Beyond Raw Creatine HCl Review (2024): Underdosed or Highly Bioavailable?

The many benefits of creatine include overall improved athletic performance, muscle gain, and increased strength, power, and speed. All of this occurs because creatine positively impacts energy production during exercise, particularly resistance exercise. Every now and again, a novel type of creatine will appear on the market and become all the rage.

Currently, that’s creatine HCl, or creatine hydrochloride. This type of creatine isn’t new, but it’s having a major moment due to marketing around the molecular properties of creatine HCl, which purportedly increase its bioavailability.

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The problem is, there isn’t any research to date proving that creatine HCl—or any type of creatine, for that matter—is more effective than creatine monohydrate, the current gold standard, according to registered dietitian Destini Moody.

So in our Beyond Raw Creatine HCl review, we’ll look at the formulation and price per serving to help you decide if this should be the next creatine in your supplement stack.

Medical disclaimer: This article is intended for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for medical advice. For health advice, contact a licensed healthcare provider. GGR also recommends choosing a product that has been third-party tested for quality.

30+ Creatine Supplements Tested

At GGR, we strive to write product reviews that are actually honest, accurate, and genuinely helpful. We want you to get the best bang for your buck, always, and that’s why we prioritize hands-on product testing. That way, our roster of certified personal trainers, nutrition coaches, and athletes can provide firsthand detail about what it’s like to use a specific product.

Beyond Raw Creatine HCl

Beyond Raw Creatine HCl Powder

A Quick Look at Beyond Raw Creatine HCl

Formally Beyond Raw Chemistry Labs Creatine HCl Powder (that’s a mouthful, right?), this dietary supplement is a creatine hydrochloride powder with 2 grams of creatine per serving. It comes with 120 servings to a tub and contains no other ingredients: just creatine HCl.

This is what we like to see in the best creatine supplements—no additives or proprietary blends with BCAAs, carnitine, or other ingredients that manufacturers say improve muscle performance and lead to fitness gains (without actually telling you how much of each ingredient is in the product).

I digress… Anyway, it’s creatine and only creatine, and that’s a good thing.

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Before You Buy

• The 2-gram dose does not meet the minimum clinically recommended dose of 3 to 5 grams of creatine per day.
• Manufacturers claim that creatine HCl is more bioavailable and that your body can do more with less creatine in this form, but there is not yet any conclusive evidence to support that claim, according to registered dietitian Destini Moody (and this 2022 literature review in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research1).

Is Beyond Raw Creatine HCl Worth It?

Because this creatine supplement doesn’t contain the clinically recommended dose of creatine, it’s not our top choice. Creatine HCl supplements seem to be “based on a misinterpretation of how Creatine HCl works,” Destini says.

“People have taken this bioavailability prospect and ran with it, making people believe that you can take a lower dosage of creatine HCl and get the same results,” Destini told us when we initially investigated HCl supplements for our Con-Cret creatine review. “This is nothing more than gym-lore and has not been proven, however.”

In good faith, we’d steer you toward a creatine monohydrate supplement that contains at least 3 grams of creatine per serving.

Beyond Raw Creatine HCl Specs

Experience Using Beyond Raw Creatine HCl

GGR product tester and fitness editor Frieda Johnson tried Beyond Raw Creatine HCl. She’s been taking 5 grams of creatine monohydrate daily for many years and, for the purposes of product testing at GGR, replaced her daily creatine with Beyond Raw to see how it compared.

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Price Per Serving

At $49.99 for a container with 120 servings, Beyond Raw creatine HCl costs about 42 cents per serving. This is a great price per serving, but remember, the serving is underdosed. A creatine supplement with a slightly higher price per serving, but 5 grams of creatine per serving, is a better value.

Formulation

Beyond Raw Creatine HCl powder contains 2 grams of creatine HCl and nothing else. This would be great, if it met the minimum recommendation that was developed after decades of research on creatine and its effects on physical performance.

The company markets the formula as “lab-grade,” but again, there isn’t any scientific evidence, conducted in labs or otherwise, proving that this form of creatine is more effective than monohydrate. It’s true that creatine HCl is more water-soluble than creatine monohydrate, according to a 2010 study in the Journal of Dietary Supplements2. However, there aren’t any known practical benefits.

As mentioned previously, this logic is faulty at best. “Research has shown that [creatine HCl] may be more bioavailable than creatine monohydrate, but the science on this is shaky and hasn’t been proven on a large scale despite the thousands of studies that have been done on creatine,” Destini points out.

She continues, saying, “There is no available human evidence to date that the dosage of Creatine HCl is different from that of creatine monohydrate.”

In the two extensive reports I found comparing creatine monohydrate to other forms of creatine—the aforementioned 2022 literature review in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research1 and a 2021 literature review in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition3—there isn’t even a mention of creatine HCl, which could be because the existing studies on that form of creatine were flawed for one reason or another and not worthy of inclusion.

Additionally, a 2020 controlled trial in the journal Science & Sports4 found no significant performance differences among groups who took monohydrate or HCl and a 2015 study in the journal Food and Nutrition Sciences5 concluded the same.

Taste and Solubility

According to Destini, “Creatine HCl definitely mixes more neatly in water,” and Frieda’s testing experience supports this.

Beyond Raw creatine “Mixes in water very well,” Frieda says, adding that she didn’t notice any clumping or settling, and “it looks pretty much clear mixed into water.”

The taste is sour, as is typical with creatine HCl.

“This is ‘unflavored,’ but it tastes like straight lemon juice,” Frieda says. “This is true of every creatine HCl I’ve ever tried, but this one is strong even for what it is. I would definitely recommend mixing it with juice. I added it to a blueberry pomegranate juice and it was excellent.”

