Review: Vault Red Blitz
Mar 7th, 2007 by Steve
We've covered ad nauseam the development of Coke's "Mountain Dew killer", Vault. The original wasn't too bad, then Vault Zero came out, Pepsi countered with Mountain Dew MDX in multiple sizes… and Coke upped the ante by announcing a flavor extension of Vault… Vault Red Blitz.
With Red Blitz, Coke has its eyes set on one product, Mountain Dew Code Red. Not since Mello Yello Cherry have they had a high octane cherry beverage to go against Pepsi's market leader.
Officially described on the bottle as "berry injected artificially flavored hybrid energy soda", Vault Red Blitz looks and smells like Mountain Dew Code Red. Very similar to cherry Kool-Aid, actually.
Drinking it was rather disappointing, actually. When I first drank Vault, I didn't really think it was that good. I mentioned that the "drink flavor is there… and then it just stops…. The flavor was less citrus-y than Mello Yello, but still tolerable… Nice try Coke, but you'll never beat Mountain Dew with this product."
Since my original October 2005 review, however, Vault has somewhat grown on me. Overall, it's not as acidic and "biting" as Mountain Dew, which I kinda like. It's more mellow, but still has similar properties. When you drink Red Blitz, you get the same feeling. You can definitely tell that it's Vault. However, if I was blindfolded, I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between regular citrus Vault and Vault Red Blitz. The berry flavor is substantially weak.
All the reports and marketing response show that Vault is gaining traction in the marketplace. Should Pepsi be worried? Not yet. But Coke seems to be onto something here… and they are putting their full resources behind it to make sure it succeeds.
[...] classic Mountain Dew. The subdued tone reminded me quite a bit of the muted cherry flavor found in Vault Red Blitz. While the flavoring was definitely "red", it was not overly cherry. A good correlation might be [...]
I liked the Vault Red Blitz, I've kind of gotten hooked on it, I drink two maybe three a week. I'm actually a water drinker. I was trying to research to see if Vault Zero is available in the Red Blitz. It's a crisp , well refreshing drink, doesn't leave you thirsty after drinking, like Moutain dew does, Once you have taste it , its refreshing, When I drink moutain dew, it leaves a sugar, after taste, leaving you more thirsty than when you actually started drinking it. I pick Vault Red Blitz over Moutain dew any day, I didn't like the citrus Vault, had bad after taste. I like citrus drinks but I didn't like it in the Vault. Does anyone know if Vault Red Blitz is available in Zero ?
Red Blitz to me was Pepsi Blue after a couple bottles. I liked it but now Coke has discontinued it (AO April 2010)…