Monster is launching a protein shake in 2027: what is confirmed and what is not

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Monster Beverage showed a protein line for next year at the NACS 2026 trade show in Las Vegas. The company names it in its own press release of 8 October: a shake with 30 grams of protein per can, in Chocolate and Vanilla. This is what is fixed, what comes only from analysts, and what is still open.

What Monster itself announced

In the press release for the show, Monster announces its line-up for 2027. The product sits there under the name Monster + Protein: a protein shake in Chocolate and Vanilla with 30 grams of protein, 160 milligrams of caffeine, 2 grams of sugar, 6 grams of prebiotic fibre and the brand's energy blend. The company calls it a shake, and places it among the new products for next year.

That same release says the full 2027 line-up starts rolling out in January, with new products following in spring and summer. Other products in that line-up include Monster Ultra Aloha POG, Monster Candy Apple Red, Juice Monster Razz Rocket, Monster Rehab Classic Tea, two espresso variants, REIGN Total Body Fuel Dirty Soda, Bang Pineapple Whip and the return of NOS Cherried Out.

The confirmed numbers per can

This is what the company itself has reported about the product. There is no more than this yet, because no packaging or full label has been shown.

Item	What Monster reports
Protein per can	30 grams
Caffeine per can	160 milligrams
Sugar per can	2 grams
Prebiotic fibre	6 grams
Flavours	Chocolate and Vanilla
Format	A shake, according to the company made with a milk base

What comes from analysts, not from the company

A Citi analyst note of 9 October adds a few details: a launch around March 2027 and 12-ounce cans, roughly 355 millilitres. Those two points are not in Monster's press release. They come from a conversation the analysts had with management at the show, so they are a strong indication, not an official statement. Treat the date and the format as an indication.

What is not known yet

A number of things that matter for a price comparison site have not been reported:

• The price per can, and the price per gram of protein.
• The full label, with all ingredients and exact amounts.
• Whether the product comes outside the United States, and if so whether the Netherlands and neighbouring countries get it too.
• The exact launch date. The company only says the line-up starts in January; the analysts name March for this line.
• Whether the caffeine per can stays the same in every market. Adjustments per country are common with drinks like this.

What is wrong, or at least unconfirmed

Numbers and details are circulating on social media that do not come from an official source. One example: some posts on Reddit and Instagram mention 200 milligrams of caffeine. That number belongs to another product in the same line-up, not to the protein shake. The official release names 160 milligrams for this shake. Once a label appears, that is the source to go by, not a screenshot of a trade show stand.

This is not the first attempt

Monster tried before. Muscle Monster came to market in 2013 and got a new version in 2018, with 27 grams of protein and 157 milligrams of caffeine per bottle. That product disappeared again. The difference now is the setup: where Muscle Monster was an energy drink with protein, this is, according to the company, a milk-based shake with caffeine in it. That puts it with the protein drinks on the shelf, rather than with the energy drinks.

What else is happening on that shelf

Monster is not alone in that move. The same analyst note shows that Celsius is bringing a line combining energy and hydration in the first quarter of 2027, and that Coca-Cola will test prebiotic soft drinks in a number of American states. PepsiCo is putting a new Gatorlyte variant on the market in February 2027. The common thread is that drinks makers are looking for combinations of functions in one can or bottle, instead of a product that does only one thing.

For a protein drink that means a wider shelf with more variants, and therefore more to compare. The downside is that labels get fuller and the differences between products look smaller than they are. Calculating per gram of protein is then the only way to still see what you are actually buying.

Why this interests us

We compare protein powder and related products on price per gram of protein. A ready-to-drink shake is a different form from a tub of powder, but one you can work through in the same way: what do you pay per gram of protein, and how does that compare with a shake you make yourself from a tub.

Once the product is on sale in the Netherlands, we can include it in the protein price index and in the comparison of all whey. Until then there is no price to compare, and we do not guess.

What we do not say

We say nothing about taste, because it is subjective and cannot be measured. We say nothing about what the caffeine does: we give the amount the company states, not what it does to you. And as long as there is no label, we make no statement about the composition.

This article was updated on 12 October 2026. As soon as Monster publishes the label or a price, we will update it.