Ask an athlete what is in their bottle and they will tell you about the scoop they added. The electrolyte tab. The carbohydrate mix. The gel they will take at the top of the hour.
Almost no one talks about the base. The fluid all of that goes into. It gets treated as a default, usually water, as if the base were neutral and only the additives mattered.
The base is not neutral. It determines what your additives have to work with, how well your body holds the fluid, and whether you are building on something or nothing. Choosing your base is a real decision with real consequences.
Here is how the three main options compare.
Option One: Water
Water is the default base for most athletes, and for good reason. It is free, available everywhere, and for short easy sessions it is all you need.
But water is an empty base. It carries no sodium, no fuel, and no minerals. Everything your session requires has to be added from scratch.
For efforts under an hour, that is fine. Beyond that, water's emptiness becomes a liability. It carries none of the sodium you are losing through sweat, and when you drink a large volume of it plain, it dilutes the sodium already in your blood. In long or hot efforts this can lower blood sodium to dangerous levels, a condition called exercise-associated hyponatremia.
Water is a fine base for a short, light day. As a foundation for serious training, it starts you at zero and carries real risk when you lean on it too heavily.
Option Two: The Standard Sports Drink
The conventional sports drink was built to solve water's emptiness. It adds carbohydrate for fuel and sodium for what you sweat out.
That is a genuine improvement over plain water for many sessions. The trade-offs are in the details.
Most mainstream sports drinks are built around a fixed ratio of sugar to sodium, decided by the manufacturer, not by you. Their sodium levels are often modest relative to what a heavy sweater actually loses. And they are sweet, which becomes a problem the longer you go. Sweet fuel is easy to stomach for an hour and increasingly hard to stomach across many hours, a phenomenon athletes call flavor fatigue.
A standard sports drink is a reasonable finished product for moderate sessions. As a base to build on, it is limiting. The ratio is locked, the sodium may be too low for you, and the sweetness works against you in long efforts.
Option Three: BEAUNE
BEAUNE is built to be a base, not a finished drink.
It is organic beef bone broth blended with coconut water. Two cans in a standard 24 fluid ounce training bottle give you a base carrying 500 mg of sodium, 180 mg of potassium, and 6 g of carbohydrate, plus a meaningful amount of protein, before you add anything. The broth contributes the sodium and minerals. The coconut water contributes the potassium. The protein is something neither water nor a standard sports drink provides. And it is lightly sweet rather than sweet.
The point is what it lets you do next. Because BEAUNE is a base and not a locked formula, you add your own carbohydrate to match the session and top up sodium to match your sweat rate. You are not stuck with someone else's sugar-to-sodium ratio. You start from a foundation that already carries sodium, potassium, minerals, and protein, and you build from there.
The lightly sweet, slightly salty profile is a structural advantage, not a flavor preference. Athletes reliably turn away from heavy sweetness deep into long efforts. A base that is not sugar-forward stays drinkable when a sweet one does not.
The Comparison
Here is how the three bases line up on the qualities that matter for building a bottle.
| Quality |
Water (24 fl oz) |
Standard sports drink |
Two-can BEAUNE base (24 fl oz) |
| Sodium |
0 mg |
Modest, fixed |
500 mg |
| Potassium |
0 mg |
Low |
180 mg |
| Other minerals |
None |
Minimal |
Yes, from broth |
| Protein |
None |
None |
Yes, meaningful |
| Fuel ratio |
You add everything |
Locked by manufacturer |
You control the additives |
| Flavor over long efforts |
Neutral |
Sweet, fatigue-prone |
Lightly sweet, stays drinkable |
| Hyponatremia risk if overused |
Higher |
Lower |
Lower |
| Role |
Empty base |
Finished drink |
Functional base to build on |
The table makes the distinction clear. Water is empty. A standard sports drink is a finished product with someone else's ratios baked in. BEAUNE is a functional base you customize.
This Is Not About Replacing Your Electrolytes
An important clarification. BEAUNE is not competing with your electrolyte mix. It is competing with your base.
