The Big Bar Line Up - Remainder

So if you've been following along with my series of posts on Candy Aisle Big Bars you know that we've covered a lot of ground. But there are really SO many more big bars that we could talk about. There are whole blogs out there that deal with this topic. Granted once you pass a certain point it seems like most of the big bars are more for the Fair-Trade, Whole Foods crowd than regular candy aisle walkers like myself. Now I know that there are a lot of chocolates out there for that market and its great, but I'm more interested in the everyday stuff. So what I've gathered here for today's post is a reasonable sampling of some of the remaining big sized candy bars I've seen some-what commonly around town, or at least in regular, popular stores.

I'm interested to know if I'm missing out on the one line of chocolates that I simply must try or at the least should have heard of, so if you've got something that I didn't cover in these posts, please feel free to let me know :)

Lets start with the two 'other' bars that in Canada you'll find everywhere.

Caramilk is fantastic. Just check out my review. So its no wonder that its a staple of the Big Bar section of every store here.

Neilson's Jersey Milk is an interesting one here in Canada. They are a Canadian company that's been around for just over a hundred years. As you might guess from a name like Neilson's Dairy, they make milk, and milk products. In Canada you can find them in the biggest national grocery chain (Loblaws) and these chocolate bars made by them most everywhere else as well. Jersey Milk chocolate is practically a Canadian institution. As a kid these were probably the most prevalent fun size candy in everyone's bag at the end of Halloween night. The company has a longstanding relationship with Cadbury Canada, even owning their Canadian operations for a decade or so. A few of Cadbury's Canadian chocolate bars like Mr. Big and Crispy Crunch even were sold under the Neilson logo for a time. Jersey Milk, along with the others were all sold back to British Cadbury in the late 90s and this bar is now produced by them (only it retains the Neilson branding). I haven't personally had one of these in quite a while, and I'm looking forward to reviewing it soon!

Now these next two are new but they're very heavily "candy bar" influenced, and the kind of thing you'd see in any regular candy aisle, so I thought I should mention them now.

Who knows if wither of these bars will stick around, but I'm interested in trying them. Sometimes the form factor can really matter. I think both of these could be significantly different in this larger form.

Here's a weird one right?! I can't say that I've ever seen a straight up Nestle Dark chocolate bar before... but here it is. Straight from the local dollar store (meaning it could be an import) with honey and almond pieces. Very interesting.

Talk about BIG bars, that's a 400gm bar! Although I'm not familiar with Waterbridge this is one of a few things I saw at Wal-Mart.This is apparently their Belgian style chocolate while this next Mountain Range themed line is Swiss.

I found the Waterbridge Mountain Range line up at my local Lowes and think simply based on packaging alone that I'd prefer to go with it than the Belgian Style ones I saw earlier.

Here we have another Canadian institution found in the Dollarama :( Laura Secord are not known for having big chocolate bars in stores however so I don't feel too bad. Somehow this must have slipped into production and ended up here. Laura Secord is known for having almost boutique 200 chocolate retail locations across Canada. They are a really wonderful very high quality chocolatier perhaps best known for boxed chocolates and I'm certainly planning on getting some of their stuff onto the site here soon!

Here's two that I know virtually nothing about at all... Although that Heritage bar sounds alright. Apparently Jacquot is a very well regarded French chocolate, and the only thing I can see online about Heritage is a listing for something produced by Mars Canada... which doesn't seem like the same thing as this...

Another Dollarama special the Rocher Blanc comes in Milk and Dark and has nice packaging. I believe its French, but can't bank on that.

Cote D'Or is a brand I'm not too familiar with, but I've got something from them in the works for a review soon. All I can say is that I found these two Dark Chocolate beauties at a grocery chain called Metro here in Canada, and I LOVE their little elephant logo. Adorable.

PC is a brand every Canadian will be familiar with. If you want more info just check out this post for some thoughts of mine on the line. Probably not something I'd buy, but I knew this had to exist somewhere...

Next up we're going into the world of Fair-Trade. Here is a line of chocolates that I've been told are very good. This is the Canadian chocolate brand Camino.

I'm not one to go in for Fair-trade stuff too often since I don't feel like I can justifiably afford the cost, but since this is a well respected Canadian brand I thought I should mention them. And hey lets not forget, Cadbury's Dairy Milk is also officially Fair-Trade.

