Convenience store shelves have become crowded in recent years with a lineup of supercharged, super-caffeinated energy drinks. Red Bull is now flanked by dozens of rivals — Full Throttle, Monster, Rip It and St. Louis-brewed Pimp Juice, among them — each promising to boost, lift, power or otherwise skyrocket your day.
But amid the high-amp froth, a new product has entered the carbonated fray: An "anti-energy" drink, called "drank," that claims to be the first "extreme relaxation" beverage.
"There are all these energy drinks, which are great at eight in the morning," said Preston Shults, distributor of drank in the St. Louis area, where it hit stores in August. "But at the end of the day, you want something to relax you."
While overall sales of carbonated sodas in the U.S. have fallen recently, energy drink sales continue to climb, reaching $3.4 billion in 2006. Last year, sales surged to $6.2 billion of the $72 billion soda market, according to Beverage Digest.
Now there’s an antidote to all that energy, though it’s unclear whether drank represents the start of a new carbonated soda boom. Drank not only must still win over consumers in a crowded market, it also will have to overcome the skepticism about its ingredients and marketing.
In a purple can, featuring the slogan "slow your roll" and an image suggestive of a cough syrup bottle, drank contains melatonin, valerian root and rose hips — a combination, designed to calm and mellow anyone who sips it, according to its creator. A warning label says not to drink more than two cans in 24 hours.
"We’re going to take a clear look at it," said Cara Smith of the Illinois attorney general’s office. "The fact that they give a warning is one of the things that intrigues me. Is that a marketing tool, or is that a legitimate warning?"
The Illinois attorney general’s office has demanded that the makers of Blow, an energy powder packaged like cocaine, and Cocaine, an energy drink, be removed from stores because their packaging and marketing strategies attempted to
capitalize on a connection with the real thing.
St. Louis is one of the first markets for drank, which launched earlier this year and is now in at least 12 cities around the country, mostly in the South. The South is also the birthplace of the underground beverage known as "purple drank," a concoction of codeine-laced prescription cough syrup and fruity soda, with the occasional Jolly Rancher as garnish. "Purple drank," sometimes called "syrup" or "lean," became popular in the hip-hop scene several years ago, particularly in the Houston area, where rap mixer DJ Screw celebrated syrup drinks in his music. DJ Screw, who pioneered a slow rap style that became known as "screw" music, eventually died of a codeine overdose, authorities said.
"Basically we became aware of it by the rap songs and the word on the street," said Mark Ong, a narcotics investigator with the Houston Police Department. "They’d just say, ‘Hey, got me a drank.’ Then we learned it was codeine. It’s rampant here in Houston guaranteed cash advance. Big time."
The association with the illicit beverage — the name, the slogan, a warning on in-store sales material saying the product may cause leaning — is not incidental, said Peter Bianchi, drank’s creator and CEO of Houston-based Innovative Beverage Group. "I wanted to catch people’s attention with something that was hip, new and now," he said.
But, Bianchi added, most people have never heard of "purple drank" and he stresses that it’s a healthy alternative for people who want to relax without alcohol.
Bianchi said he developed drank after years of experimentation, tinkering with nonalcoholic ingredients to help him relax. "I did this out of a personal quest," he said. "I was always a hyperactive child."
He hit on melatonin, a hormone associated with sleep, and valerian root, an herbal root that’s said to have calming properties. "With this," he said, "you’re still able to have your clarity of mind."
The promise that drank will "slow your roll" hasn’t been confirmed by the Food and Drug Administration because, as with other products that fall into the FDA’s conventional foods category, no testing is required. (Energy drinks are marketed as either conventional foods or dietary supplements. But in either case, they require no testing.)
"The producer bears the onus of ensuring that they are bringing a safe product to the market," said Siobhan DeLancey of the FDA.
In the case of drank, the ingredients are all "generally regarded as safe" by the government. The warning, saying consumers should restrict consumption to two cans in 24 hours, isn’t required.
So far, stores in the St. Louis area say the product is doing well, despite some initial confusion.
"I was talking to a clerk, and I asked how it was going," Shults said. "And he said one customer grabbed (a can) quickly, and ended up falling asleep at work, and came back in and complained. The clerk said: No, it did what it was supposed to."
At Joel’s Shell on Arsenal Street in St. Louis, the cans go for $2.39. "We’re going through five to eight cases a week," said manager, Tim Miller. "That’s a lot."
At the Hampton Express Market on Watson Road, sales also have been brisk. Chad Hearring, a carpenter from St. Louis, has gotten into a nightly pattern, picking up a drank there after work. "It’s the opposite of an energy drink," Hearring said. "It just kind of relaxes my muscles, my nerves, and makes it easier to go to sleep."
While none of drank’s ingredients is inherently harmful, nutritionists say consumers should be careful. "I’m a little concerned with the marketing and where they’re going with it," said Annie Neuendorf, a nutritionist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. "But in general, I feel if the consumer is educated, (he) should be okay."
ggustin@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8195
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