Odyssey's mushroom-based energy drinks are, yeah, at least a little bit weird tasting (2024)

OK. Let’s start at the very beginning. That’s a very good place to start.

“Mushroom elixir” is not my idea of a good time. I doubt it’s yours. This feels like an unholy matrimony between clashing concepts. And watching The Last of Us isn’t helping me square the idea of putting cordyceps in my body any better.

I’m willing to put all that aside. Mushrooms aren’t my favorite, but I’m fine with eating them for the most part because they don’t have all that much of a flavor. And if there’s a way to use them for a health benefit while offering a little bit of caffeine in the morning, I’m on board.

That’s Odyssey’s pitch. The lion’s mane is supposed to help with memory. The cordyceps is supposed to bring energy — though there’s some green tea to speed that along.

Right away; there’s no discernable mushroom taste involved here. That’s logical but does need to be said.

The drink itself leans in too much toward tart lemon and there’s very little dragon fruit. The lemon comes off a little stale and there isn’t enough sweetness to balance that off. That’ll work if you’re looking for a drier energy drink, since fake sugar rules that roost. It’s not my style, however.

The can itself lends to some sediment that pours out at the very bottom. It’s a little concerning. Stirring it back into the rest of the drink doesn’t affect the flavor much.

The good news is that dryness makes it easy to come back to. The low-ish caffeine level would make it an easy co*cktail mixer. It’s not my favorite, but it’s not bad by any stretch. And if it weren’t for the label, I wouldn’t know there was a single fungus inside.

It pours a rich deep purple with a little carbonation. It holds on to that berry flavor to start and then ends … minty? It’s weird. And a little tough to explain. None of the ingredients within should create this flavor profile, but here we are.

The bubbles make little impact, leaving it a little thicker and more syrupy than the lemonade. But like that lemonade there’s a notable lack of sweetness that leaves it feeling a little more like a seltzer than an energy drink. Except, you know, the lack of carbonation.

It’s interesting, but ultimately the turn it takes toward that weird minty finish is a problem. It does seem to get better as it goes, particularly when you get to the fruit sediment toward the bottom of the can. It’s just a little too strange for me.

The smell off the top suggests a lot more ginger than orange. That’s the way more interesting flavor, so I’m OK with that.

The first sip backs that up. The ginger kicks in like Vernor’s ginger ale, which may be overpowering for some but is exactly what I was looking for. There’s still a lingering dryness that leaves the impression things could be a little sweeter, but it’s still significantly better than the blackberry lemon.

The orange plays a pretty minor role; you taste it more sipping from the can than you do if it’s poured over ice. That’s a proper balance that lets the strong ginger taste shine. Not bad.

Now we’re digging into a classic; the combination that gave POGs their name. The passion fruit is front and center off the top of the pour, which for me is a detriment. It always comes off as stale to me.

The taste itself can’t recreate the richness of the fruits from which it pulls. The seltzer-y undertones leave everything feeling a bit thin, which is a bummer when you’re dealing with big tropical flavors. It starts off with promise, then falls … well, not flat, but as a reminder of how much better it could have been.

Oh wow, this smells awesome. Sweet, juicy and a little bit floral. The taste follows; it’s crisp but heavy at the same time, dense with flavor.

I can honestly say this is a flavor I’ve never had before. It’s bubbly but rich, leaving behind a lightly sugary aftertaste that’s just dry enough to make it easy to come back to. There’s a little bit of … fancy jelly bean? taste to it, which lends to the idea that it’s a craft beverage behind all that.

As far as the hydration and mood boosting effects… I do feel moderately hydrated after a day of coffee and a decent workout. But I’m not sure it’s specifically different than a usual Monday night. My mental clarity doesn’t feel appreciably smarter afterward, but I do feel like my mood is slightly better? Maybe that’s just because I drank something I liked.

Welp, I cannot remember a time I’ve ever had passion fruit and thought “yes, this is a good fruit that doesn’t taste like stale gum.” So right off the bat I may not be the right person for an objective review of this can.

Fortunately, the smell off the pour is mostly strawberry, which comes across modestly sweet. The first sip backs this up; passion fruit plays a complementary role that adds depth to what’s typically a one-note, too-sugary strawberry flavor. Where the lack of sweetness was a detriment in Odyssey’s energy drinks it’s a feature here; this isn’t quite seltzer dry, but it’s easy to drink even if the bubbles fizzle away quickly.

