An Ode to NOS Energy Drink

Originally NOS was packaged in a "tank like" plastic bottle to resemble actual NOS you'd find in a trunk - The can, however, seems to be most common now.

As an avid caffeine connoisseur, I like a wide variety of drinks but I have always yearned for that perfect, tried and true, go-to drink of choice. For many years that was Red Bull with its admittedly smooth taste. Even though it was one of the better tasting ones on the market, the size to price ratio as well as the mere moderate boost it gave made want to explore other options.

Not that I was a stranger to the other drinks on the market, Monster was often my secondary choice for a sugary energy rush. At times that one left me a little too jittery but more importantly I never really liked the taste. Not that it was terrible, it just had that strangely unfamiliar, almost medicinal taste. Other drinks yielded similar results, good taste and no boost, or good boost and bad taste.

When NOS came along it was a game changer. The taste was good, a sweet citrusy flavor with a smooth finish. It packed well over 200 mg of caffeine per can and kept you going on busy days. It's bang for the buck is hard to beat.

However, just recently I heard that NOS actually lowered their caffeine content, perhaps from FDA pressure from around 260 to 160 mg per can. Old stock is probably floating around but from what I understand all the drinks produced from this point on will have the drastically reduced caffeine content. Which is kind of a shame because NOS is essentially liquid Adderall. Still love the drink and will continue to enjoy it, even if the boost suffers a bit.

Goodbye WFNX

Gone but not forgotten 1983 - 2012

In perhaps the most telling sign that I've been away from the Boston area for far too long, I just recently discovered that one of my favorite radio stations is no more. Luckily the WFNX app, kept the music going for many years after leaving the area. Nonetheless, it leaves a void that will be tough to fill, even in age of genius music apps and automated playlists. Which in turn brings music to a new level, but as a side effect can be troubling to traditional niche stations that don't conform to Top 40 guidelines. Namely in the fact that despite Pandora's intuition, it still lacks the human touch of regular radio.

Sadly, WFNX ended its traditional broadcast and brief subsequent internet stream. Truly a huge loss for the Boston alternative scene as this station was influential and gave many new artists a chance, such as playing Nirvana's Nevermind in its entirety in August of 1991.

While the familiar name is gone, WFNX has essentially rebranded as the streaming Boston.com internet station, RadioBDC - which I can only hope stays true to its roots and lives on in its new format.