Red Bull Cola

By Xania Woodman

Thursday, May 29, 2008 | midnight

Packing a strong herbal energy punch, this cola goes where others dare not: into the realms of flora and spice like licorice, cinnamon, lemon, ginger, orange, corn mint, pine, cardamom, mace and clove. And yet, it still manages—at first blush anyway—to achieve a typical-ish cola-esque flavor … sorta. Red Bull Cola (RBC, $5-7) contains no phosphoric acid, no preservatives and no artificial flavors. It’s the only cola that contains both the original kola nut and coca leaf, it’s slightly more caffeinated than a traditional cola, and it’s the first new product from Red Bull in 20 years. I doubt I could get two of these down, thanks in part to the tongue-numbing qualities of some of the ingredients, but we can expect to be seeing a lot of RBC in Vegas as, like any new beverage launching here first, it will be welcomed into the world through a series of celebrations. This past Memorial Day weekend, the Red Bull Air Force skydiving team was so excited about RBC that they did a base jump off the Signature Towers into Wet Republic and dropped by VooDoo Lounge on their plummet to the ground.