes like those chewable Vitamin C tablets from childhood), the flavor of McDonald’s new energizer drink is just simple and fun. That classic, two-dimensionally tart Red Bull flavor is clearly present, but the blue raspberry syrup does impart some fleshier, deeper berry flavor―almost flirting with my beloved grape soda territory, but not quite. The Dragonberry Energizer is also just as pretty in person as it looks in the ads. I don’t normally like, stare into my beverages, but its sparkling, purple-to-blue gradient makes it look like Sprite for Unicorns.

As for the buzz, at 80 milligrams of caffeine (plus all that other Red Bull stuff), it’s not uncomfortably jolty and the sugar-high is not insanely sugary either. The overall “uplift” very much tracks like a Red Bull―a kind of pert and alertness that stops well short of twitch country.

Cons: Again, the drink is a bit simple in flavor. Some might consider that a pro, since those of us reaching for a modest caffeine buzz aren’t necessarily looking to drag our palates along with us on the adventure. So, let’s call it persnickety to say I personally love a bit more of that fleshy purple berry flavor.

And yeah, the rumors are true―you can’t customize it in any way. Seriously, the manager and I (amicably!) chatted about it, and while there was no fear in his eyes I could tell he’d been…exhaustively instructed from corporate-on-down that you can’t change the specs of the drink any which way. Except, again, getting the Zero version, which still has sugar from the blue raspberry syrup, FYI. 

FINAL VERDICT:

It’s nearly an eight because it’s so straightforwardly, exactly what it is―not even reaching for the stars with some conceptual nonsense or obligatory “wellness” mood. It’s just the flavor is, like, fractionally shy of “berry.” The dragon fruit pieces do add some nice texture, as ever, but not much beyond that. They almost seem like the name tags of the beverage world―like, every drink has to have them, but ultimately you sort of forget they’re there. Definitely not a bad option for a boost. But if you’re in a rush, set aside like, 30 seconds to just…drink in the bubbly cosmic color. (Grown-ups don’t get to do stuff like that enough.)