Today we continue our look at all things UK candy with another, yes ANOTHER chocolate Turkish Delight bar.... I can't believe there are two either. Full of Eastern promise here is Fry's Turkish Delight.
Walking the Candy Aisle rates Fry's Turkish Delight - 2 / 5
As I mentioned in the video this is a Cadbury product, for more on this and all things Cadbury please check out their home on the web at http://www.cadbury.co.uk/
Be sure to stay with us here at the Candy Aisle for new UK Candy reviews every Tuesday, and other reviews every Friday. Or for all of our past reviews check out the Reviews Page.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Friday, June 14, 2013
Godiva Gold Ballotin review
Here we go again with another interesting review for you. Today we've got a look at Godiva's most popular offering the Gold Ballotin box.
Walking the Candy Aisle rates the Gold Ballotin - 4 / 5
For more on all things Godiva please visit them on the web at http://www.godiva.com/
Walking the Candy Aisle rates the Gold Ballotin - 4 / 5
For more on all things Godiva please visit them on the web at http://www.godiva.com/
Thursday, June 13, 2013
The Big Bar Line Up - Ritter Sport
Today we continue looking at the so called Big Bars in the candy aisle with a step into the interesting world of Ritter Sport.
This is a bit of a weird one. Firstly, Ritter Sport is a German, in fact it may be the most widely spread commercially available pure German chocolate. Despite their reputation alongside the Swiss and French for some of the best chocolate in the world the Germans don't export too much prepackaged chocolate, and other than Kinder (which is actually the German arm of Italian chocolatier Fererro) I believe Ritter is the German chocolate seen here in Canada most often.
The word "Ritter" mean nobility in German, and the "Sport" comes from the fact that the creator apparently wanted a bar that could fit easily into the breast pocket of a sports coat. So all of the Ritter Sports feature the same form factor, small and square. In fact they've really run with the 'square' angle in their marketing. Small is a bit of a misnomer too because despite being square Ritters are thick and on a whole s good, so rich, and so creamy that a bar is more than enough. Really I couldn't imagine eating a whole bar of Ritter at once anyhow, they are just such a delicacy.
While Ritter Sport bars are found in Canada the States and lots of other countries they are often not found precisely in the Big Bar section of the store. They are more commonly seen in their own display pop up.
This may seem excessive, and I'm sure it costs an arm and a leg to send these out to the stores, but what great marketing. You may see pop ups for other chocolates at certain seasonal times of year but Ritter Sports are in these all the time, and it makes them stand out like no other. That said, maybe because of the investment in floor space, you might not find a Ritter pop up in your local 7-11. If you can find them, you should find a lot of them, and a lot of different varieties, but sometimes finding that pop up at all can be tricky.
I've only reviewed one Ritter Sport before here on the Candy Aisle, the Ritter Sport Espresso, which now that I look for it I can't seem to find in real life again. Please check out my review of that right here. But now lets have a look at the line up for Ritter Sport, here in the Great White North.
Starting with a few simple flavors Ritter is known for rich and creamy chocolate.
And then they've got the specialty Dark Chocolate.
And the specialty Milk Chocolate.
They've got a few nut mixes too. It seems like Ritter specializes in really good basic mixes, and I think that serves them well.
They all seem like sort of simple ideas, but these next ones are unique, especially on any mass scale.
Definitely interesting stuff here. Finally here are two flavors I think might be unique to Ritter. Not that they're so revolutionary, in fact I think they're great ideas that maybe should be obvious, but I can't think of anyone else to really feature these flavors in this kind fo form factor. Like I said, its very interesting.
Although I know there are more out there. In fact the Ritter Sport website lists something like 30 different flavors available, these are all the ones I see commonly here in Canada. Let me know if you've got a favorite Ritter Sport flavor or have anything totally off the wall from them in your neck of the woods. I'm hoping to review a few more of these soon on the Candy Aisle.
Thanks for joining me, and I hope you'll stay tuned for another look at the candy aisle big bars soon.
