Even if you're not in the market for a blender, you have almost certainly come across the Beast Blender. Whether it was in an ad on your Instagram feed (that's where it found me) or you spied it on the kitchen counter in the background of your favorite trendy TikToker, the sleek, attractive appliance was tailor-made for social media and has been practically unavoidable on screens for the past two years. But is the Beast Blender actually any good?
It certainly has an impressive provenance, as the brand — Beast Health — was founded by the founder and former CEO of NutriBullet. It also has some impressive specs to go along with its dashing looks, like 1,000W power and a build made from rugged, BPA-free Tritan plastic and powder-coated aluminum. But a good story, good specs and good style will only take a product so far, so I got my hands on a Beast Blender to see how it would hold up over several months of regular use.
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Beast Blender: What We Think
The Beast Blender looks as good in person as it does online, and it is powerful enough to live up to its aggressive moniker. It is, in many ways, the perfect smoothie machine. It whips up silky-smooth drinks in no time at all, it does so quietly and its mixing vessel doubles as a portable drinking cup. It's very solidly built and feels like a high-quality product, and shows no signs of wear despite months of near-daily use.
Where the Beast Blender begins to lose its sheen is when you want it to do things other than make smoothies. It can't do many things that traditional blenders can, like crush ice or blend hot ingredients, and it requires a significant amount of liquid to work at all. So if you're looking for a more versatile blender, you're better off looking elsewhere, but if you need an easy-to-use smoothie machine that also looks beautiful, the Beast Blender is worth the Instagram hype.
The Beast lives up to its name when making smoothies
For a personal blender with an easily portable vessel, the Beast is surprisingly powerful. I've found that as long as I follow the directions — add liquid first (and make sure there's enough of it), then your frozen ingredients, your soft ingredients next and finally any powders or nut butters — the blender churns out smoothies that are incredibly smooth. I never end up with any ice chunks, or chunks of anything for that matter, as the Beast is excellent at turning whatever you feed it into a liquid.
It's also very simple to use. There's just a single button on the front, with no settings to change or additional blades to swap in. Press the button quickly to pulse, and hold it down for a second to turn on the blending mode. It will run for a full minute, automatically adjusting the speed of the blades if they get too hot or aren't spinning properly. It's this feature that causes the Beast to sometimes be labeled a "smart" blender, rather than any WiFi capability (which it lacks).
It won't replace a traditional blender
As good as the Beast Blender is at making smoothies, it's as poor at doing pretty much anything else you'd expect a traditional blender (like a Vitamix) to do. It won't crush ice, which was one of the first things I tried to do with it because I make a lot of cocktails. The Beast needs a sufficient amount of liquid in order to work — the brand recommends 1/3 of your ingredients to be liquid for the best performance — so if you toss in ice cubes, they'll just frustratingly bounce around.
You also can't put any hot ingredients into the Beast Blender — they'll break it — so forget any hot soups or sauces. And in my experience, the Beast also has trouble with nut butters. The blender's signature ribs — which contribute heavily to its aesthetic and also aid in the blending by "creating superior internal turbulence" — have a knack for collecting sticky ingredients like almond butter when added to a smoothie, and you have to do your best to clean in between them. This can be somewhat difficult, and I think Beast Health knows this since they sell a Vessel Spatula. I think the spatula should come with the blender rather than being a separate $17 purchase since it's pretty essential for cleaning between the ribs, but for now, that's not the case.
It's the best-looking blender out there
The Beast really does look great on a countertop. It comes in three colors — black, white or gray — and each pairs a heavy, powder-coated aluminum base with a TPE rubber-capped ribbed vessel made from Tritan plastic. The plastic is thick and looks like glass, and the ribs create a luxurious crystal-like effect that makes this blender an object of desire rather than some clunky, plasticky thing you want to hide in your cabinet like practically every other blender on the market. It also comes with a drinking lid and carrying cap, allowing you to take your smoothies on the go as an uber-stylish travel cup.
But you still probably won't want to leave it assembled on your counter
For as good-looking as the Beast Blender is, it's not often that I leave it assembled on my countertop. The reason for this is that every time I've done so, the vessel has gotten stinky, and I have to re-wash it before using it again. I typically pre-wash the vessel to scrub between the ribs before cleaning it in the dishwasher (everything but the blade assembly is dishwasher-safe), and then I'll let it dry before reassembling. But if there is any moisture at all hiding in the blades or vessel — and there always is, I've let them air dry for days before assembling — it will fester due to the airtight seal the two pieces form, creating a smell not unlike feet. It's frustrating, particularly since Tritan plastic is supposed to have low odor absorption, and it's enough of a hassle that I just leave the base on my counter and store the vessel in a cabinet, which is a bummer.
For a Beast, this thing is pretty quiet
As discussed already, the Beast Blender is powerful — 1,000w — but despite that, it's the quietest blender I've ever used. There's just the one mode, which is plenty powerful to turn a smoothie full of ice cubes and frozen fruit into pure liquid (again, provided you've got enough liquid in the mix to start), but it does so while only making a fairly gentle whirring sound. Unlike some of the noisier appliances in my home, like my various coffee grinders or the self-emptying charging base for my Roomba, firing up the Beast doesn't send my dog into a panic, which is a big "plus" in my book.
Beast Blender: Alternatives
The Beast Blender seemed like a revelation a couple of years back when it debuted, but the rest of the industry is catching on and catching up. The new Nutribullet Ultra ($150), from Beast's founder's old company, is similarly sized, sleek and even more powerful at 1,200w. It's not quite as good-looking or as distinct as the Beast, but definitely won't look bad on a countertop. There's also the Zwilling Enfinigy Personal Blender ($130), which has a very similar design thanks to its ribbed Tritan vessel that doubles as a drinking cup. But it's half as powerful as the Beast, and its base is made of plastic rather than metal. Finally, there's the Ninja Nutri Blender Pro ($99), which certainly isn't as good-looking as any of these other options but is sufficiently powerful at 1,100w. It's also loud and plasticky, but for under a hundred bucks, it's a compelling choice if you just need something to whip up smoothies.
