Jan 152020
 

My daughter found this candy, I’m not sure where, and gave it to me one day. That’s sweet, and helpful. I need more things to write about after all. I didn’t know Charms made anything other than Blow Pops to be honest. I was always more of a Blow Pop than a Tootsie Pop kid growing up, so I am quite surprised to learn they also make these Minipops. Doing some research, and turns out Charms is owned by Tootsie, and they may lots of different kind of pops. And to think, up until writing this, I believed that there was some deep rivalry between the center-filled-lollipop brands. But, nope, they’re the same company. But now I know and so do you. Now root beer float Minipop…

There’s a mild generic root beer flavor that really doesn’t have any standout characteristics. There’s a bit of spicy and bit of wintergreen, you know, standard hard candy stuff. There’s a distinct lack of strong vanilla in it, which is odd because it’s trying to pass itself off as a root beer float. In fact there’s nothing float about it. It tastes like plain root beer to me.

Yeah, so, this isn’t a root beer float flavor. But, it’s not a bad root beer flavor. So I’ll give it a passing grade (whatever that means in this case). I wouldn’t go seeking it out by any means, but it won’t leave you disappointed if you have it, and that’s really all you can ask for from a root beer (float) lollipop.




Dec 252019
 

Pucker Powder Sweet Root Beer

Last time I was at Blue Sun Soda I noticed this in their candy section. They had little plastic tubes of various sizes where you could fill from the various flavors, including this “Sweet Root Beer”. Pucker powder itself is the creation of Creative Concepts, Inc. Their start was actually dispensers for colored sand in order to make tube art. They expanded the idea to make “interactive candy art”. The idea is the station will have multiple flavors, each of a different color, which you can dispense into your tube to make colorful designs. Then you can eat it because that’s way more fun than mere sand. I think it’s a very cool concept, yet I was only interested in their root beer, so I only got the smallest tube possible and filled it with nothing but that.

It has a chalky texture and is sweet, though not as sweet as I’d expected. It’s a little tart and the root beer flavor is mild and generic and you can’t really make out any specific flavors. It reminds me of my memory of the root beer Bottle Caps I would eat as a child.

This isn’t very good to be honest. I don’t really like the flavor, nor the texture. Maybe some of the other flavors are better, but I didn’t try them. It reminds me of pixie sticks, though a less sweet version of them, which I think actually makes it a bit worse. If you’re the sort of person who loves to consume flavored sugar powder in large quantities though, you may love these. Or if you love to make edible art, you’ll probably not care as much about the flavor and when you need that sort of tan color, you’ll get some of this. I’m not really in either camp so I’ll pass on the whole thing in the future.




Dec 182019
 

A&W Licorice

I am still burning through my Minnesota’s Largest Candy Store stock, though I’m almost done. These root beer licorice twists are also made by Kenny’s Candy, makers of the other, not-so-good licorice twists. These ones I assume are their premium variety, as they are actually packaged for sale outside of dedicated candy stores and they are sporting the flavor and branding of the most recognizable root beer brand on the planet. They also really hide who makes these, as you have to search deep in the fine print on the packaging to find out. I’m sure they’d want these to just be known as A&W Root Beer Licorice but I’m a stickler for calling them by who makes them. Anyways, I still like licorice and I quite enjoy A&W, so hopefully this time they will pull it off?

There’s a sweet, spiced root beer flavor that is not unlike A&W though the vanilla is missing. The flavor is still pretty mild but it is distinct enough that you don’t question you’re eating something There’s a waxy texture almost, so they are slipperier than other licorice I’m used to.

All in all they’re not bad, and far better then the other Kenny’s root beer licorice. I’m not sure I’d go so far as to seek them out, but they are enjoyable enough if they’re around. So, really, a step in the right direction, but I’m still searching for a better root beer licorice.