This is a bit of a weird one. Firstly, Ritter Sport is a German, in fact it may be the most widely spread commercially available pure German chocolate. Despite their reputation alongside the Swiss and French for some of the best chocolate in the world the Germans don't export too much prepackaged chocolate, and other than Kinder (which is actually the German arm of Italian chocolatier Fererro) I believe Ritter is the German chocolate seen here in Canada most often.
The word "Ritter" mean nobility in German, and the "Sport" comes from the fact that the creator apparently wanted a bar that could fit easily into the breast pocket of a sports coat. So all of the Ritter Sports feature the same form factor, small and square. In fact they've really run with the 'square' angle in their marketing. Small is a bit of a misnomer too because despite being square Ritters are thick and on a whole s good, so rich, and so creamy that a bar is more than enough. Really I couldn't imagine eating a whole bar of Ritter at once anyhow, they are just such a delicacy.
While Ritter Sport bars are found in Canada the States and lots of other countries they are often not found precisely in the Big Bar section of the store. They are more commonly seen in their own display pop up.
This may seem excessive, and I'm sure it costs an arm and a leg to send these out to the stores, but what great marketing. You may see pop ups for other chocolates at certain seasonal times of year but Ritter Sports are in these all the time, and it makes them stand out like no other. That said, maybe because of the investment in floor space, you might not find a Ritter pop up in your local 7-11. If you can find them, you should find a lot of them, and a lot of different varieties, but sometimes finding that pop up at all can be tricky.
I've only reviewed one Ritter Sport before here on the Candy Aisle, the Ritter Sport Espresso, which now that I look for it I can't seem to find in real life again. Please check out my review of that right here. But now lets have a look at the line up for Ritter Sport, here in the Great White North.
Starting with a few simple flavors Ritter is known for rich and creamy chocolate.
And then they've got the specialty Dark Chocolate.
And the specialty Milk Chocolate.
They've got a few nut mixes too. It seems like Ritter specializes in really good basic mixes, and I think that serves them well.
They all seem like sort of simple ideas, but these next ones are unique, especially on any mass scale.
Definitely interesting stuff here. Finally here are two flavors I think might be unique to Ritter. Not that they're so revolutionary, in fact I think they're great ideas that maybe should be obvious, but I can't think of anyone else to really feature these flavors in this kind fo form factor. Like I said, its very interesting.
Although I know there are more out there. In fact the Ritter Sport website lists something like 30 different flavors available, these are all the ones I see commonly here in Canada. Let me know if you've got a favorite Ritter Sport flavor or have anything totally off the wall from them in your neck of the woods. I'm hoping to review a few more of these soon on the Candy Aisle.
Thanks for joining me, and I hope you'll stay tuned for another look at the candy aisle big bars soon.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Philly Chocolate
I'm just not sure this is really necessary...
I mean I like chocolate as much as the next guy. Heck probably more so.... but really...
In a way I get it. Its not much different than eating Nutella. BUT I don't eat Nutella for breakfast, and I do eat cream cheese, so putting this in a breakfast setting seems wrong somehow. ANDis it really such a far stretch from cream cheese with lox to cream cheese with chocolate. I mean cream cheese with fish included is a little grosser than chocolate on an intellectual level, yet that doesn't bother me.
I suppose to each their own. Enjoy it if you get it, and let me know how it tastes in the comments. I think for my money though, I'll pass.
I mean I like chocolate as much as the next guy. Heck probably more so.... but really...
In a way I get it. Its not much different than eating Nutella. BUT I don't eat Nutella for breakfast, and I do eat cream cheese, so putting this in a breakfast setting seems wrong somehow. ANDis it really such a far stretch from cream cheese with lox to cream cheese with chocolate. I mean cream cheese with fish included is a little grosser than chocolate on an intellectual level, yet that doesn't bother me.
