Maynards Beanz Sour Patch Kids review

Maynards Beanz Sour Patch Kids are something fun especially if you are a fan of sour patch kids.  Basically they have put Sour Patch Kids into jelly bean form.  Not sure how I feel about squishing kids into jelly bean form but check out the video and see what you think!

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So Sour

How sour is too sour for you??? I've never been a huge seeker of the sour, but I know so many people who are.

Heres a sample of some of the best Sour treats reviewed over on the Walking the Candy Aisle YouTube page - and if you're not subscribed yet, head over there and sign up for new reviews twice weekly!





Even if you're not a regular fan, there's always the exception to the rule, and these are certainly some of the best. Now go get your sour on!

Jelly Belly Ice Shaver and more!

It was just about a year ago that I posted about seeing the Jelly Belly Electric and Manual Ice Shavers in my local Target. Well, now that Summer 2013 is ramping up it looks like the ice shavers are back, and now with accessories! I spotted this at the local Wal-Mart this past weekend.

Interesting that last year they only had the single ice shaver, and now they've got a double, but I think it probably makes more sense if they're trying to sell this as a party novelty. I mean who wouldn't want a Jelly Belly Snow Cone?

Looking at the back we get a few bullet points on the device. Although I see it has two syrup dispensers I don't think you can make two different kinds of snow cones at once.

It wasn't until I went to Target the next day that I actually saw the original single nozzle electric shaver and the old manual shaver... so archaic.

I also saw these at Wal-Mart.

Of course you can buy extra cups sold separately.... sigh. I guess the hard plastic ones with the curly straws are the way to go for long term use; but how on earth are you going to stack those in your cupboard?

Now this is the most interesting thing to me. This is not part of the snow cone experience. This is in fact a way to make Jelly Belly freezies. Or popcicles, or icees, or Mr Freeze, or whatever you call them in your neck of the woods. (I guess here we should call them Lickety Sips (tm)). There were instructions on the inside of the wrapper but since I didn't buy it it I can't be sure of the process. I'd have to guess though that they suggest using the same syrup you make the Snow Cones out of and mix it with water then freeze. I'm interested in this though since I've always been partial to popcicles.

Finally we've got the flavors.

For some reason Wal-Mart didn't have the Berry Blue. I thought perhaps it had been discontinued but the I saw it at Target the next day.

I'd love to see more in this realm. How about some more uniquely Jelly Belly varieties? Where's my Tutti Frutti, wheres my Marshmallow, and yes I'm even saying where is my Buttered Popcorn?

If you start making those then you may just have a sale on your hands. Until then I think I'll keep walking down the aisle.

Aisle Walk Mish Mash

I've got a few random things I wanted to post today. New and interesting always catches my eye and there has been no exception to that since I've been back in Canada. To start there are a few Limited Time items in the aisle... I suppose they're her just for the holidays, so check them out quickly if you're interested.

Yes that is in fact Cinnabon bread! Seems like a great idea, although personally I never go to Cinnabon I know there are a lot of people out there addicted to it so this is probably a win for them. They should sell Cinnabon branded frosting spread as a side for that bread.

This product has me concerned. I feel like I want it to be great. I mean Ritz are great, and fudge is great... so what could possibly go wrong? I suspect everything.

 

And as expected Little Debbie has gotten into the holiday spirit too with these Christmas Snack Cakes. I wonder if these have really been around as long as the dated graphics imply. That seems to be the Little Debbie motif for everything even if its brand new. I will say though that I like the back of the box since it has cut-out gift tags on it. Kinda weird, but maybe works if you're planning on giving a Little Debbie snack cake for Christmas...

Now here we have a bit of an odd, not overly seasonal special edition. You remember what the Aero bar is supposed to look like right? Well if not click here to check out my review from about a month ago. Why the bubbles need to be actual bubbles I'm not sure... Maybe it saves on chocolate overall. I don't think I'm a fan though.

Finally there's this:

That is a whole display case full of Jelly Belly scented air fresheners! Seriously, that's pretty awesome. I totally want my car smelling like Buttered Popcorn!

A Very Licensed Halloween

Every year it seems like there are more and more licensed Halloween products on the market. In a way I can't begrudge them, I mean this is one of the most commercialized holidays of the year in general. Why shouldn't we get Spongebob candy if we want it.... its not like you have to buy it.

For me though I think I'd prefer to stay away from these candies. I personally usually go for the mix bag of mini chocolate bars to give out at the door. Just good classics like Reese's Peanut Butter or something. We'll see what I end up with this year.

Check out some of these licensed Halloween candy bags.

I'm a fan of Angry Birds as much as the next guy, but they are everywhere. Kinda turns me off a bit. I do like the pig in a pumpkin though. When it comes down to it also, these are fruit gummies. No kids wants fruit gummies for Halloween, its about as good as raisins.

Have you all 3-starred the Angry Birds Seasons Halloween levels???

