Red Bull Pear Cinnamon Review

Red Bull doesn't just give you wings; it also gives you a seemingly endless variety of Red Bull flavors to jazz up its canned energy blast. Pear Cinnamon is the latest outing from the drink innovator, a tempting take on winter-ready tasting notes meant to warm your soul while revving your system. With cold weather already hitting much of the U.S., having a beverage that bestows energy while inspiring visions of sugar plums can get you into the spirit without sapping your strength.

There's no way we could let a taste combination this intriguing fall into the drink world without giving it a go to see what it's all about. As soon as we heard it was available, we dashed out in our sled and scoured the grocery store scene for a can or two. As luck would have it, we found a generous supply on our first stop, saving us a trip around the world. Santa may have time for that kind of travel, but he's the exception, not the rule. If he has any sense under that red hat, he'll be picking up a few cans of Red Bull Pear Cinnamon to keep him firing on all cylinders this year.

There's little difference between the ingredients for Red Bull Pear Cinnamon and the ingredients in the company's other flavors. The contents of the can are a bubbly brew of caffeine, Taurine, Vitamin B6 and B12, sugar, carbonated water, natural and artificial flavors (the food and beverage world's sneaky way of keeping its more specific taste-making elements a secret). You may taste the rich sweetness of pear seasoned with the warmth of cinnamon, but who knows what your taste buds are really receiving. Since there's no mention of real juice or actual spices, maybe you're better off not knowing. It is an energy drink you're slugging back, after all, not a fresh-squeezed something-or-other from a luxury juice bar.

There's something refreshing about an energy drink that doesn't aim too high by suddenly including unusual additions to its recipe. The desperation of including real fruit juice to a beverage that doesn't use it ordinarily would feel like a sad cry for health legitimacy. Thankfully, Red Bull keeps it real and travels its set path to give its customers an allowable twist on a product they already know and love without getting weird about it.

We found these winter wings for the smashing low price of two for $5.00. Regularly priced at $3.00 per can, Pear Cinnamon is no more expensive than the other Red Bull products. It's also no less expensive, which means the only unique thing in this late-year variant is the flavor blend. Otherwise, it won't set you back anymore to snap open a can of Pear Cinnamon than it would your usual order. The fact that both the small and large cans are priced identically is a bit of a head-scratcher. It might have been a pricing error, so keep your eyes peeled when making your purchase.

Such a workable price also means you can work Pear Cinnamon into your holiday gift-giving for the die-hard Red Bull lovers on your list. The flavor is available in two different sizes: an 8.4-ounce can, which makes a great stocking stuffer, and a larger 12-ounce can, which you can wrap up like a Christmas cracker and stash under the tree. It may sound like a holiday cheat instead of a holiday treat, but the love a Red Bull fan has for Winter Edition flavors should never be underestimated.

The limited nature of Red Bull Pear Cinnamon is written on the can: this is a Winter Edition flavor, which means once the season is gone, this flavor will be too. Luckily, the company has chosen to release this winter variant in the middle of autumn, which gives eager samplers plenty of time to give it a test run. The flavor even rides the line between fall and winter, making it a multi-seasonal enjoyment no matter what your thermostat might read.

October might sound a little early for a winter release, which may explain why this flavor dropped at Kroger locations and on military bases a few weeks prior to hitting the shelves of other Red Bull retailers. We shopped at Kroger and found plenty of cans to go around. Thirsty readers who shop elsewhere should be able to find Pear Cinnamon sharing the drink aisle of their favorite stores with Red Bull's regular flavors. Giving the promotion an end date is a trickier task, though the flavor suggests it might be around until the new year. To be safe, you should shop for it while you can.

Red Bull is always tinkering with its core flavors to bring fans something special to sip. Pear Cinnamon is the latest in the company's Winter Edition tradition. Previous flavors include Arctic Berry, Fig Apple, Pomegranate, and Plum Twist. In a world where holiday flavors range from pumpkin spice to peppermint mocha, Red Bull should be commended for taking its tasting notes into uncharted territory. Do energy drinkers know what fig tastes like, or what exactly constitutes a plum twist? Maybe; maybe not. But these fruit-centered flavors are more likely to match up with the usual Red Bull offerings, keeping discerning drinkers on track for a more adventurous version of the usual formula. It's hard to imagine pumpkin spice making a pleasing appearance in a Red Bull can — props to the company for originality.

For drinkers who eagerly await the next clever concoction to wear the winter crown, Pear Cinnamon seems like an unexpectedly elegant choice. Knowing how difficult it must be to come up with original flavors year after year might help explain the surprising gourmet leanings this time around. It makes us wonder what might come next.

Do you want nutrition from a drink? You'll have better luck swigging green tea or a kale smoothie. But if you want a quick hit of sweetly flavored jet fuel, Pear Cinnamon Red Bull has you covered. You'll also be getting vitamins B6 and B12, as well as pantothenic acid and niacin. Whether or not this is enough to balance out the sugar and caffeine content is a question for physicians and nutritionists to answer.

As with all energy lifts, there has to come a crash, and Red Bull's comes in the form of real sugar and a colossal amount of caffeine. This is nothing new, of course; these easy energy sources are Red Bull's stock-in-trade. With 80 milligrams of caffeine, you'll get a bit less than found in a cup of full-caf coffee. And the 38 grams of sugar that ride shotgun in the can is only slightly lower than the 40 or so grams you'll find in an equally-sized can of Pepsi. At 76% of your recommended daily allowance of sugar overall, even drinking a single will leave little wiggle room for the rest of your eating. Sip with caution.

We must admit, the notion of pears and cinnamon as a Red Bull Winter Edition flavor sounded a bit snooty. We were pleasantly surprised to find that these two tastes are a perfect blend for bringing a generous splash of holiday cheer. The vitamin flavor present in other Red Bull formulations faded into the background, a happy revelation that enhanced the sipping experience. The crisp fizz blended with the warmer flavor brought to mind a sparkling cider, something that wouldn't be out of place at a holiday party, a New Year's Eve celebration, or other indulgent winter moments where fizzy drinks fit.

While we wouldn't recommend drinking a Red Bull every day, Pear Cinnamon would make a splendid choice for the winter days that call for a bit of a boost. If you have decorating to do, a boatload of baking backing up, or a shopping trip meant to cover your list from A to Z, pop open a can and get cracking. And if you just want something sweet and bubbly to sip for a holiday treat with a somewhat upscale flavor, Pear Cinnamon has that covered, too.