I suppose to each their own. Enjoy it if you get it, and let me know how it tastes in the comments. I think for my money though, I'll pass.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Thorntons Strawberry Flavour Fondant Pig review
Today on the Candy Aisle Thornton's has struck back again for our ongoing series of reviews on UK and British candy. Please today check out this look at the Strawberry Flavour Fondant Pig.
Walking the Candy Aisle rates Thornton's Strawberry Flavored Fondant Pig - 4 / 5
Thornton's is an independent chocolatier and can be found on the net at http://www.thorntons.co.uk/
Please stick around the blog for more. Regular reviews up every Friday and UK candy reviews up on Tuesday, Until next time, why not watch my old review for the Thornton's Vanilla Fondant Mouse.
Walking the Candy Aisle rates Thornton's Strawberry Flavored Fondant Pig - 4 / 5
Thornton's is an independent chocolatier and can be found on the net at http://www.thorntons.co.uk/
Please stick around the blog for more. Regular reviews up every Friday and UK candy reviews up on Tuesday, Until next time, why not watch my old review for the Thornton's Vanilla Fondant Mouse.
Friday, June 7, 2013
Awake review
We've got an interesting one up for review today. It's the new caffeinated chocolate bar: Awake.
Walking the Candy Aisle rates Awake - 2 / 5
For more on all things Awake please check out their website http://www.awakechocolate.com/. Let me know what ou think about caffeine infused chocolate in the comments.
Walking the Candy Aisle rates Awake - 2 / 5
For more on all things Awake please check out their website http://www.awakechocolate.com/. Let me know what ou think about caffeine infused chocolate in the comments.
Thursday, June 6, 2013
M&Ms ads - the 90s
A few weeks ago I posted a long and involved post talking about some of the evolution of M&M advertising on television. I encourage you to go read that post first. It was really fun writing the post since I got to parse through a ton of my favorite old M&M ads. Today I thought I'd follow up with the next part of the story and have a look at the more modern M&M ads of the 90s.
M&Ms themselves are really fascinating, and the ads have gone through a lot of changes over the years. But the 90s are characterized by some really dense advertizing. The M&Ms were becoming legitimate stars in their own right, and the advertizing and products went in a number of interesting directions. When last we left off the year was 1992 and M&M had just celebrated their 50th anniversary, and introduced both Peanut Butter and Almond varieties. And just to note the ads I'm really talking about here are all centered around the M&Ms characters, not the commercials with just humans :)
As I said, M&Ms were so popular now that they really seem to have had multiple ad campaigns running concurrently. In some cases you could still find old 80s style M&M commercials featuring M&Ms in pure cartoon settings.
But M&Ms also in the late 80s into the early 90s created a lot of commercials without their mascots entirely. I'm not sure if these were meant to appeal more to adults since they obviously at some point realized the true value of the mascots and basically stopped doing commercials without them, but its interesting nonetheless.
Additionally they made the big transition around this era. It was becoming more and more common to see the M&Ms interacting with real humans. And often not just any humans but celebrities.
That's Daisy Fuentes, model and MTV VJ.
And the incomparable Robert Pastorelli of Murphy Brown fame.
Also since I forgot to mention it earlier M&Ms started featuring Christmas and Easter seasonal bags in 1986. They had pastel colored seasonal M&Ms for Easter-time, and red and green for Xmas.
And...
Here's my absolute favorite Christmas one :)
Probably the next big innovation to M&Ms came in 1995 when they ran a campaign to vote on the next new color of M&M to be introduced.
The vote was actually to replace the tan colored M&Ms which were being discontinued. As you can see from the funny ads below featuring Wings star Steven Weber and the M&Ms the winner was a new favorite of mine, Blue.
And here's another funny one.
Interesting as far as I can tell Blue was not as of yet associated with a specific flavor, unless it was Almond. Its hard to determine exactly when that happened.Currently all of the different M&M colors are associated with certain flavors, but I don't think that was always the case.
Moving on though, in 1996 M&Ms decided to branch out again, this time with M&M minis.