Side Effects

One common side effect of creatine is bloat, and creatine HCl is supposed to help prevent that due to its greater water solubility. However, Destini says that gastrointestinal distress is one big reason she doesn’t recommend creatine HCl. “The stomach hates HCl,” she says. “It doesn’t taste good and it can take the gut weeks to adjust to the harshness of the compound.”

Our tester, Frieda, didn’t note any negative reactions to Beyond Raw creatine HCl, although she has had that problem with other HCl supplements.

“I do feel like I have less bloating after taking HCl compared to monohydrate,” Frieda says, “but the muscle-related effects seem to be a little less profound than my regular creatine.” Frieda’s been taking 5 grams of creatine monohydrate daily for a decade, so it’s likely that the 2-gram serving doesn’t provide the same results.

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Third-Party Testing

This creatine supplement does not appear to be third-party tested. Athletes who are subject to drug testing for banned substances in sport should look for a product that is screened by the National Sanitation Foundation or the Banned Substances Control Group. For everyone else, third-party testing isn’t a huge deal, but can offer additional peace of mind when buying supplements.

Beyond Raw Creatine HCl vs Con-Cret Creatine

Con-Cret Creatine

CON-CRET Creatine

Con-Cret is another popular creatine HCl supplement. I chose to compare Beyond Raw Creatine HCl to Con-Cret Creatine to illustrate how widely HCl dosing can vary. Con-Cret creatine HCl contains just 750 milligrams—or 0.75 grams—of creatine per serving.

This, as Destini told us for our Con-Cret Creatine review, is pretty baseless. There’s just no scientific ground to stand on for a dose that low. And the reason that the dose varies so much for creatine HCl, Destini explains, is because there is no standardized dosing protocol separate from creatine monohydrate.

According to the 2021 literature review in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition3, creatine monohydrate is what “was used in early studies to assess bioavailability, determine proper dosages, and assess the impact of oral ingestion of creatine on blood creatine and intramuscular creatine stores.”

So until science provides us with new recommendations specific to creatine HCl, 3 to 5 grams is what we’ll recommend. Neither of these products match that, but at least Beyond Raw Creatine HCl has a full 2 grams. Otherwise, the products are virtually the same.

Customer Experience

You can get Beyond Raw Creatine HCl from GNC, Amazon, iHerb, Walmart, Hy-Vee, and more. Where you buy will largely inform your customer experience. In my opinion, Amazon offers the easiest returns, but quality assurance can be hit-or-miss.

Ordering Beyond Raw Creatine HCl

As stated above, this product is available at several online retailers and probably in store at your local supplement store, as well. So, your ordering process will vary depending on where you buy it. Don’t forget to look for subscribe-and-save options at checkout!

Customer Reviews

Out of more than 3,000 customer ratings on Amazon at the time of writing, Beyond Raw Creatine HCl has an average rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Most of the Beyond Raw Creatine reviews have the same sentiment: The supplement seems to be working but it tastes bad.

“So far it’s been a week and I do feel more energetic and stronger when it comes to my lifts. I also didn’t get bloated, which is great,” one buyer wrote. “The only thing is the taste. The taste is almost unbearable with water during the loading phase. I recommend taking this with cranberry juice because it does a great job at masking the bitter flavor. But overall [it’s] a great product.”

Other descriptors of the taste amongst Amazon reviewers include “horrid,” “battery-like,” “unbearable,” and “overpowering.” However, several reviewers also say that it tastes fine, or at least decent, when mixed with juice, protein powder, an electrolyte drink, or blended into a smoothie.

Final Verdict of Our Beyond Raw Creatine HCl Review

Beyond Raw Creatine HCl is a creatine hydrochloride supplement with 2 grams of creatine per serving. It costs about 42 cents per serving, which is in line with what we like to see; however, it is slightly underdosed on the unsubstantiated premise that creatine HCl is more bioavailable than creatine monohydrate. That said, there are other HCl supplements out there with way lower doses, making this one of the better HCl options.

Beyond Raw Creatine HCl Full Rating

Beyond Raw Creatine HCl: FAQs

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any diseases.

References

1. Fazio C, Elder CL, Harris MM. Efficacy of Alternative Forms of Creatine Supplementation on Improving Performance and Body Composition in Healthy Subjects: A Systematic Review. J Strength Cond Res. 2022;36(9):2663-2670. doi:10.1519/JSC.0000000000003873
2. Brandon T. Gufford, Kamaraj Sriraghavan, Nicholas J. Miller, Donald W. Miller, Xiaochen Gu, Jonathan L. Vennerstrom & Dennis H. Robinson (2010) Physicochemical Characterization of Creatine N-Methylguanidinium Salts, Journal of Dietary Supplements, 7:3, 240-252, DOI: 10.3109/19390211.2010.491507
3. Antonio J, Candow DG, Forbes SC, et al. Common questions and misconceptions about creatine supplementation: what does the scientific evidence really show?. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2021;18(1):13. Published 2021 Feb 8. doi:10.1186/s12970-021-00412-w
4. M. Tayebi, H. Arazi, Is creatine hydrochloride better than creatine monohydrate for the improvement of physical performance and hormonal changes in young trained men?, Science & Sports, Volume 35, Issue 5, 2020, Pages e135-e141, ISSN 0765-1597, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scispo.2019.07.013.
5. França, E. , Avelar, B. , Yoshioka, C. , Santana, J. , Madureira, D. , Rocha, L. , Zocoler, C. , Rossi, F. , Lira, F. , Rodrigues, B. and Caperuto, É. (2015) Creatine HCl and Creatine Monohydrate Improve Strength but Only Creatine HCl Induced Changes on Body Composition in Recreational Weightlifters. Food and Nutrition Sciences, 6, 1624-1630. doi: 10.4236/fns.2015.617167.

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