If you run a high-sodium electrolyte product, you have been dissolving it in water. The comparison here is not BEAUNE versus that product. It is BEAUNE versus the water you have been putting it in. Pour your electrolytes into a two-can BEAUNE base instead and the carrier itself now brings 500 mg of sodium, plus potassium, minerals, and protein, before your product goes in. Your electrolyte strategy is unchanged. Your base got better.
That is the whole argument. Keep your additives. Upgrade your foundation.
Key Takeaways
- The base of your bottle is a real decision, not a neutral default. It determines what your additives work with.
- Water is an empty base. No sodium, no fuel, no minerals, and a hyponatremia risk when overused in long efforts.
- A standard sports drink is a finished product with a locked sugar-to-sodium ratio and a sweetness that causes flavor fatigue.
- A two-can BEAUNE base carries 500 mg sodium, 180 mg potassium, and protein in a lightly sweet, slightly salty profile that stays drinkable in long efforts. Water carries none of it.
- BEAUNE competes with your base, not your electrolytes. Mix your electrolytes into BEAUNE instead of water.
Where This Leaves Us
Most athletes obsess over their additives and ignore their base. That is backwards. The base is the foundation the whole bottle stands on.
Water gives you an empty foundation. A standard sports drink gives you a finished one you cannot adjust. BEAUNE gives you a functional base that carries real content and still leaves you in full control of what you add.
If you already think carefully about your carbohydrate and your sodium, extend that same thinking one layer down, to the fluid it all goes into. Choose your base on purpose.
BEAUNE Summary
The base of an athlete's bottle is a meaningful choice that is usually made by default. Plain water is an empty base that carries no sodium, fuel, or minerals and poses a hyponatremia risk when overused in long or hot efforts. A standard sports drink improves on water but locks the athlete into a fixed sugar-to-sodium ratio and a sweet profile prone to flavor fatigue.
BEAUNE is designed as a functional base rather than a finished drink. Two cans in a standard bottle supply 500 mg of sodium, 180 mg of potassium, and a meaningful amount of protein in a lightly sweet, slightly salty profile that remains drinkable across long efforts. Bone broth supplies the sodium and minerals; coconut water supplies the potassium. Because it is a base, athletes retain full control over the carbohydrate and additional sodium they layer on. BEAUNE is positioned to replace the water at the bottom of the bottle, not the electrolyte products built on top of it.
Sources
- American College of Sports Medicine. Position Stand: Exercise and Fluid Replacement. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.
- Blow A. Fueling and Hydration: Why You Should Keep Them Separate. Precision Fuel and Hydration.
- Hew-Butler T et al. Statement of the Third International Exercise-Associated Hyponatremia Consensus Development Conference. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine.
- Tiller NB et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: Nutritional Considerations for Single-Stage Ultra-Marathon. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.
- Saat M et al. Rehydration After Exercise with Fresh Young Coconut Water, Carbohydrate-Electrolyte Beverage and Plain Water. Journal of Physiological Anthropology.
- Jeukendrup A. A Step Towards Personalized Sports Nutrition: Carbohydrate Intake During Exercise. Sports Medicine.
Water vs Sports Drink vs BEAUNE: What Belongs at the Base of Your Bottle
Ask an athlete what is in their bottle and they will tell you about the scoop they added. The electrolyte tab. The carbohydrate mix. The gel they will take at the top of the hour.
Almost no one talks about the base. The fluid all of that goes into. It gets treated as a default, usually water, as if the base were neutral and only the additives mattered.
The base is not neutral. It determines what your additives have to work with, how well your body holds the fluid, and whether you are building on something or nothing. Choosing your base is a real decision with real consequences.
Here is how the three main options compare.
Option One: Water
Water is the default base for most athletes, and for good reason. It is free, available everywhere, and for short easy sessions it is all you need.
But water is an empty base. It carries no sodium, no fuel, and no minerals. Everything your session requires has to be added from scratch.
For efforts under an hour, that is fine. Beyond that, water's emptiness becomes a liability. It carries none of the sodium you are losing through sweat, and when you drink a large volume of it plain, it dilutes the sodium already in your blood. In long or hot efforts this can lower blood sodium to dangerous levels, a condition called exercise-associated hyponatremia.
