Faxe Kondi Review

What does victory taste like? For Uno-X it’s a bottle of Faxe Kondi, a Danish soft drink after the company signed a big sponsorship deal with the team.

It’s made in the Faxe Bryggeri, “Faxe Brewery” by Royal Unibrew which has its HQ in the town of Faxe in Eastern Denmark. They also make beer as the name suggests. It’s not readily available outside Scandinavia, Norway is the second market after Denmark.

Kondi is Danish for “condition” or “fitness” and so hints at a sports drink. A sports drink? Maybe but with some irony. Faxe Kondi has sponsored Danish football leagues for years.

The announcement of the deal with the Uno-X team included a fun video featuring team boss Thor Hushovd in a green tracksuit like some 80s sports coach complete with an 80s song chanting “Take it to the limit”.

The logo features on the team kit and vehicles. Above all when Uno-X riders win, soigneurs hand out bottles. According to The Cycling Podcast Royal Brewery has paid a hefty sum for the deal and it’s surely written into the contract that the team has be seen celebrating with it. But is it a winner?

Tasting notes
The town of Faxe has a lakrids liquorice factory too, so there was some curiosity, would it have an unusual taste? Would it surge out of the can like a Uno-X rider attacking at KM0, then lead a chilly charge down the gullet with a long finish worthy of Jonas Abrahamsen?

No, it tastes of Sprite.

It is a clear liquid and moderately carbonated. There’s a light lemon and lime taste that’s more evocative of stainless steel vats of trisodium citrate and potassium carbonate than a stroll through a citrus grove.

Not having had Sprite for years, it was time to buy some and do a blind taste comparison. Get someone else to pour identical amounts into matching glasses, shuffle them on the table like the magician’s cup trick, all while your blogger’s eyes were closed.

Sipping and sampling like a wine anorak made it possible to tell them apart. One was better, with a richer taste and more body. Which one was it? Faxe Kondi. A triumph but it did not leave Sprite trailing, the two came to the finish together and Faxe Kondi was a bike length ahead. This was down to the superiority in flavour. It’s hardly a lemon and lime homebrew but has a richer, more rewarding taste.

Sprite has more calories, 47kcal of every per 100ml compared to 41kcal for Faxe Kondo. Kondi uses dextrose, 9.6g per 100ml and also a small amount of caffeine and salt too, 0.05g per 100ml. This means it certainly doesn’t taste salty but it can help thicken the feel.

Is it a sports drink? It’s marketed as such. Faxe Kondi has caffeine and quinine but seemingly because they are bitter and enhance the aroma. It’s got less energy than Sprite or Coke.

The peloton comparison is Red Bull which has 46kcal per 100ml, comparable. But the Austrian drink has at least four times the caffeine and is what might be called an “acquired taste”, users seem to tolerate the mouthwash or brake fluid aroma as the price of their caffeine fix; when was the last time you saw one of their riders with a can?

The Verdict
Tastes like Sprite but better. A cold can on a hot day is good.

It’s a World Tour team sponsor product you can enjoy in the moment. Only like a PostNL stamp or an FDJ scratchcard, the sales are limited unless you visit the team’s home country.

Uno-X riders might be paid to swig it after winning but it’s light, refreshing and includes useful carbs. It won’t make them faster but it will add to the satisfaction of victory. Skol.

34 thoughts on “Faxe Kondi Review”

  1. Join us next week, when Inrng lays a floor with Quickstep products.

    Joking aside, I like this sort of thing. Globalisation has meant that some sponsors can be seen everywhere (you can find Quickstep floors in any British DIY store), but every now and again cycling sponsorship opens a window into another world where mundane things suddenly seem exotic to a remote audience. And at least its not a betting product that dominate many other sports.

    Can we persuade Irn Bru to sponsor a team in time for the Scottish Grand Depart?

    • It does tell is that the audience for the Uno-X team is Denmark and Norway, both for their title sponsor and now Faxe. But one theory is they are boosted by Vingegaard, he brings in huge Danish audiences and so an entire other team can exist and thrive. They may well manage fine without him but he boosts value for others.

    • I’m currently sitting in a chair that is sitting on Quickstep flooring in my house in California. When I purchased the flooring (installed it myself, thank you very much), it was one of those odd things where cycling had nothing to do with the reason I bought it, but was rather just a funny little thing. I will say that I was happy with the installation experience and the floors are holding up well, so I had no extra motivation to root against Remco!

