Vacation in a Bottle (ViB): Dallas-created energy drink provides a relaxing alternative to Energy Drinks

I’ve never understood the popularity of energy drinks.

Truth be told, I can’t even remember an instance where I’ve actually tried one, but I’ve seen enough empty cans in dorm rooms and teenagers’ cars to gather that they’ve got a pretty significant foothold in the market for younger consumers. I have nothing against energy drinks, but I haven’t heard all that many good things about them either.

Just Google “energy drinks outlawed” and you’ll quickly see that there are quite a few other people that haven’t heard anything good about them either. Schools in Australia are banning them, German regulators are finding trace amounts of cocaine in them, and, for you superstitious folks, there may actually be a curse developing with one of the more highly publicized of the energy tonics — Five Hour Energy.

The Browns’ Braylon Edwards and Giants’ Osi Umenyiora did not have a ton of fun during their first season as spokesmen for Five Hour Energy. Both of them were featured in ad campaigns for the product and both of them got hurt. Ouch.

My personal experiences with these particular drinks are limited, but as I said above, I’ve seen my share of empty cans everywhere. Despite the large number of empty cans, I have not seen a large variety of people that drink them. The people that tend to drink them usually drink a lot of them. Every day. Seems like that’s become a habit.

Personally, I think I get through the day with enough energy without energy drinks, so I’m not exactly going to blaze a trail to the nearest convenience or grocery store to start a new habit, but I’m not going to suggest to any readers out there to change their habits. If you enjoy drinking energy drinks, more power to you.

There is a new drink out that is gaining some buzz which might make me change my stance on energy drinks. At first glance, it looks like the anti-energy drink, which isn’t nearly as unproductive as it might sound.

It’s called Vacation in a Bottle and it’s been described as “leading the booming ‘anti-Red Bull’ movement.”Anything that is anti-Red Bull is something I’m going to support.

Vacation in a Bottle, which goes by the shortened moniker ViB (and is pronounced “Vibe”), describes itself as a “relaxation beverage” and is really starting to get more press in the athletic community. The key ingredient in ViB is L-Theanine, which is an amino acid found primarily in smaller doses in green tea, and has been gaining in popularity as the energy drink fad has come under more scrutiny.

From a recent article in the LA Times:

Certain formulations of SoBe Lifewater and Vitamin Water now contain L-theanine, as does a new beverage called ViB. And Gatorade recently introduced a drink with the amino acid as well. That product — Tiger — was named for and marketed by (who else?) golfer Tiger Woods, the king of concentration in the sports world.

“Focus and concentration is the next generation of the energy drink,” says Scott Smith, vice president of Taiyo International, a major producer of L-theanine in a patented tea extract called Suntheanine. “This will put you in an alert state — in a zone — but it’s not going to keep you up at night.”

L-theanine is not a new discovery. The substance comes from the Camellia sinensis plant species, otherwise known as tea.

Despite its caffeine content, tea is cherished for its soothing effects.

The article goes on to describe some of the benefits L-Theanine is being shown to have in initial studies. Basically, the difference is that instead of giving you a big burst of energy like a Red Bull or Monster, which is followed by the inevitable jitters and crash, ViB focuses on your mental acuity hoping to, as it says in the excerpt above, relax you and put you “in a zone.”

I was a little confused when Gatorade released Tiger – as it didn’t seem to be any different than regular Gatorade – but now that I know what’s in it, I’ll be a little more inclined to pick it up for during a game.

Surely as products like ViB start to take a stronger hold on the market place, more and more studies will come out and we’ll have an even better idea about the effects and safety of the products. But so far so good.

An announcement: I was not paid to write this, and as I said above I have not tried ViB yet, even though I’ve been born and raised in Dallas and the product was created right here in Big D by Johnny de la Valdene (Jimmy Buffet’s godson, strangely enough) and Travis Hollman (pictured, right). Anything to help with focus and concentration would be greatly appreciated, especially in today’s hectic society. Personally, I think that these types of drinks are better for our society anyway – we need more focus and concentration to focus on our daily tasks than energy to get us through the day. Maybe that’s just me though.

The former Cowboy Roy Williams, as shown in this picture, appears to like it. At the very least, he was willing to smile while holding a bottle of it.

The reason a lot of athletes are proving willing to smile in pictures while holding ViB is because many athletes are not just endorsing the product but putting their money where their mouth is and investing in it. Among the investors from the sports world are some pretty heavy hitters in the Dallas sports scene (or, in Williams’ case, formerly of the Dallas sports scene) Williams, Mike Modano, and Jason Witten.

Athlete endorsements are no guarantee that something will be good or effective, but knowing the athletes are actually putting their own money into it offers a little more proof that they truly believe in the product.

I’ll let you know what I think when I try it, but until then, I’d say that ViB definitely seems worth a shot.