Phew that’s a pseudo-Euro-syntactical mouthful eh? Luckily I was able to read that title aloud with aplomb thanks to the lubricating effects of a slurp from my own batch of Xtreme Energy Fuel Raw. How convenient. I should say that the aforementioned batch was given to me for free with the implication (assumed or otherwise) that I would provide a ‘good’ (i.e. favourable) write-up. Again, how convenient.

I’m a sell-out.

Let me defend myself though.

Two things.

First, Rupert (co-founder/owner of Mountain Fuel) is sound. Sound people do sound things. Rupert did a sound thing by beginning Mountain Fuel. Mountain Fuel (MF) do sound things by aiming to provide high quality, nutritionally balanced supplements to all and sundry at a decent price. They don’t hire rockstars to promote their products (hence why you’re stuck with someone like me), nor do they ascribe to a ‘our way or the high-way’ mentality. For example, when I first started using the MF supplements a couple of years back I wasn’t impressed and told them so. Rupert was straight on the phone to ask how they could improve. I don’t recall SIS or Maurten calling me up anytime. Bottom line, if you don’t like it, they’ll listen, try to do something about it (if practicable) and if you still don’t like it, no biggie, try something else that works for you. No hard sell.

Second, I like to think that I’m fairly honest in my opinions. Some products work for me, many don’t. This one does. Without giving too much away before the meat of the review, this isn’t a super-powered elixir. It’s a very refreshing alternative to some of the much more sicklier (is that a word?!?) energy drinks out there on the market, which allows me to drink more and thus, in a slightly second-order-effects kind of way, improves my performance.

Nutrition

Here’s some ‘science’ words and approximate numbers (all per 50g – recommended – serving size):

KCal – 180

Protein – 5.1g

Carbohydrates – 39.8g

Sugars – 23.9g

Vitamin B (1, 2, 6 and 12) – 50% of your RDA

Vitamin C – 50% of your RDA

Vitamin D-3 – 50% of your RDA

Performance

What do those mean? You got me, I don’t think we’ll EVER know. Here’s my best guess. You need carbs to supply energy, particularly during endurance events. You need protein to help prevent muscle breakdown. Vitamin B helps with red blood cell production. Vitamin C keeps scurvy at bay, definitely applicable to all the pirates reading this. Vitamin D is the one from the sun right? Well, sun = good, rain = bad. The big elephant on the page is the sugar content** I assume that low sugar is good and high sugar is bad. That’s a general rule that governs my everyday eating habits anyway. For me, the jury is out as to how that actually affects me when I’m trying to move quickly using my legs and feet. I don’t notice any of the highs and lows of sugar when I eat and drink other foods/supplements on runs, and that trend has continued in my use of MF Raw Energy.

In terms of performance, it’s no EPO. Like I said earlier though, the advantages are a touch more discreet. I find that although other products out there have less sugar, they have other additives that make them taste just as, if not more, sickly. I find that I can’t stomach them for more than a few miles; the only alternative being a switch to water, which doesn’t provide me the boost (real or imagined) of ‘sports drinks’. The beauty of the the Xtreme Energy Fuel Raw (and where it differs from the flavoured ones of the same name) is that, aside from a very subtle hint of citrus, there is no taste (unless someone has decided that ‘refreshing as fuck’ is now a flavour??). Quid pro quo I can drink, and thus hydrate, forever.

Verdict

Hopefully not as obviously as at the start, when I dropped the kinda-getting-bought-off-to-say-this bomb, it’s a resounding 10/10 on the this-be-good scale. At the end of the day (insert other cliches here) the kind of thing I’m after is something that keep me going and tastes good. It helps also that Mountain Fuel are an honest company fighting the good fight. So for those three reasons there should only really be one choice.

**It was about there in the blog that I tried to be a clever bastard and research other ‘rival’ companies to find a relatable product in order to compare sugar contents in a quasi-cock-off (whereby, in a breach of convention, the ‘smaller’, in this instance, wins) and provide yet more evidence as to how awesome MF products are. SIS GO Energy has 3.5g of sugar and 47g of carbs; OTE Energy Drink has 8.2g and 40g respectively; Torq Energy Drink provides 15g of sugar and 45.5g of carbs and High5 Energy gives you 18g of sugar and 44g of carbs (all per individual company serving suggestion sizes – approx 40-50g). Lesson learnt? Clever bastards are dicks.