The Vitamin Water Revolution

JuliaT — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 03:19:00 GMT

Everyone is familiar with gas-station drinks. There's the energy drink that claims to be filled with strange substances such as 'taurine', 'ginseng', and the bottle conveys a sense of power and energy. The energy drink is almost always gross. There's also the health drink. Claiming to make to you thin and to keep from you free from disese, the health drink is also almost always gross. There's the ever reliable Coke, but that has corn syrup(refer here). And finally, there's Vitamin Water.

Vitamin Water, produced by Glaceau, has created a revolution in the drink world. Made with crystalline fructose instead of corn syrup, and stuffed full of vitamins, it has a clean, clear taste that leaves all other drinks in the dust. But, the love of Vitamin Water doesn't come immediately. The first one you have, you think is 'interesting' but not quite worthy of all the hype it's getting. Then you find yourself with a hankering for the stuff. You start trying more and more flavors, and finally, you come to believe Vitamin Water to be the greatest of all drinks.

It started out with a just a few flavors. Power, Essential, Focus, Energy, Multi-V, Formula 50, and Revive. Then, following its immedate popularity, more flavors such as Defense, Balance, Endurance, Vita-T, B-relaxed, Charge, and Rescue. I remember standing in front of isle at Kroger with a fellow customer, both of us bemoaning the price of Vitamin Water. Yet still, we both filled up our baskets with the stuff.

But, it didn't stop there. Glaceau went on produce Smartwater, which claims to be 'art in water'. After that came Fruit Water, which is a 'diet drink, without all the fake stuff'. Then, there was Vitamin Energy. Only very lightly carbonated, it is, as of now, the only energy drink that I will willingly drink.

As it is in with the market, competitors quickly sprang up. WinnDixie quickly came out with 'vH20', pricing it at $1.00 instead of the Vitamin Water $1.20. VH20 is disgusting. Plain and simple. Like water that had old socks soaked in it, with a vague, slightly fruity, flavor added to it. Not to mention, the name is a total rip-off. Sobe came closer. Life Water, while it tastes pretty decent, lacks the crisp, clear flavor that makes Vitamin Water unique.

As of yet, there is yet to be a 'Vitamin Water killer', and Glaceau continues to dominate the market in decent gas-station drinks. Will Glaceau ever lose it's crowd of Vitamin Water fans? Who knows. Will there be a serious competitor sometime in the near future? Who knows. Only one thing is certain. Vitamin Water is delicious.