Liquid Death Death Dust review: Does the flavored electrolyte drink mix kill it?

Liquid Death is a pretty solid product that, full disclosure, I mocked when it came out. Why do you need extreme water, when there’s non-extreme water right there? Yet the first time I hit an event with a Liquid Death in hand, I got it. Not only is it pretty good water in a fun can, but it succeeds at exactly what the point of the product is… To make you feel more comfortable with a non-alcoholic alternative in a party situation.

The brand has expanded from “mountain water” to sparkling water (the Severed Lime is a personal favorite), and even Iced Tea/Lemonade with agave and vitamins to corner the mocktail market. And now, they’re tackling an entirely new subset of drinks: electrolyte powders, with the just announced Death Dust.

Death Dust comes in three flavors, based on their popular sparkling water flavors: Severed Lime, Mango Chainsaw, and Convicted Melon. Per info provided to Guilty Eats, the Death Dust includes “5 essential vitamins (C, B3, B5, B6, B12)” as well as “key minerals” including 300mg of sodium, 200mg of potassium and 40mg of magnesium.

They’re also only 35 calories each, lightly sweetened with cane sugar and dextrose, and come in a 12-pack starting at $17.99.

The goal here, if I was to speculate a bit, is to take care of the folks who did not drink Liquid Death the night before (perhaps imbibing some other, more alcoholic substances), and may need some water and vitamins the next morning. Or as the tagline says, “Death Dust helps you recover! Whether you’ve had a night gone too wild or a tough + sweaty workout, bid farewell to feeling like a brain-dead, shriveled-up zombie.”

And that’s all fine and dandy, but how does Death Dust taste? That’s sort of the key, right? And thanks to samples of the product provided by Liquid Death, we were able to check them out in advance of the launch. To spoil the end of this review, I’ll say this up front: if you’re going to buy an electrolyte mix, this is the one you should probably grab first.

Does that sound reserved? That’s because I personally won’t go out of my way to purchase an electrolyte mix, but have tried plenty of them. They’re often too salty, too gritty, too aggressively or lightly flavored. Like the rest of Liquid Death’s line, though, Death Dust is none of those things.

To go in order, they recommend taking one packet and mixing it with 16-20 ounces of water. I used cold-ish water from my fridge which I expected to leave a gritty residue at the bottom of the glass. Not so! After about 10-20 stirs, the Death Dust completely dissolved in the water, with none of the chunks you might expect from this sort of product. Also, not sure if it was intended or not, but when I was pouring the mix there was a small cloud of Death Dust that formed, like you were in the desert. So, that was fun.

And as for the flavors, none of them were too aggressive, or too light. Convicted Melon was the bottom of the bunch – I honestly thought it was a berry flavor before double checking the packaging. And Mango Chainsaw had an extremely pungent, sweet smell to it, but tasted like fine, watery mango juice.

But the winner was easily Severed Lime, which wasn’t as mouth-puckeringly sour as a Limeade, while still tasting pleasantly of limes. Even my tasting companion, who copped to actively not liking lime flavored drinks, said this was the best of the trio.

I’ll also mention that though there is a mild coating it leaves on your tongue and throat, it’s not gritty, and it’s not slimy like other mixes (and electrolyte drinks) I’ve tried.

Overall? Another winner for Liquid Death. Like I said just before electrolyte mixes aren’t something I actively seek out. And I know it sounds like faint praise to say “hey you won’t have to choke this down like other electrolyte drinks,” but frankly that’s a huge step up for the whole corner of the market. Something that tastes pretty good, and encourages you to have water and vitamins after a night out partying? Sounds like Death Dust might just help give you a little more life.

Death Dust is now available at Amazon.com.