The minimal amounts of lime juice give off a strong, fresh citrus smell from the top of the pour. But something about the taste just doesn’t sit right. The yuzu, maybe, is a bit … earthy? There’s a little taste of something inside that reminds me of school lunch turkey and gravy, which is both very surprising and a little unsettling.

It’s not good. I finished the can and nothing got better. I dunno, maybe it’s just me, but this was a mess.

Update: I tried it again in hopes of fixing a minor hangover. I’m pretty sure it made things worse.

Odyssey’s regular energy drinks clocks in on the lighter side at 85 milligrams of caffeine in 12 ounces. The 222 flies in the opposite direction; 222 milligrams in a slim can, roughly on par with Rockstar’s heaviest-hitting options.

I’m excited to get blue raspberry back in my life, but disappointed in the pour. Gone is the unnatural electric blue of the fruit snacks of my past. Instead, you get a magenta beverage that just looks like raspberry. You can just call it raspberry!

It smells great. Sugary sweet with just a hint of berry tartness. It tastes, like Odyssey’s other drinks, a little dry for an energy drink. The signature sugar substitute sweetness of a Monster or Rockstar isn’t there, replaced instead with more of a seltzer feel. It’s a nice change, even if I don’t especially like seltzers.

There’s enough flavor here to overcome the lack of sweetness; nothing like La Croix’s taste-adjacent sparkling water. Still, I’d like it more if it were just a little bit easier to sip.

There’s enough natural sweetness in these flavors to overcome the dryness of Odyssey’sother offerings. The issue is that the two fruits muddle together so that neither one comes through clearly. The outcome is something that’s a little more Dannon fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt compared to the crisper flavor of the Revive line.

This *may* be the one can thus far where I get a little hint of mushroom toward the end. It’s not overpowering, but it does lead to a slightly flat ending where the others have been crisp. There’s something a bit more organic and earthy to the strawberry watermelon, particularly toward the end of the can where the bits and pulp lie.

I came into this one thinking it would be the answer for anyone who wanted a Truly seltzer that woke you up instead of getting you drunk. Had a punchy joke in my head and everything. But the lemon lime is where the brand is at its least seltzer-y.

The citrus here is heavy, fighting the balance of the bubbles and making this the thickest of the Odyssey elixirs. It starts off tart before the organic erythritol kicks in, casting a fake sweetness over the whole affair. Remember The Office, where Michael Scott mixes his scotch with Splenda? Well, big scotch-n-Splendavibes here.

It’s easier to drink out of the can, but that hollowed-out, artificial aftertaste lingers no matter how you sip it. It’s not terrible, it’s just not very good. You can find better within Odyssey’s own brand line.

It smells like tropical trail mix right off the top; authentic dried pineapple and mango laces through the pour and reminds you this isn’t going to be a gummy candy experience. The first sip backs that up. The balance between the two fruits is even, never leaving too hard into the acid of the pineapple or the inherent creaminess of the mango.

The result is pretty great. It’s a wonderful braid of sharp and soft, tart and sweet working in tandem for a solid overall flavor that’s unique from any other energy drink I’ve ever had. I keep going back to it, making it crushable — maybe dangerously so, given the 222 milligrams of caffeine — right out of the can. This thing went quick, which is one of the finest compliments I can bestow on any drink.

The good news is that despite the heavy caffeine content, I never felt jittery after drinking the 222 line. Alert, sure, but there was a calmer feeling to it than I’d get after a similarly amped-up Monster or Rockstar. In that regard, I guess we can credit the mushrooms for doing their job.

Welcome to a new feature on these reviews; a pass/fail mechanism where I compare whatever I’m drinking to my baseline cheap beer. That’s the standby from the land of sky-blue waters, Hamm’s. So the question to answer is: on a typical day, would I drink Odyssey’s mushroom-based drinks over a cold can of Hamm’s?

There are some nice flavors in here. The Prickly Pear in particular is a nice mid-day drink or potential co*cktail replacement. All in all, Odyssey is probably too inconsistent for my tastes, but once you’ve found an extension you like you can really drill deep on it… even if I’m not sure you really get much from the adaptogens within.