Ghost Whey - Fruity Cereal Milk 🍓🥣🥛
Strawberry and cereal obvs for carbs, not decoration
I don’t think I’ve ever liked a supplement’s branding as much as Ghost’s. Maybe I’m desensitised, but most supplements seem to follow the same formula when it comes to branding. Get a plastic tub, apply a pseudo scientific or hardcore name (like “anabolic 5000”, or perhaps "mass xtreme”?) and you’ve got yourself a winner.
Ghost has gone in a completely different direction, graffiti-ing their products with eye catching colours and an effortlessly cool logo. While appearances certainly matter, ultimately we buy supplements for gains, so how does Ghost Whey stack up on the efficacy front?
The Product Summary
📋 Product: Ghost Whey Protein
🥛 Type: Whey Protein Isolate & Concentrate Blend
👄 Flavour: Fruity Cereal Milk
💰 Price: £34.99 (£28 with 20% influencer discount code)
⚖️ Weight: 2 lbs
🥄 Servings: 28 scoops
The TLDR
Clean whey protein blend with a reassuring short ingredients list and uniquely transparent label. The Fruity Cereal Milk flavour is fantastic and creative, and I had no issues drinking this with water. Only downside is that Ghost Whey is only available in 2 lbs tubs, making it a somewhat pricey option for long term use.
The Macros
🔥 120 Calories
💪 25g Protein
🍬 2g Carbs (1g sugar)
🛢️ 1.5g Fat (1g saturated)
The Brand
Ghost is a relatively young American brand co-founded in 2016 by Ryan Hughes (IFBB Pro) and Daniel Lourenco. The company claims to be world's first lifestyle sports nutrition brand, and this emphasis on lifestyle is evident from their products, branding, and sponsored influencers.
Unsurprisingly, Ghost sponsors a lot of fitness pros, but their influencer list (or fam, as the cool kids say) also include gamers and musicians. The lifestyle approach is also reflected by their product line, which includes unique items like the skin detoxifying Glow, fruit & veg packed Greens, and brain boosting Gamer. Ghost products are available in the EU from their UK website, and you can easily find 20% off codes from various members of the Ghost fam (am I using that right?).
Ghost is undeniably cool, so much so that I find myself keeping the empty tubs to add some much needed character to my shelf.
The Formula
One of the first things I noticed about Ghost Whey is the short ingredients list. Aside from whey protein, the product only contains flavourings, salt, enzymes, and thickeners. This is quite reassuring, and should help alleviate a lot of the bloating and digestive issues some people experience with whey protein.
Starting with the protein, every 25g serving of protein comprises 50% isolates, 40% concentrate, and 10% hydrolysed isolates. What, you don’t trust my maths? Well, you can read this for yourself from Ghost’s “Full Disclosure Label” below. This is quite interesting, and I’m not aware of any other company that is as transparent in their disclosures.
Uniquely transparent label from Ghost
I’m not sure the average person benefits tremendously from the faster absorption of whey isolates, but it is good to know that with Ghost, 60% of the protein you get is derived from higher quality isolates.
Protein aside, Ghost have added a few digestive enzymes to their whey. Proteases break down protein, Lactase breaks down lactose (see, biology isn’t always hard), and Bromelain is the family of protease enzymes found in pineapples - the same stuff that makes your mouth tingle, and what makes pineapple juice an effective meat tenderiser.
Ghost Whey is lecithinated with sunflower and not soy, which makes the product soy free (lecithin is a fatty substance that attracts water, and therefore helps mixability). Ghost Whey is also gluten free, and all these factors should mitigate most digestive issues people typically face.
However, Ghost Whey is sweetened with Sucralose (or splenda), so those who want to avoid artificial sweeteners may need to look elsewhere.
Full Ghost Whey ingredients list below:
100% Whey Protein (Whey Protein Isolate 90% (Sunflower Lecithinated), Whey Protein Concentrated 80% (Sunflower Lecithinated), Hydrolyzed Whey Protein Isolate, Natural and Artifical Flavor, Salt, Enzymes (Proteases, Bromelain, Lactase), Cellulose Gum, Cellulose Gum, Xanthan Gum, Sucralose, FD&C Red #40
The Mixability
Ghost Whey, in powder form, is slightly more clumpy than some of the other powders out there - think flour, as opposed to free-flowing dry sand. However, the powder dissolves without any issues in water, and was very easy to mix, clump free, into dry oatmeal and water to make overnight proats. I did find the consistency to be on the thicker side using Ghost’s reccomended 150 - 180ml of water, and I personally preferred having each scoop with 200ml + of liquid.