These little guys have been giving Red and yellow a hard time ever since.Its funny, the Minis are kind of like a cross between a swarm of kiler bees and a crazed Looney Tunes character.
Here's a great example of the kind of pranks the Minis pull.
And I know this is skipping ahead a bit but I love these Mini commercials from the early 2000s as well and they fit into this same category :)
Yeah, of course Red rides the bus.
I LOVE this one. Talk about Looney Tunes!
And of course this is a great example of Red and Yellow just getting tossed around. Pretty typical stuff for the era.
Now it gets a bit tricky around this part but by the late 90s both Ms Green and Orange had also been established as M&M personalities. Unlike Blue these were soft and ongoing changes to character since both colors had been around for quite a while.
Starting with Green, lets have a look at some of her early appearances. She is of course the first woman M&M and they really played up the sexy angle. I mean A LOT.
She's also always had a real air of celebrity to her.
Was that inappropriate? I'm honestly not sure how to take it. Now I know this one is from much more recently, but how about this...
And then of course there's this one final one, my personal favorite.
Now that's pretty funny.
When Green was introduced she was associated loosely with Dark Chocolate, but now she reps for Peanut Butter, Mint, and Coconut. Although with that I have to wonder why Orange isn't on Peanut Butter anymore?
Orange on the other hand is the neurotic part of the M&M gang. He got a personality pretty early on but it wasn't until the introduction of Crispy M&Ms in 1999 that he found a calling and got his own full ad campaign. Here's a great ad with Orange and Halle Berry.
Love it. This guys always cracked me up and I wish they would've found more for him to do in those early days. While I liked Crispy M&Ms (they were discontinued Stateside in 2005) after the initial burst there wasn't much advertizing support for them. And so it wasn't until Pretzel M&Ms came along much later that Orange got a chance to shine again. For now though lets look at a few more ads featuring Orange from the late 90s.
Talk about neurotic.
That's another really fun one. And finally lets have one with your friend and mine Patrick Warburton.
Oh Puddy...
As the M&Ms launched into the 2000s they were of course the official spokescandy of the Millenium. And yes they may have been a bit early on it...
And what do the M&Ms get paid anyhow?
Oh Red and Yellow... you really can't help but love these guys. By this point they've fully developed the Laurel and Hardy routine and are just riffing some great jokes.
And once the M&Ms got into the new Millennium properly things got even bigger for them. While other companies like MacDonalds the cereal companies had tougher and tougher times selling the public on their cutesy characters, M&Ms simply didn't. Their focus on fun, and funny irreverant evolving humor made them stand out and become even bigger stars that any reasonable person would've thought possible. These guys are up there with the biggest spokespeople in the world, and its great to see how they continue to work in a modern setting.
Next time we'll delve into the M&Ms megastardom of the 2000s. Until then, lets not forget how great the candy actually is. Great candy and some stellar advertizing. Its certainly a winning combination.
M&Ms themselves are really fascinating, and the ads have gone through a lot of changes over the years. But the 90s are characterized by some really dense advertizing. The M&Ms were becoming legitimate stars in their own right, and the advertizing and products went in a number of interesting directions. When last we left off the year was 1992 and M&M had just celebrated their 50th anniversary, and introduced both Peanut Butter and Almond varieties. And just to note the ads I'm really talking about here are all centered around the M&Ms characters, not the commercials with just humans :)
As I said, M&Ms were so popular now that they really seem to have had multiple ad campaigns running concurrently. In some cases you could still find old 80s style M&M commercials featuring M&Ms in pure cartoon settings.
But M&Ms also in the late 80s into the early 90s created a lot of commercials without their mascots entirely. I'm not sure if these were meant to appeal more to adults since they obviously at some point realized the true value of the mascots and basically stopped doing commercials without them, but its interesting nonetheless.
Additionally they made the big transition around this era. It was becoming more and more common to see the M&Ms interacting with real humans. And often not just any humans but celebrities.
That's Daisy Fuentes, model and MTV VJ.
And the incomparable Robert Pastorelli of Murphy Brown fame.
