For Optimum Nutrition’s latest Lead The Whey promotion where it is currently getting fans to vote on what they think should be the next Gold Standard 100% Whey flavor. The brand has done something extra special, by actually making the flavors being voted on available. Since late August Mango, Blueberry Cheesecake and Chocolate Dipped Banana have all been on sale in three serving trial size tubs at GNC. Online the retailer does in fact have a deal where you can grab all three for $20, which is exactly what we did. We’ve now been through multiple tubs of Optimum’s Lead The Whey contestants, and have for you today our thoughts on each of the flavors and the one we feel should be next for Gold Standard based on taste.
Blueberry Cheesecake
The first flavor we’re going to start with is our least favorite of the three with Blueberry Cheesecake. Unlike the other two, Blueberry not only has a very weak scent even after being mixed, but it also has a very weak overall taste. Optimum seems to have gone for a more thick cheesecake based flavor for this one as opposed to blueberry, which doesn’t necessarily mean the brand failed just that it’s not something you’ll like if you’re looking for blueberry. You can kind of make out the fruit, but to be honest if you weren’t looking for it you may not even be able to tell you’re drinking a blueberry cheesecake protein shake.
Chocolate Dipped Banana
Next up we have the flavor that we honestly thought was going to be our number one pick, and have actually been voting for. Coming in second for us is none other than Chocolate Dipped Banana. Firstly, just because it’s not our favorite it doesn’t mean it’s a poor effort from Optimum, in fact Chocolate Dipped Banana is the complete opposite. The brand really nailed it on this one with the flavor tasting exactly like you’d imagine. It brings together a strong amount of chocolate and the right amount of banana, resulting in a combination that isn’t your usual two-part taste. The chocolate and banana come together perfectly, creating a smooth evenly fused flavor that’s probably best described as chocolate banana as opposed to chocolate and banana.
Mango
Lastly we have our favorite of the three Lead The Whey options and it’s definitely not the one we thought it would be. Believe it or not Mango is our top pick, which surprisingly has a lot going for it. The closest thing we could compare Optimum’s Mango to would be an actual mango smoothie. While you may be thinking it can’t be that good, we have to say it really is. Not only is Mango thicker than the others reinforcing that smoothie like experience, but it also has an extremely sweet and strong mango taste that remains right from start to finish. At times the mango flavor can be a bit too sweet when the thickness dies down, although that’s certainly not a bad thing especially since we’re talking about a protein shake.
Going into our taste test we actually thought Mango would be coming in last, with Blueberry Cheesecake second, then Chocolate Dipped Banana first. Now that we’ve tried them all the positions are pretty much the opposite. As mentioned Mango is hands down our favorite, then Chocolate Dipped Banana, finishing with Blueberry Cheesecake. Obviously we don’t have the final say as to what flavor officially joins the Gold Standard menu, however we do hope it’s not Blueberry Cheesecake. While Mango is the one we’re voting for, if we had to pick another it would Chocolate Dipped Banana as it is in no way a disappointment, and a lot better than Blueberry Cheesecake.