Although the mixability was great, the clumpiness of the powder makes the serving size difficult to gauge. Each serving of Fruity Cereal Milk is a 32g “rounded scoop”, but depending on how densely the scoop was packed, a level scoop weighed anywhere from 28 - 36g. This wasn’t an issue for me as I always weigh my protein powder, but for those who (understandably) don’t, a 28 serving tub can be reduced to a 25 serving tub if you’re using 36g scoops.
The Taste
Having mentioned the flavour of my latest protein to some friends, it became very apparent that most of us in the UK have never tried fruity cereals.
For those that have, this section is easy - Ghost’s Fruity Cereal Milk protein tastes very similar to Froot Loops (no, I did not misspell “fruit”). The flavour is sweet, milky, and fruity in an artificially satisfying way. Ghost have also managed to repliace the aftertaste of fruity cereal, which is quite impressive. I actually didn’t feel the need to try this with milk, as I found that both the sweetness and thickness were perfect with just water.
For those that haven’t had Froot Loops or Fruity Pebbles before, can I suggest you try and imagine what the bowl of cereal below tastes like? Colourful, American, and artificially fruity with no real fruit - in a good way.
The Flavour Longevity
I’ve found that unique flavours don’t tend to age well. However, I have to say that Ghost’s Fruity Cereal Milk flavour held up extremely well, and is quite satisfying to drink in the summer after a good workout. Although I really enjoyed it, I can see how someone who hasn’t had fruity cereal before may not find the taste as appealing.
Ghost Whey only comes in 2lbs tubs, so concluding that the flavour doesn’t become tired is perhaps presumptuous. But, I can say that I am more than happy to buy another tub of this, particularly as the flavour was surprisingly refreshing in the summer.
The Versatility
Given Ghost have tried to replicate the flavour of milk leftover after having a bowl of cereal, it’s probably unsurprising that the Fruity Cereal Milk flavour pairs very nicely with oatmeal.
The protein also tasted pretty good when blended with frozen strawberries, but less so with bananas. I’ve also seen quite a few interesting donut creations involving fruity cereal toppings, so this could probably work quite well in a protein pancake / french toast recipe.
In conclusion, surprisingly versatile!
The Pricing
At £34.99 for 28 servings, Ghost Whey is undoubtedly priced at a premium to the general market. It’s worth noting that while a 2 lbs tub of Fruity Cereal Milk has 28 servings, some other flavours contain only 26 servings at the same price.
As I alluded to at the beginning of this post, I didn’t actually pay full price for this. Ghost sponsors a lot of influencers, and using an influencer code will get you a 20% discount, equivalent to £28 for 28 servings. Obviously £1 per scoop is still a high price, but I think unit prices don’t always tell the full story.
2 lbs tubs of protein clearly provide less value-for-money, but on the other hand is also a much smaller financial and time commitment. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been stuck with a 5 lbs tub of protein I grew to dislike - in fact, this is one of the main reasons I started this blog.
Looking at some of the more popular products, Optimum Nutrition’s Gold Standard Whey is officially priced at £27.99, exactly the same as Ghost (post discount), while 2 lbs of Dymatize Elite Whey sells for £22. So while Ghost is undeniably an expensive option, I think the real issue with pricing is the lack of better value size-up options.
The Verdict
I think Ghost have created a very good product here. The Fruity Cereal Milk flavour is delicious and novel, the macro profile is good, and the ingredients list is both no-nonsense and very transparent. Ghost also have a loyalty programme, and you can earn loyalty points through interacting with the brand (and obviously buying their products).
The only downside here is the price - while I personally feel the price point is acceptable, I do think that not having a 5 lbs tub option somewhat dissuades me from using the product as a staple. If Ghost could bring out a 5 lbs tub, I would have no hesitations in recommending this to anyone looking for an interesting and excellent protein.