Optimum NutritionOptimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey Protein Powder, Vanilla Ice Cream, 2 Pound (Packaging May Vary)

First off, I've purchased a bunch of different flavors of ON Gold Standard Whey. All of them have close to the same nutritional value, but they vary greatly in taste. Both my wife and I drink these protein shakes as part of our daily diet, and as a product, Optimum Nutrition is great. I've mixed with both milk and water, and all of the shakes mix well and don't seem to clump. I've tried other manufactures whey, and I keep finding myself going back to ON for the price, nutritional value, and above all the taste.So the flavor question. As I mentioned, each flavor has a different characteristic from the others. Some are bland, some taste sweet, some taste overly fake. We loved some, and we hated some. Below is a list based on what we like so far and why. Bear in mind that I hate diet drinks for their bad aftertaste. The drinks don't have to be sweet for me to like them, but I can't stand the garbage aftertaste of fake sweeteners.The best flavors:Rocky Road - By far the single best tasting flavor. The downside is that it does taste a little sweet. The nutritional value is right on with the other flavors, but it is a bit sweet. I could drink this all day. If you only buy one flavor, this is it. There is no real aftertaste, and the flavor is great.Extreme Milk Chocolate - Another good flavor with almost no aftertaste. This one tastes like chocolate, and doesn't have a fake taste to it. If you are looking at the chocolate flavors, this one is perfect.Natural Vanilla - This is a slightly different product, and it comes in a tub with yellow labeling instead of the red. It's on Amazon for the same price, and it has the same nutritional values. They claim it has less artificial sweeteners in it, hence the natural label. In any case, this is the best vanilla out there. There is no aftertaste, and it tastes like vanilla milk. It is not as sweet as the others, but it the single best vanilla flavor I've found.The middle of the road flavors:Cookies and Cream - This one is both good and bad. If you like the creamy vanilla taste, you will like the flavor. It doesn't have a bad aftertaste, but it is sort bland. It is sweet, but bland. Also, the cookie chunks in it don't dissolve. This is the only flavor so far that has bits of stuff that you are swallowing when you drink it. It's odd. That said, I have reordered it in the past.Chocolate Malt - It's just OK. The flavor is a little odd because of the malt. Given the choice, just order the Extreme Milk Chocolate.Caramel Toffee Fudge - Again, just OK. They tried too hit to many flavors with this one, and it just turned out odd. Not a bad flavor, but don't start out here. I got bored so I tried it. I doubt I'll order it again.And the bad:Double Rich Chocolate - This flavor sucks. It tastes like fake chocolate. Not good fake chocolate, but generic fake chocolate. It has that bad aftertaste of fake sweetener, and is all around not good.Vanilla Ice Cream - Another swing and a miss. This flavor tastes like bad fake powdered milk. It has that bad aftertaste, and is probably the single worst flavor they have. If you are looking for vanilla, avoid this at all costs and get the Natural Vanilla.Tropical Punch - Another fake tasting flavor. When I got this, I could barely get through the first few shakes. Eventually it grew on me a little bit, and I was able to drink it without hating it. It tastes like strawberry milk with a bunch of fake sweetener. It's just wrong, and is not something you want to drink after a workout.I know that taste varies from person to person, so take this with a grain of salt. I hate the taste of fake sweetener, so this list draws from that. I've taken to buying the 2lb tubs to try out a flavor, and then going with the 5lb tubs if I like it. It costs a bit more that way, but it means there is only 2lbs to choke down if you get a flavor that you hate.Enjoy!

Ok so I love whey but I feel like it doesn’t meet my needs currently which is why I switched to premier cause I need my nutritional values met. This is an awesome product for getting your protein in especially if you take supplements. I currently just take a multivitamin and use premier. I would recommend a Nalgene for this product. I love Nalgene easy to clean plus you can buy a little mouth piece if you need to sip and it has the perfect opening for adding whey protein scoops. I wish I got whey protein regularly delivered because it is an easy and preferred method to consume essential protein so I can build muscle. I have a protein deficiency.

SURPRISED! This stuff works. If you are a long time gym enthusiast, you will appreciate this supplement. First off, most important is taste, it breaks down really well with whole milk. No blender or shaker cup needed. Just a tall glass and spoon. About 20 seconds of stirring and its mixed well, no clumps hanging around. The taste is just like light chocolate milk. No chalky taste left behind. I'm shocked. Also after my first dose I NOTICED the next day my veins doing that thing they do. BULGING. Very satisfied with this purchase, shipping was amazing, I think like two days total.

I just started working out again after being out of it for years. Now that I’ve been steady for a few months, I wanted to work some more protein into my daily routine so I wanted to try this. I like to drink coffee each day, so the mocha cappuccino flavor was suggested.At first, I tried to mix it in with my daily coffee to see if I could make a combination, but that didn’t taste great. However, using cold water and ice cubes, if you mix two of the scoops with 14 ounces of water, it tastes almost exactly like Yoohoo. I placed it in the freezer for about 30 minutes already mixed up and then shook it really well afterwards, and it was incredibly easy to drink, tasted great and did not have any crazy aftertaste. Even my kids tried it and agreed with the Yoohoo opinion.I will probably continue purchasing this flavor because it’s very easy to drink and has very low sugar as well. It seems to mix really well without any clumps.

I am only giving it 4 stars, because I wish it had a more predominate chocolate flavor. Need to see if they have another flavor that has a richer chocolate taste. I blend it w/ice and some water for a protein shake in the morning. Since the scoop that comes w/it is too big for the container that I use w/my ice and water, I measured how many 1/2 TBSP was equivalent. So I use my 1/2 TBSP measuring spoon to put it in my mini Dash mixer.

Ok so I love whey but I feel like it doesn’t meet my needs currently which is why I switched to premier cause I need my nutritional values met. This is an awesome product for getting your protein in especially if you take supplements. I currently just take a multivitamin and use premier. I would recommend a Nalgene for this product. I love Nalgene easy to clean plus you can buy a little mouth piece if you need to sip and it has the perfect opening for adding whey protein scoops. I wish I got whey protein regularly delivered because it is an easy and preferred method to consume essential protein so I can build muscle. I have a protein deficiency.