There's are LOTS of environmentally friendly brands out there nowadays. How about these ones:

Endangered Species Chocolates, with the very desirable website http://chocolatebar.com/ have exactly the story you'd expect... 10% of proceeds, all organic, not fair-trade (but this is about the animals not the people or financial equity), and all the other good stuff you want from your socially responsible chocolate company :/

I should probably stop talking about this stuff, since I'm sure to say something to annoy someone.

Of course I skipped a lot of stuff here. It seems like everyone has an in-house brand now as well. Wal-Mart has Great Value which for my money is actually pretty decent chocolate. There's also nationally here in Canada the Carnaby line at Shopper Drug Mart, as well as their lower end Life brand, out west Safeway has their Select Line. And there is Simply Foods, No Name, and you'll even see Milka or big bar Ghiradelli around here sometimes. Really there are about a zillion others, but this is a god enough place to stop.

Before I wrap up I think I should include a few pick ups of brands I've mentioned in earlier Big Bar Line Up posts. Here are some late entries into the Hershey, and Lindt posts.

I'd definitely like to try that Hazelnut Mousse...

So there you have it. Big Bar chocolates are interesting and a world I haven't really delved too deeply in. Frankly taking these photos for this series of posts is probably the most I've looked at them in my life. There are just too many other things to get done and if I'm personally buying a chocolate I know I'd rather go for a standard chocolate bar. Less cost, less size, better value on the spot.

For those interested though, maybe I should make a few exceptions and start reviewing a couple of these... especially the more 'candy bar' style ones... Let me know what you think and thanks for joining me on this walk down the candy aisle.

Halloween Favorites

Halloween is almost upon us and I realized that I haven't really gotten into my favorites here on the Candy Aisle. Everyone has the candy that makes them happiest and Halloween was like a proving ground for all other times of year. The candy runs the gamut from the absolute best, to the total pits. And the best part about the game is that you have absolutely no control over what you'll end up with. This is a really special time of year, and it should be celebrated.  A few of my favorites are demanding their due, so let's have a look.

Of course I am a sucker for true candy bars. So anyone giving out fun sized chocolate was a winner in my book. I always heard about that mythical house that would give out full sized chocolate bars, but it wasn't in my neighborhood. Some of my friends lived in ritzier places though and I'm sure they saw the full sized Snickers and Mars bars. For me I was just happy to get something Fun Sized!

Snickers and Jersey Milk were the most common, but I was a sucker for anything real and fun sized. Butterfinger and Baby Ruth were always appreciated because for a long time you couldn't get Butterfinger here in Canada, and you still can't get Baby Ruth (except at this time of year). I really liked the mini Snickers as a kid, but thinking about it now I can't say if I'm actually sure they would work with full sized peanuts in such a small bar. Mars bars and 3 Musketeers we're really my favorite fun sized bars. Thankfully these were also both pretty common in my neighborhood of Toronto growing up.

What else struck my fancy? Well chips were always a change of pace. You could never count on getting them. In fact I'm sure there were a few years when I didn't get any chips, but a mini bag of Doritos Cool Ranch would always be appreciated as a break between candy bracelets, and mini chocolates.

Rockets. In the States these are called Smarties. I seriously LOVE these things. They have that sightly sweet and slightly tart taste that was around long before the actual SweetTart candies. They are small, and totally portable, even concealable, in your pocket as you went off the school. Making for a great mid-class snack. And you didn't have to even eat the whole pack at once! In terms of taste, form factor, portability, everything, Rockets are top notch.

Finally you get into the odd man out circumstances. Nowadays no one is going to get kids candy cigarettes (actually while they do still make them they are mostly marketed as candy 'sticks' instead of cigarettes). And Atomic Fireballs are such a hassle to get a hold of compared to other treats that these aren't too common anymore. But these are great examples of the weird and wonderful beauty of Halloween. As a kid you just never knew what you were going to get. It could be a candy, or a chocolate you'd never tried before. As a Canadian, it could excitingly be something that is only available in the States. Or it could just be an old favorite. The possibilities were endless.

There's a simple joy, and wonder in finding out what sort of candy you'll get on Halloween as a kid. Its so exciting, and such an adventure, aside from all the sugar and actually eating everything. For me a huge part of the magic of Halloween was just in the act of trick or treating. It's a great experience, and I definitely hope to continue the tradition with my kids.

Let me know what your favorites were and if you have any fond memories of Halloween nights past :)