Also since I forgot to mention it earlier M&Ms started featuring Christmas and Easter seasonal bags in 1986. They had pastel colored seasonal M&Ms for Easter-time, and red and green for Xmas.
And...
Here's my absolute favorite Christmas one :)
Probably the next big innovation to M&Ms came in 1995 when they ran a campaign to vote on the next new color of M&M to be introduced.
The vote was actually to replace the tan colored M&Ms which were being discontinued. As you can see from the funny ads below featuring Wings star Steven Weber and the M&Ms the winner was a new favorite of mine, Blue.
And here's another funny one.
Interesting as far as I can tell Blue was not as of yet associated with a specific flavor, unless it was Almond. Its hard to determine exactly when that happened.Currently all of the different M&M colors are associated with certain flavors, but I don't think that was always the case.
Moving on though, in 1996 M&Ms decided to branch out again, this time with M&M minis.
These little guys have been giving Red and yellow a hard time ever since.Its funny, the Minis are kind of like a cross between a swarm of kiler bees and a crazed Looney Tunes character.
Here's a great example of the kind of pranks the Minis pull.
And I know this is skipping ahead a bit but I love these Mini commercials from the early 2000s as well and they fit into this same category :)
Yeah, of course Red rides the bus.
I LOVE this one. Talk about Looney Tunes!
And of course this is a great example of Red and Yellow just getting tossed around. Pretty typical stuff for the era.
Now it gets a bit tricky around this part but by the late 90s both Ms Green and Orange had also been established as M&M personalities. Unlike Blue these were soft and ongoing changes to character since both colors had been around for quite a while.
Starting with Green, lets have a look at some of her early appearances. She is of course the first woman M&M and they really played up the sexy angle. I mean A LOT.
She's also always had a real air of celebrity to her.
Was that inappropriate? I'm honestly not sure how to take it. Now I know this one is from much more recently, but how about this...
And then of course there's this one final one, my personal favorite.
Now that's pretty funny.
When Green was introduced she was associated loosely with Dark Chocolate, but now she reps for Peanut Butter, Mint, and Coconut. Although with that I have to wonder why Orange isn't on Peanut Butter anymore?
Orange on the other hand is the neurotic part of the M&M gang. He got a personality pretty early on but it wasn't until the introduction of Crispy M&Ms in 1999 that he found a calling and got his own full ad campaign. Here's a great ad with Orange and Halle Berry.
Love it. This guys always cracked me up and I wish they would've found more for him to do in those early days. While I liked Crispy M&Ms (they were discontinued Stateside in 2005) after the initial burst there wasn't much advertizing support for them. And so it wasn't until Pretzel M&Ms came along much later that Orange got a chance to shine again. For now though lets look at a few more ads featuring Orange from the late 90s.
Talk about neurotic.
That's another really fun one. And finally lets have one with your friend and mine Patrick Warburton.
Oh Puddy...
As the M&Ms launched into the 2000s they were of course the official spokescandy of the Millenium. And yes they may have been a bit early on it...
And what do the M&Ms get paid anyhow?
Oh Red and Yellow... you really can't help but love these guys. By this point they've fully developed the Laurel and Hardy routine and are just riffing some great jokes.
And once the M&Ms got into the new Millennium properly things got even bigger for them. While other companies like MacDonalds the cereal companies had tougher and tougher times selling the public on their cutesy characters, M&Ms simply didn't. Their focus on fun, and funny irreverant evolving humor made them stand out and become even bigger stars that any reasonable person would've thought possible. These guys are up there with the biggest spokespeople in the world, and its great to see how they continue to work in a modern setting.
Next time we'll delve into the M&Ms megastardom of the 2000s. Until then, lets not forget how great the candy actually is. Great candy and some stellar advertizing. Its certainly a winning combination.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Starbar review
Today we continue our look at UK candy with the Starbar.
