I extolled the virtues of Orange Lucozade almost five years ago, it's always a drink I can turn to when I'm not feeling too great, most like due to a psychosomatic response than anything else. I love a Lucozade, but I also don't really like sugar filled drinks, so there has been a bit of a disconnect between the two for a while. Sure, there have been some lower calorie Lucozade flavours popping up here and there, and I always figured a true diet Lucozade experience would be forever a dream, seeing as it's a glucose based drink and all. But I have been proven wrong, with the release of this Lucozade Zero, a Lucozade with no calories. Well, that's a lie, it does have 20 calories per bottle, but that's certainly a marked improvement in calorific content. But at what cost?
Comparing the ingredients of this and the standard version, it seems the only real difference is the fact that this contains no glucose syrup, and instead goes for some sweetener. That makes sense in the scheme of cutting out the calories, but I was pretty sure it would badly affect the flavor. Truth is though, this isn't bad at all. It doesn't possess that slightly thicker texture that the original has that lets you know you're chugging sweet, glucose goodness, but it still seems to be a substantial drink, and the orange flavouring is still pretty good. The sweetener is noticeable throughout, but it's not that much of a distraction, and I don't think I've met a diet drink yet where it's not at least a little obvious. Besides, the other flavours do quite well at distracting from the sweetener, and while I was sure this drink would fail, it's still a good bottle of Lucozade. There's also a pink lemonade flavor that I haven't yet found, but I know I'll be tracking that down as soon as possible.
My rating: 4/5
