The Dr Pepper/7UP company has a new "energy shot" type energy drink called Venom Bite that they're giving away samples of. I'm a sucker for free things (as some of you already know), so of course I filled out the form to get one.

The Venom Bite itself is only 3oz, so it's a rather small bottle, which I assume is intended to be chugged rather than drank – much like the "5-hour energy" shots.

I took a few sips to get a general taste of the stuff before swallowing it all in one go. I wasn't sure what exactly "Arctic Blast" tasted like, and I still don't know – it had a minty-like cooling taste to it, which wasn't bad, but wasn't exactly great. It almost had a bit of a mediciney taste to it. Also, the consistency was a bit thicker, almost reminding me of drinking NyQuil. After determining that I wasn't likely to gag or get sick on the Venom Bite, I downed the rest of it in one gulp.

This little bottle has your standard "energy drink" ingredients – caffeine, guarana, taurine, B vitamins, etc – and as such, I got the normal "up" I would associate with drinking an energy drink. The difference is that I felt it faster, probably because the ingredients are more concentrated than in a larger (and more watered down) energy drink, and because I drank it much faster than I would drink a Red Bull, Amp, or RockStar energy drink.

So, what's my final take on Venom Bite? On a scale of 1-10, I'd give it a 6. Aside from the minor complaints above, the main factor lowering my rating is the price. Right now it seems to only be available through their website, and it's priced at $2.50 a bottle. $2.50 for a 3oz bottle. Knock the price in half and I'd rate it an 8.

If you want to give it a try, you can request a sample of Venom Bite – Cold Blast from VenomBite.com. I think it took about 2 weeks to get mine.