Walking the Candy Aisle rates Starbar - 5 / 5
This is a fantastic candy bar and I think everyone ought to give it a shot. For more on the Starbar please visit Cadbury's page dedicated to the bar right here.
Walking the Candy Aisle rates Starbar - 5 / 5
This is a fantastic candy bar and I think everyone ought to give it a shot. For more on the Starbar please visit Cadbury's page dedicated to the bar right here.
Friday, May 31, 2013
Ferrero Garden coconut review
And again we come back with another entry into the Ferrero pantheon. Today we're having a look at the Ferrero Garden coconut.
Walking the Candy Aisle rates Ferrero Garden coconut - 4 / 5
For more on Ferrero please visit them online at , http://www.ferrero.com/ and as always for more from us here please check out our Reviews Page.
And don't forget to check out our reviews for the Ferrero Rocher, and the Ferrero Rond Noir specifically!
Walking the Candy Aisle rates Ferrero Garden coconut - 4 / 5
For more on Ferrero please visit them online at , http://www.ferrero.com/ and as always for more from us here please check out our Reviews Page.
And don't forget to check out our reviews for the Ferrero Rocher, and the Ferrero Rond Noir specifically!
Thursday, May 30, 2013
The Big Bar Line Up - Lindt
Today we're continuing our look at some of the Big Bars you'll find in your local supermarket. These are the "premium" chocolate bars that you'll see beside the everyday chocolate bars. Here in Canada Lindt is undoubtedly the best represented company in the Big Bar section. There are A LOT of Lindt chocolates here, and that is probably because they really don't have any standard size chocolate bars. Besides their copious entries into the seasonal chocolate realm if you want to eat some Lindt chocolate going into the Big Bar area of your store will be the only way to do it.
So with that said let's have a look at what Lindt has to offer. And we'l start with the standard straightforward Swiss Classic line.
These three bars under the Classic branding form what I'd say is the core for Lindt's line up. Milk chocolate, milk chocolate with hazelnuts, and white chocolate. Its simple direct packaging and I like it, but there is one fun alternative available as well.
Here we have the Lindt standard dark chocolate packaging, and this is my absolute favorite package in their line. It looks like something I might find a golden ticket inside. Just elegant, and sophisticated. Almost like a bank note, or some prestigious certificate. Nice job on this al around.
The milk chocolate, and milk chocolate with hazelnuts also both come in a 300 gram size. Another good idea. I like the fact that this also makes no bones about the nuts. These are whole roasted hazelnuts; this is serious business.
Next we'll move onto the Lindt main flavor line. These bard fall under the Excellence brand and will certainly have some of most people favorites. I'll say there are so many here that at the least you can't look at them and not be fascinated to try some of them. I mean we've probably all tried Mint chocolate, but how many of us have delved into chili chocolates?
So here we start with the simplest of bars. Extra Creamy Milk Chocolate, as well as Milk and Dark Almond, and Crunchy Caramel. Note the packaging, including color and font differences between the Milk and Dark Roasted Almond varieties. And I have to say I love the way the splash the crunchy caramel behind the bar on the label. Very appealing. Very eye-catching.
Now we've got the "Intense" flavors...
Now here's a case where I should have read the back of the packaging. I haven't confirmed it but I have to assume that these chocolate are actually from Ecuador and Madagascar. What that means specifically to the taste.. well I don't know. They both have rich soil and are known for Coffee and other delicious treats Although I didn't think there was too much industry on Madagascar I would suppose they've got good crops of cocoa. I'm not sure... do you think people out there, I mean the connoisseurs would have a particular favorite country? I'm certainly not educated enough on this stuf to know.
Moving down the Excellence line we finally come to the selection of Dark Chocolate. Well the stand alone dark chocolate at least.
Doesn't 90% seem like overkill on the Dark Chocolate? I know my mom eats a square of dark chocolate everyday for her... is it heart or blood pressure... anyhow there are people out there who must want this or they wouldn't make 4 different skus for it. Still, I feel so out of the loop on the Dark Chocolate train that I'll have to just say this seems like an awful lot, but I suppose they wouldn't keep it around if it didn't sell.
