Recognize the name Jolt Cola? The 1980s soda aims to make a comeback — this time with even more caffeine

Jolt Cola, the soda brand that gained attention in the 1980s for offering “all the sugar and twice the caffeine,” is heading back to stores in 2025. (REDCON1 via CNN Newsource)

Jolt Cola, the soda brand that gained attention in the 1980s for offering “all the sugar and twice the caffeine,” is heading back to stores in 2025. This time, it’s promising more than twice the original caffeine content.

Once marketed as an alternative to Coca-Cola and Pepsi, Jolt Cola will now join the crowded energy-drink market with the likes of Red Bull, Monster and Celsius. It will be marketed as a nostalgic drink due to its past reputation, according to Redcon1, the sports nutrition brand leading the relaunch.

“There’s a neat way to bring something back where it’ll pay homage to what once was, yet we can do it in a very modern way,” Ryan Monahan, chief marketing officer at Redcon1, told CNN.

Jolt Cola will come in 16-ounce cans and be priced at about US$2.50 or $3. It will have 200 milligrams of caffeine, up from around 70 milligrams in a 12-ounce can in 1985.

This relaunch marks the third release in the United States for Jolt Cola. In 2009, the brand’s company filed for bankruptcy protection. Jolt Cola would briefly resurface on shelves at Dollar General stores in 2017 before the chain stopped selling it in 2019.

A shift to a growing market

When Redcon1 announced in October that it would reintroduce Jolt Cola, it could have brought it back as a soda. But growth in the energy-drink market has outpaced the soda market, prompting Jolt Cola to instead compete against the energy drinks that Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Dr Pepper have a stake in rather than those brands’ signature soda products.

The energy-drink market has long been dominated by Red Bull, but beverage giants have found their way into the industry in recent years. In 2015, The Coca-Cola Company bought a 16.7 per cent stake in Monster Beverage Corp. PepsiCo has a major stake in energy-drink maker Celsius Holdings and acquired Rockstar Energy in 2020 for $3.8 billion. In October, Keurig Dr Pepper announced it would spend more than a billion dollars to acquire energy-drink maker Ghost by 2028.

“Consumers pick and choose who wins with their dollars. The reality is, it’s the soda companies that we’re really seeing a decline in,” said Monahan.

Market research group Imarc forecasts the global energy-drink market will reach $48.1 billion in 2024 and grow to $80.8 billion by 2033. In contrast, total soft drink volumes grew 1.3 per cent from a year ago after a decline for two decades, according to data from Evercore ISI.

Redcon1 has partnered with IMG Licensing, which represented the owners of Jolt’s rights, ECC-Jolt, to make Jolt energy drinks. Monahan said they would release limited-edition flavors to increase interest instead of only sticking with a cola. The company may also launch energy shots, pre-workout drinks and other products, according to Monahan.

Health concerns remain

Energy drinks have long faced backlash for their sugar and caffeine content, though public pressure has eased compared with the outcry over Jolt Cola in the 1980s.

Consuming at least two energy drinks with about 200 milligrams of caffeine, or more than 400 milligrams of caffeine daily, is considered excessive for most adults, according to the US Food and Drug Administration.

While Jolt Cola’s 200 milligrams of caffeine may seem like a lot, it’s nowhere near the leader. Celsius HEAT packs a whopping 300 milligrams of caffeine for a 16-ounce can.

Energy drinks can also pack a high amount of sugar. A typical energy drink contains about 40 grams of it, according to Harvard University’s School of Public Health. That’s almost a day’s worth of recommended sugar for someone with a 2,000-calorie diet, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Redcon1 said Jolt Cola will offer a zero-sugar beverage, as well as added supplements.

The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages children from consuming caffeine, while the National Institutes of Health said marketing has led younger consumers to buy energy drinks for performance boosts. Thousands of people, some of them children, receive emergency treatment related to caffeine use each year, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Monahan said Redcon1 doesn’t want to target its caffeine-filled drinks to anyone under 21. He added that Jolt Cola can attract older consumers looking for “old school nostalgia” and young adults interested in a “throwback.”

“It’s that thing of, ‘I remember I wasn’t allowed to have it and it’s come back,’ or ‘I remember enjoying it and it went away,’” Monahan said.