Water is a fine base for a short, light day. As a foundation for serious training, it starts you at zero and carries real risk when you lean on it too heavily.
Option Two: The Standard Sports Drink
The conventional sports drink was built to solve water's emptiness. It adds carbohydrate for fuel and sodium for what you sweat out.
That is a genuine improvement over plain water for many sessions. The trade-offs are in the details.
Most mainstream sports drinks are built around a fixed ratio of sugar to sodium, decided by the manufacturer, not by you. Their sodium levels are often modest relative to what a heavy sweater actually loses. And they are sweet, which becomes a problem the longer you go. Sweet fuel is easy to stomach for an hour and increasingly hard to stomach across many hours, a phenomenon athletes call flavor fatigue.
A standard sports drink is a reasonable finished product for moderate sessions. As a base to build on, it is limiting. The ratio is locked, the sodium may be too low for you, and the sweetness works against you in long efforts.
Option Three: BEAUNE
BEAUNE is built to be a base, not a finished drink.
It is organic beef bone broth blended with coconut water. Two cans in a standard 24 fluid ounce training bottle give you a base carrying 500 mg of sodium, 180 mg of potassium, and 6 g of carbohydrate, plus a meaningful amount of protein, before you add anything. The broth contributes the sodium and minerals. The coconut water contributes the potassium. The protein is something neither water nor a standard sports drink provides. And it is lightly sweet rather than sweet.
The point is what it lets you do next. Because BEAUNE is a base and not a locked formula, you add your own carbohydrate to match the session and top up sodium to match your sweat rate. You are not stuck with someone else's sugar-to-sodium ratio. You start from a foundation that already carries sodium, potassium, minerals, and protein, and you build from there.
The lightly sweet, slightly salty profile is a structural advantage, not a flavor preference. Athletes reliably turn away from heavy sweetness deep into long efforts. A base that is not sugar-forward stays drinkable when a sweet one does not.
The Comparison
Here is how the three bases line up on the qualities that matter for building a bottle.
The table makes the distinction clear. Water is empty. A standard sports drink is a finished product with someone else's ratios baked in. BEAUNE is a functional base you customize.
This Is Not About Replacing Your Electrolytes
An important clarification. BEAUNE is not competing with your electrolyte mix. It is competing with your base.
If you run a high-sodium electrolyte product, you have been dissolving it in water. The comparison here is not BEAUNE versus that product. It is BEAUNE versus the water you have been putting it in. Pour your electrolytes into a two-can BEAUNE base instead and the carrier itself now brings 500 mg of sodium, plus potassium, minerals, and protein, before your product goes in. Your electrolyte strategy is unchanged. Your base got better.
That is the whole argument. Keep your additives. Upgrade your foundation.
Key Takeaways
Where This Leaves Us
Most athletes obsess over their additives and ignore their base. That is backwards. The base is the foundation the whole bottle stands on.
Water gives you an empty foundation. A standard sports drink gives you a finished one you cannot adjust. BEAUNE gives you a functional base that carries real content and still leaves you in full control of what you add.
If you already think carefully about your carbohydrate and your sodium, extend that same thinking one layer down, to the fluid it all goes into. Choose your base on purpose.
BEAUNE Summary
The base of an athlete's bottle is a meaningful choice that is usually made by default. Plain water is an empty base that carries no sodium, fuel, or minerals and poses a hyponatremia risk when overused in long or hot efforts. A standard sports drink improves on water but locks the athlete into a fixed sugar-to-sodium ratio and a sweet profile prone to flavor fatigue.
BEAUNE is designed as a functional base rather than a finished drink. Two cans in a standard bottle supply 500 mg of sodium, 180 mg of potassium, and a meaningful amount of protein in a lightly sweet, slightly salty profile that remains drinkable across long efforts. Bone broth supplies the sodium and minerals; coconut water supplies the potassium. Because it is a base, athletes retain full control over the carbohydrate and additional sodium they layer on. BEAUNE is positioned to replace the water at the bottom of the bottle, not the electrolyte products built on top of it.
Sources