Lindt's next biggest line up is their Creation brand.
Everyone loves Chocolate Mousse right? I have actually had the milk chocolate version of this bar, and I have to say, it is absolutely fantastic! Interestingly the Milk Chocolate Mousse also comes in an alternate packaging under the Petit Desserts brand. My guess is that this was an old brand name since it was the only iteration in the line up.
Two more entries into the Creation line round out the selection.
I like that these two exist. Creme Brule is a great dessert that doesn't get enough press. People even know Flan more than Creme Brule and I'd put it up against that garbage anyday. Even most Dulce Leche or Tiramisu cakes really.
Moving on to the last few imprints from Lindt we come to the 150 gram Les Grandes line.
Here we find Almond as well has Hazelnut Milk, and Hazelnut Dark. These are Grandes not only because of their size, but also the amount of nuts. So this is where you go if you find your Swiss Classic is a little too light on the nuts for your tastes. These bars seem like they're for serious chocolate and nut fanatics.
Onto the Passion line up.
Now these two have me a little baffled. They are complicated blends, especially the Nougat Latte Macchiato and to me at least the packaging suggests that this is for a different audience than the other bars, but why exactly? I mean did Lindt want something more... Starbucks friendly? more earthy? More refined? We all know they've got great chocolate, it seems to me this branding is all about marketing. That said, I wonder if the look might throw some people off. Actually seeing the bar is a bit weird for Lindt, and the colors are sure to rub the average supermarket consumer wrong. Maybe it really is designed for the coffee shop... that's all I can think of here.
Finally we come to the last entry into Lindt's extensive line up of big bars, and it is of course the bar form of Lindt's most popular confection the Lindor.
I'd be interested in seeing some of the other Lindors transformed into bars as well, but for now this will have to suffice.
So this is pretty good stuff.all around. As you can see Lindt is VERY busy in the aisle with their big bar line up. Looking on the Lindt USA website I see that there are a few selections listed there that I did not see in the aisle, including: Sweet Dark Chocolate, A Touch of Vanilla, Toffee Crunch, a Dark Coconut bar, a Dark Strawberry, an actual Cocoa Nut bar, a 99% Dark Chocolate bar and more...
Could this be a case of over-saturation? It seems like a lot to me, but hey I suppose they wouldn't keep it up if they didn't keep selling.
I'll be back soon with another look at the Big Bar Line Ups.
So with that said let's have a look at what Lindt has to offer. And we'l start with the standard straightforward Swiss Classic line.
These three bars under the Classic branding form what I'd say is the core for Lindt's line up. Milk chocolate, milk chocolate with hazelnuts, and white chocolate. Its simple direct packaging and I like it, but there is one fun alternative available as well.
Here we have the Lindt standard dark chocolate packaging, and this is my absolute favorite package in their line. It looks like something I might find a golden ticket inside. Just elegant, and sophisticated. Almost like a bank note, or some prestigious certificate. Nice job on this al around.
The milk chocolate, and milk chocolate with hazelnuts also both come in a 300 gram size. Another good idea. I like the fact that this also makes no bones about the nuts. These are whole roasted hazelnuts; this is serious business.
Next we'll move onto the Lindt main flavor line. These bard fall under the Excellence brand and will certainly have some of most people favorites. I'll say there are so many here that at the least you can't look at them and not be fascinated to try some of them. I mean we've probably all tried Mint chocolate, but how many of us have delved into chili chocolates?
So here we start with the simplest of bars. Extra Creamy Milk Chocolate, as well as Milk and Dark Almond, and Crunchy Caramel. Note the packaging, including color and font differences between the Milk and Dark Roasted Almond varieties. And I have to say I love the way the splash the crunchy caramel behind the bar on the label. Very appealing. Very eye-catching.
Now we've got the "Intense" flavors...
