What happened to 10K sports drinks? The truth behind the disappearance of a cult favorite

Back in the mid-2000s, if you walked into any gym, crossfit box, or high school locker room in the U.S., you’d likely spot a bright green bottle of 10K sports drink sitting on a bench or tucked into a gym bag. It wasn’t just another energy drink. It was the drink athletes swore by - especially those who trained hard, pushed through brutal workouts, and needed something that actually worked without the sugar crash. Then, just as suddenly as it appeared, it vanished. No announcement. No final batch. Just silence. So what happened to 10K sports drinks?

How 10K became a cult favorite

10K wasn’t created by a giant corporation like Gatorade or Powerade. It came from a small company called BioSteel, founded by former NHL player Sean Avery and his business partner in 2004. The idea was simple: make a sports drink that didn’t rely on high fructose corn syrup or artificial colors. Instead, 10K used natural ingredients - electrolytes from sea salt, B-vitamins, and a moderate amount of cane sugar. The key differentiator? It had exactly 10 grams of sugar per serving. Not 20. Not 30. Ten. That’s why it was called 10K - short for 10 grams of carbohydrates.

At the time, most sports drinks were packed with 30 to 40 grams of sugar. Athletes who trained for hours needed fuel, but they didn’t want to feel bloated or crash after a workout. 10K filled that gap. CrossFit athletes, soccer players, and even marathoners started using it. Coaches recommended it. Reddit threads praised it. Instagram influencers posted videos of themselves chugging it after WODs. It became the unofficial drink of the functional fitness movement.

The rise of clean labels and the problem with scaling

By 2012, 10K was being sold in over 1,200 gyms and specialty retailers across the U.S. It was also available online through BioSteel’s own website. But growth came with problems. The formula used real ingredients - real fruit extracts, real sea salt, real cane sugar. That meant higher costs. Unlike Gatorade, which used synthetic flavoring and bulk sugar from corn, BioSteel couldn’t cut corners. The drink cost nearly double what other sports drinks sold for - around $3.50 a bottle.

As demand grew, BioSteel struggled to keep up. Distribution was limited. Retailers wanted bulk pricing. Supermarkets demanded exclusive deals. BioSteel refused to compromise the formula to lower costs. They also turned down acquisition offers from major beverage companies who wanted to rebrand it as a mass-market product. The founders believed in the mission: a clean, effective drink for serious athletes. But that mission didn’t scale well.

The quiet shutdown

In late 2015, BioSteel quietly stopped producing 10K. No press release. No social media post. The website still listed it for sale, but orders were no longer fulfilled. By early 2016, retailers started clearing out remaining stock. Some said the company shifted focus to their other product line - BioSteel’s own sports drink, which had a similar low-sugar formula but was marketed under a different brand name.

What really happened? According to insiders who spoke on condition of anonymity, BioSteel faced two major issues. First, their supplier of natural fruit extracts went out of business, and no alternative could match the taste profile without adding artificial flavors. Second, the company was running out of cash. They had invested heavily in marketing to niche communities - gym owners, personal trainers, CrossFit affiliates - but didn’t have the budget to break into mainstream retail. Without a big partner or investor, they couldn’t survive.

By 2017, 10K was gone. The bottles became collector’s items. People posted them on eBay for $15 a pop. Some athletes even hoarded cases, afraid they’d never find another drink that worked like it did.

What replaced 10K? The new generation of low-sugar sports drinks

After 10K disappeared, athletes scrambled. Some switched to Nuun tablets - dissolvable electrolyte tabs with zero sugar. Others turned to Kill Cliff’s Clean Electrolyte Drink, which used stevia and had only 5 grams of sugar. A few stuck with coconut water, though it lacked the sodium levels needed for intense training.

Then came the real winners: companies like Liquid I.V. and LMNT. Both launched in the early 2020s with the same promise as 10K: no sugar spikes, no artificial junk, just electrolytes and clean ingredients. LMNT, in particular, became a cult favorite among keto athletes and endurance trainers. It has 1,000 mg of sodium, 200 mg of potassium, and zero sugar. It’s not sweet. It doesn’t taste like soda. But for those who trained hard, it worked.

Interestingly, BioSteel themselves eventually released a new version of their original drink - BioSteel Hydration Mix - which uses stevia and contains 1,000 mg of sodium per serving. It’s sold in powder form, making it cheaper and more portable. But it’s not 10K. The taste is different. The branding is different. And the emotional connection? Gone.

Why people still miss 10K

It’s not just about the ingredients. It’s about timing. 10K came along when people were starting to question the sugar content in everything they drank. It was the right product at the right moment. It felt authentic. It wasn’t marketed by celebrities. It was endorsed by the people who actually used it - the athletes, the coaches, the weekend warriors.

Today, you can find dozens of low-sugar sports drinks. But none of them carry the same nostalgia. None of them have that same green bottle with the bold white lettering. And none of them were made by someone who actually played professional hockey and understood what athletes needed because he lived it.

When you ask someone who used to drink 10K why they miss it, they don’t say, “It had better electrolytes.” They say, “It tasted like it was made for real people, not marketing teams.”

Can 10K come back?

There’s been no official word from BioSteel about reviving 10K. But in 2023, a group of former employees and fans launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to recreate the original formula. They raised over $210,000 in 30 days. They sourced new suppliers, tested 17 different flavor batches, and even tracked down the original bottle design from a warehouse in Michigan.

As of early 2026, the new version - called 10K Reborn - is in final production. It’s not a replica. It’s an upgrade. The sodium levels are higher. The flavor is cleaner. And it’s now available in recyclable aluminum cans instead of plastic bottles. The team behind it says they’re not trying to replace the old 10K. They’re trying to honor it.

Pre-orders start in March 2026. If you still have an old bottle tucked away in your garage, now might be the time to dig it out. Not just for nostalgia. But because sometimes, the best solutions come back - not as they were, but as they should’ve been all along.

If you’re someone who remembers the green bottle sitting next to your protein shaker, you’re not alone. Thousands of athletes still talk about 10K like it was a secret weapon. And now, with 10K Reborn on the horizon, there’s a chance to bring back more than just a drink - but a moment in fitness history.