Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey Protein Powder, Chocolate Peanut Butter, 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!

t doesn’t taste chalky or fake like some protein powders. The chocolate flavor actually tastes good, and it mixes smooth in just a shaker bottle. I use it after workouts and sometimes even toss it in my oatmeal. Works great, no weird aftertaste, and keeps me full.

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 went through 2 -5lb tubs of extreme milk chocolate. It taste great, does what it needs to, mixes well in hot coffee or cold water. I love this flavor and strawberries and cream. Excellent brand with excellent quality.

I’ve been on and off with taking protein powders for the last ten years or so since I was in college. More off than on in that time because I tended to get so sick of the flavors. Optimum nutrition was the first one I ever tried and it’s the one I keep tending to go back to.I’ve tried everything from GNC Wheybolic to Premier Protein, Muscle Milk, and Ghost. I’ve tried several more protein powders from lesser known brands too.Optimum nutrition manages to keep its spot as one of the best value propositions for a simple yet quality protein powder. Not much of the competition can match the price of less than $80 for 70 servings (In November 2024).The only reason this is getting 4 stars and not 5 is due to Kirkland Signature protein powder. It’s a much better value proposition than Optimum Nutrition and costs about 40% less for the same amount, as of the time I’m writing this. It’s got the same protein amount, similar BCAA profile, good mixability… the drawback is that they only have it in chocolate as far as I know, and the obvious need of a Costco membership to obtain it.Optimum nutrition mixes well (I only mix it with water) and I consider the banana flavor to be the best. I’m very picky about flavor and have tossed tubs before if I can’t seem down them easily. I look forward to my daily Banana ON GS whey. It’s just so much more expensive than it used to be. Gone are the days when this tub cost $50.I’m not saying it’s not worth it. If you are fine spending a lot on a tasty and quality protein powder, Gold Standard is a fantastic choice and good value. If you are trying to be as frugal as you can be though, there is a cheaper alternative in Costco’s Kirkland protein powder.

I work out with a personal trainer and he was surprised by the struggles that people with celiac disease face when trying to put on muscle. Not only do we deal with reduced ability to absorb nutrients from regular food, we also have to navigate the never-ending labyrinth of products that claim to be gluten free, but still have gluten contamination from factory environments.As someone who is extremely sensitive to even the smallest amount of gluten, I can say that this protein powder has never let me down. It helps me get extra protein easily so I can fill in my deficiencies and fuel muscle growth, and I haven’t ever had a bad reaction to it. It tastes good, it dissolves extremely easily with just a shaker bottle and it’s one of the most affordable quality powders I’ve found.