New All-Natural MN Sports Drink Better Than Gatorade?

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- With the weather heating up, two Minnesota businessmen hope you fill up on their new sports drink -- it's called Aspire and it comes in three flavors.

Jesse Parker has been busy lately because starting up a new sports drink is a lot of work.

He teamed up with college buddy and fellow businessman John Montague to fill a void they both noticed while coaching their kids' teams.

"We saw more and more kids drinking the Gatorades and Powerades, Monster energy, you name it," Parker said. "And if you actually look at what's inside those beverages, there's a lot of junk."

So, they spent a year creating drinks that only have natural flavors, natural sweeteners, and only 25 calories.

"The kids who we wanted to get the junk out of their hands and out of their mouths are our kids, who are between the ages of 4 and 13," Montague said.

They launched this month in Kowalski's, Lunds and Byerly's. They're going after the big brands by offering less, rather than more.

"No artificial sugars, no artificial flavors, no artificial colors -- truly an all-natural sports drink? I believe we are the first," Parker said.

But what about taste? They spent months testing it with kids, and now give out samples store-to-store.

Customers at Kowalski's seemed impressed, calling it refreshing and sweet.

There are three flavors -- Fire, Ice and Storm.

It's $1.99 a bottle, and 18-bottle packs are $29.99.