After almost two weeks of trying out different non-caffeinated carbohydrate gels, the results of my personal taste test are in. The following are in ascending order of acceptably to my taste buds, most disgusting first.

GU Just Plain - yeuch! Took a lot of Gatorade to wash this one down...
Hammergel Banana - really very unpleasant. The Hammergel texture isn't good for me but there's nothing nice about the flavour.
GU Tri-Berry - far too sweet; the berry flavour is detectable, but it is only barely more palatable than the plain.
Powergel Vanilla - too sweet, too thick.

That's the end of the ones I would not buy again - the rest are all acceptably flavoured, although there may be other reasons to not use them.

Hammergel Apple Cinnamon - good flavour, bad texture. Hammergel is too liquid for me to use while running.
Carb Boom Strawberry Kiwi - not a good flavour, but not too unpleasant either. A bit on the sweet side, really.
Clif Shot Razz Sorbet - good fruit flavour, but just too sweet for me.
Clif Shot Vanilla - good flavour, although a bit on the sweet side.
GU Vanilla - doesn't seem as sweet as the other GUs, and the texture is good.
Carb Boom Apple Cinnamon - really rather pleasant. Having eaten it, I actually thought "Hmm, I could eat more of that."

The good things that came out of this are that all of the gels helped to some extent, and that none of them sat badly on my stomach. There are questions about how some of the winners will fare while I'm actually on the hoof (only one of the ones in the 'acceptable' group was tasted while I was actually running), but I'm still off to buy a box of one of the winners later!

Posted by Dunx at May 30, 2003 09:28 AM