Other than the mint these flavors all heavily feature a sour or tart element. And Mint is intense in its own way.I'm interested that they don't have a Lemon or Lime in here, I bet they would do well among the Cranberry and Orange.
Here are a few other very interesting flavors. I'm definitely a fan of the Sea Salt. No I haven't tried it before, but its one of those things that I bet would be great. Like remember when there wasn't such a thing as Sea Salt (or Salt and Pepper) flavored chips? When they were first introduced I know I thought it was crazy... but then once I tried it, everything came crashing into focus. Of course its a great idea. And I suspect balancing the sweet chocolate with a salt would work too.White chocolate with Strawberry is also a great idea. Strawberry goes great with chocolate and is hardly ever featured in bars.
Now here's a case where I should have read the back of the packaging. I haven't confirmed it but I have to assume that these chocolate are actually from Ecuador and Madagascar. What that means specifically to the taste.. well I don't know. They both have rich soil and are known for Coffee and other delicious treats Although I didn't think there was too much industry on Madagascar I would suppose they've got good crops of cocoa. I'm not sure... do you think people out there, I mean the connoisseurs would have a particular favorite country? I'm certainly not educated enough on this stuf to know.
Moving down the Excellence line we finally come to the selection of Dark Chocolate. Well the stand alone dark chocolate at least.
Doesn't 90% seem like overkill on the Dark Chocolate? I know my mom eats a square of dark chocolate everyday for her... is it heart or blood pressure... anyhow there are people out there who must want this or they wouldn't make 4 different skus for it. Still, I feel so out of the loop on the Dark Chocolate train that I'll have to just say this seems like an awful lot, but I suppose they wouldn't keep it around if it didn't sell.
Lindt's next biggest line up is their Creation brand.
Everyone loves Chocolate Mousse right? I have actually had the milk chocolate version of this bar, and I have to say, it is absolutely fantastic! Interestingly the Milk Chocolate Mousse also comes in an alternate packaging under the Petit Desserts brand. My guess is that this was an old brand name since it was the only iteration in the line up.
Two more entries into the Creation line round out the selection.
I like that these two exist. Creme Brule is a great dessert that doesn't get enough press. People even know Flan more than Creme Brule and I'd put it up against that garbage anyday. Even most Dulce Leche or Tiramisu cakes really.
Moving on to the last few imprints from Lindt we come to the 150 gram Les Grandes line.
Here we find Almond as well has Hazelnut Milk, and Hazelnut Dark. These are Grandes not only because of their size, but also the amount of nuts. So this is where you go if you find your Swiss Classic is a little too light on the nuts for your tastes. These bars seem like they're for serious chocolate and nut fanatics.
Onto the Passion line up.
Now these two have me a little baffled. They are complicated blends, especially the Nougat Latte Macchiato and to me at least the packaging suggests that this is for a different audience than the other bars, but why exactly? I mean did Lindt want something more... Starbucks friendly? more earthy? More refined? We all know they've got great chocolate, it seems to me this branding is all about marketing. That said, I wonder if the look might throw some people off. Actually seeing the bar is a bit weird for Lindt, and the colors are sure to rub the average supermarket consumer wrong. Maybe it really is designed for the coffee shop... that's all I can think of here.
Finally we come to the last entry into Lindt's extensive line up of big bars, and it is of course the bar form of Lindt's most popular confection the Lindor.
I'd be interested in seeing some of the other Lindors transformed into bars as well, but for now this will have to suffice.
So this is pretty good stuff.all around. As you can see Lindt is VERY busy in the aisle with their big bar line up. Looking on the Lindt USA website I see that there are a few selections listed there that I did not see in the aisle, including: Sweet Dark Chocolate, A Touch of Vanilla, Toffee Crunch, a Dark Coconut bar, a Dark Strawberry, an actual Cocoa Nut bar, a 99% Dark Chocolate bar and more...
Could this be a case of over-saturation? It seems like a lot to me, but hey I suppose they wouldn't keep it up if they didn't keep selling.
I'll be back soon with another look at the Big Bar Line Ups.
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