        • When I travelled to France, I rented my car from Europcar, specifically because of Voeckler and their longtime association with cycling. I’ve also used Mapei adhesives and grout on my tiles. If the cost and quality of competing brands is more or less equal, I will gladly choose a brand that has sponsored cycling.

          • My Tissot watch is both stylish and efficient, so I’m happy! I would have chosen it anyway, but the cycling connection gave it an extra recommendation.

            Like Craig,,I i have had some Quickstep flooring and was very pleased with it. Sponsorship builds awareness, and so it moves a brand from ‘what is it’ to ‘yes , I’ve heard of it, and they are probably not some shady outfit who will vanish before the guarantee runs out’.

            I can’t fathom the appeal of Alpecin , though. I did check it out in Tesco but it seems very expensive (is it something to do with male pattern baldness?).

          • I did the same with Europcar walking on Gran Canaria. Lots of options, fairly similar so conscious choice to go for the one who had supported cycling.

      • My current and previous cars are both Skoda estates, complete with an array of roof mounted bike carriers. Marketing works!

        I also had a Festina watch.

  2. Actually, Faxe beer is a staple at least in Germany, too. Often found at gas stations in its unusual 1 liter can picturing a viking. As far as I can remember, it tastes pretty much like your typical northern European Pilsner/Lager. Might it be that they chose to advertise their soft drink because of limits on alcohol advertising?

    • Yep, came here for the same comment regarding Faxe beer in Germany but also wanted to add that I prefer the taste of red bull any day over that of sprite. Luckily tastes differ.

    • 1 litre can of beer, ideal for thirsty drivers 😉

      I think the soft drink is a good seller for them. They have the main Faxe Kondi but also other versions like Booster with more caffeine, and other flavours.

      • I should maybe have specified that due to strict shop closing hours, gas stations fulfill the function of late night grocery stores, some making more money from the shop than from gas. And alcohol is definitely a major sale in the evenings, in town most clients would walk there rather than taking a car.

  5. I loved this. And particularly that an accomplice (Mrs Ring…?) was drawn in to help with the blind testing.

    Also like the parochial nature of Uno-X. The cycling equivalent of those Basque football teams that will only field Basque players. More power to them – add colour to the world.

  6. Further complying with most sterotypes easily associated with me, the only “carbonated” drink I take is my home-brewed kombutcha 😛

    But the last car I had (currently still in service with my nephew) was a 2001 Skoda Fabia hatchback 1.9 TDI I bought 2nd-hand in 2006 when they were sponsoring the white jersey (I’ve also got that white jersey from then, I wasn’t eligible so legit to buy it, and wore it yesterday: zero aero but a nice piece of textile – courtesy of Nike, alas).

    The Skoda was an impressive car, now close to 300,000 km, never had a mechanical, as much able to speed up to 190 km/h (tested it in Germany ^__^) as to run around steadily at 5 l./100 km no matter the course. Now it’s hardly legal to drive it in town save for specific hours or conditions due to “eco” (aka “buy more cars”) norms. Well, luckily I steered to the “no car at all” way of life.

  7. Dane here, Faxe Kondi came to the market app. 1974 helped by a string of Danish national footballers, full back sides af Donald Duck magazines commercials and many other media of those days. It is quite popular and never went out of style.
    A Danish rapper, Klumben, even made it more or less his trademark with his eponymous song “Faxe Kondi” (de’ min yndlings sodavand/it’s my favourite soda): https://youtu.be/zcZ1HY7YIXk

    • I cannot picture Faxe without seeing in my mind’s eye the Danish football player whose name I’ve forgotten but whose nickname was “Faxe”. A search tells me it was John Jensen.

      Not only was the player who scored the winning goal against Germany in the 1992 Euro final, but a man with a mischieveous sense of humor: during a championship he had given “Faxe Jensen” as his surname and it had been accepted as a Danish-style compound surname, giving the brewery some free publicity.

      (I’m not a beer connoisseur, but I’ve downed half a mugful of Faxe. The other half was Coke, so I cannot say anything about the beer….)

  9. Way back in time when the Faxe kondi was first launched, late seventies early eighties, I recall them having a slogan going something like “Kondi (fitness) is something you drink”. I guess that tells you what you need to know about the drink as a sportsdrink. And in that sense I think the video with Thor catches the same vibe.
    Generally I think most Danes have always considered it as another soft drink. As our host writes, like a Danish sprite.
    This was written while wearing my old Rodania watch

  11. Negative brand awareness anyone!
    Living here in the US, I have been trying not to use the US Postal service, as well as getting rid of my Festina watch years ago.
    Got to have some principals. Trying to help make some changes to our political situation, that is not going so well.

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