Why doesn't it taste anything like the mixed stuff? Even using purified/bottled water...nasty stuff...why??

When I was at law enforcement training academy in southern Georgia (many moons ago), they would mix that stuff up in huge Igloo containers at the gym. What are they, 15 gallons or so? We got so used to drinking it during workouts that, anytime I bought a regular Gatorade, IT tasted nasty!

I guess it's all a frame of mind and what you get used to. If you stop buying the "good" stuff, the powdered stuff will probably suit your tastes before long.

Don't know, don't care. My only experience with Gatorade, the original stuff, was at one of those huge Los Angeles County brush fires years ago. Fire guys came along, found me out on foot directing traffic in the 100+ heat, ice tea all gone, cowboy canteen empty, and gave me a few bottles. That stuff tasted SO nasty I have never gone back. So if you think that the powdered stuff is worse, I want nothing to do with it!!!

I agree. I drank too much gatorade in Iraq and have lost any taste I had for the stuff previous.

In fact, I find all the "Sports Drinks" to be pretty much unpallatable anymore. Gimme cool water to drink when I am real thirsty, and an occasional V-8 for the sodium and potassium replacement and I am good to go(maybe could add a little vodka and some hot sauce for the V-8).

Gatorade tastes like crap wheather it's a powder or not.. YMMV

Am I the only one here who likes Gatorade?

-Blast

You're the mad scientist...I would be surprised if you didn't like Gatorade... Wouldn't be surprised if you invented Gatorade either, or if you make it yourself in the basement..

Nope. I love Gatorade. I drink it all the time.

I don't like carbonated drinks. They're freakin nasty. I either drink Gatorade, fruit juice, or plain ole water.

I don't like Gatorade, so I don't have any packages handy to compare. I assume the ingredients are slightly different to accomodate making the powder version. It's like laundry detergent. The liquid and powder versions are slightly different. Some chemicals aren't readily available dry, while other chemicals may not last long when combined in solution, so the laundry folks have to tweak the ingredients.

Anyway, I suspect that some of the ingredients are different in the powder version of Gatorade. Maybe the sweeteners are different?

I like the Original flavor of Gatorade, but I will only drink the powdered version.

In my opinion, the main difference in taste of powdered Gatorade versus Gatorade in the bottle is the following...

Powdered Gatorade uses Sugar (Sucrose=glucose+Fructose made from Sugar cane or beets and some dextrose made from corn) and Gatorade in the bottle uses Sucrose and High Fructose Corn Syrup (Fructose made from corn). Some people tell me that HFCS tastes the same as sugar. I absolutely disagree.

I'm sure another part of the taste equation is what it takes to make a shelf-stable product that has a shelf-life of about 2 years (using the can of Gatorade Green I grabbed from the pantry as a basis for an estimate). Bottled Gatorade has a shelf-life of nine months if it remains sealed, and three to five days once opened (Info from The Gatorade FAQ)

I'll skip over the GMO corn and HFCS debate, and the HFCS versus Sugar in regards to diabetes cases as well. You can google that if you like.

As for the Gatorade that my football coach used to make, why it tasted bad, and why the Gatorade I make is awesome... It seems to me that the difference is he was either keeping expenses down by using less Gatorade mix per volume of water than was called for, or he just dumped a packet of Gatorade mix into a big cooler and figured that filling the cooler (no matter what size) with hot water from a hose was the correct ratio of mix to water.

Either way, I prefer water unless I'm super dehydrated and need to lock in some fluids. Gatorade was a godsend when I was sick with a virus a few weeks ago.

I should also mention that different Gatorade products obviously have different ingredients and my information is based on Lemon-Lime Gatorade, AKA Gatorade Original, AKA Gatorade Green.