I've mentioned this before, but Bang is a weird brand. At one time its own company, VPX, the producer of Bang, was sued out of existence by Monster for false advertising1. The advertising in question was the label Super Creatine at the top of all Bang cans, which monster claims is a misleading phrase pasted there in an attempt to cut into Monster's share of the workout energy drink market, which it held down with its brand Reign Total Body Fuel.

Ordered to pay $311 million to Monster Energy, the largest claim ever made under the federal Lanham act, VPX declared bankruptcy and was acquired by Monster for $362 million in 2023. Interestingly this is not the only suit VPX was involved in. Previously they settled with a company called Orange Bang Inc., which claimed the use of "Bang" for pre-workout could cause confusion among consumers thinking this was associated with Orange Bang Inc.2 The settlement limited their use of the trademark Bang to only "creatine-based" drinks. In 2015 VPX launched the Bang Energy ready-to-drink (RTD), which carried the "super-creatine" label. Orange Bang Inc. and Monster teamed up to blow up Bang, because Monster claimed "Super Creatine" is not creatine (which it's not), which if true, violates the previous settlement with Orange Bang Inc. Also, in 2022 the estate of Prince sued VPX, claiming their "Purple Rain" flavor infringes on the Prince's image; Purple Rain was later renamed Purple Haze.

On the front of this Black Cherry Vanilla can, where the words Fuel Your Destiny are, is where the Super Creatine text was before they were made to remove it.

Black Cherry Vanilla smells and tastes like artificial cherry. There's a pleasant depth to it, almost an earthy taste. This contrasts with some other cherry flavors that taste light and thin. On the finish this tastes distantly like watermelon.

It's easy to drink and zero sugar. At 300mg caffeine it can make you quite jittery.