Well here is a variety of licensed characters, appealing to the younger crowd. Dora and Diego have always bothered me but I'm a Spongebob fan, so I guess I'm mixed on this one. Looking at the variety of candy though I have to say I'm impressed. These aren't the stars of your candy haul, but I'm not going to shake my head at a candy bracelet, or some jelly beans.

Ok, so here I do have a problem. Firstly and really most importantly, to the best of my knowledge Bratz are seriously on their way out, you know they jumped the shark when they had the tv show, or was it a movie... Anyhow, I don't know that there's been anything new to come along and fill the tween girl (who still likes dolls) spot but this is definitely passe. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the last Christmas where you even see Bratz.Its all La la Loopsy (sp), and Tinkerbell now. Aside from that little rant (sorry) This candy is so girly wth its branding that its immediately going to annoy boys. I mean they wont throw it away because of it, but even if this is the best candy bracelet ever, boys will be ashamed about enjoying it and quickly hide the packaging. Finally, in all honesty, everyone knows that Ring Pops are just plain stupid.

Spongebob, I'm behind you 100%. Just simple, Spongebob and Patrick, and its chocolate. Probably low quality chocolate, but I think I would enjoy biting Patrick's head off, wouldn't you?


 

I'm not really an Airheads fan, but I did see and love Hotel Transylvania. I think once kids see that film they will really dig it. I like this tie in, I mean it seems kind of random in a way, but I like the fact that Hotel T is branding themselves somewhere, and I think its good for Airheads to get a bit more exposure. Also its new, its hip (theoretically) and if the movie does well with kids then this is perfectly placed to do very well at Halloween.

Finally I know its not candy, but these actual pumpkins are branded with Peanuts characters! That's pretty serious licensing :)

That's all I've got for now, as we get closer to Halloween I may find some more licensed stuff to post. Until then let me know if there's any candy you would buy immediately based on a license? or any you'd avoid?

How about a Hawaiiian Punch?

When I was a kid I loved the Hawaiian Punch commercials. If you don't remember them the little hawiian punch mascot guy, Punchy would ask if you wanted a hawiian punch then when you said yes he would punch you. It always seemed so cool that random acts of violence were being used to sell kids a fruit drink :)

I'm glad to see that Hawaiian Punch brand is not forgotten. Brachs has a line of Hawaiian Punch jelly beans, and I'm glad of it.

And check out the flavor chart, that's some serious business. I think I'd go for Berry Blue Typhoon. its just fun!

I'm looking forward to having these soon. I hope the flavor punches me in the face...

Jelly Belly Ice Shaver in the aisle

So I was perusing my local Target this weekend and what should I see but more Jelly Belly! In fact it was the Jelly Belly ice shaver. for those days when you just can get enough jelly belly, now you can enjoy them in snow cone form.

Sorry for the picture quality here, I had my kid on my shoulders while trying to take these pics.

OK seriously, who's going for the manual when you can have the deluxe electric version?!

Possibly even more exciting than the machine though is the syrup. Oh man, can't you just imagine how sricky sweet these must be. I mean that pure concentrated Jelly Belly flavor! Thats a pretty intense proposition. I remember one time I drank a big bottle of this of Mikes Hard Lemonade before I realized that it was a concentrate.... yes pretty stupid i know but I was also VERY drunk by that point. These would, I'm sure, be amazing on my corn flakes...

 They come in "Very Cherry". "Grape Soda", "Green Apple", "Berry Blue".... AND:

Probably the best idea ever. Why aren't all snow cones cotton candy flavored???

I'd definitely like to see a buttered popcorn syrup too, but for now this will do. Here's a link to where you can get these babies online.

Gimbal's Gourmet Jelly Beans - video review

More delicious jelly beans? Yes! its time to look at Gimbal's Gourmet Jelly Beans.


For more please check out the written review or all of the Candy Aisle reviews on the Reviews Page.

Gimbal's Gourmet Jelly Beans review

After the Jelly Belly review a few weeks ago I've been jonesing for more of those tasty treats, and so today I've got what I'm anticipating is the next best thing. I'm looking at a true competitor to Jelly Belly, its Gimbal's Gourmet Jelly Bean

  

Ok, so lets be fair, "true competitor" is probably too strong a term for these beans. I will be VERY surprised if they are better than Jelly Bellys. That is because Jelly Belly is the king of gourmet jelly beans and literally everything else is just wannabes. So I may have some bias going in, however you know me... I want these to be good. So lets keep our fingers crossed.

Starting with the packing, this is a real conundrum. The bag design: colors, fonts, and graphic layout is awful. What are they thinking?! If it weren't for the fact that I'm actually trying to pay attention here I'd swear this is the generic drug store brand. Gimbals, you need to hire someone who knows how to layout an interesting package, because this is the definition of generic. It really makes me upset to see shuch shoddy work from a company purporting to be legitimate. ok breathe...

Looking at the back is a bit better. Check out all of those flavors!!! 41 in total here, honestly its probably a bit too many to practically enjoy in any discerning way, but I'm impressed that its such a cornucopia of flavors. And some of these flavors just jump out as pretty original:  orange n cream, strawberry cheesecake, french vanilla, ice cream cake, honey, key lime, java, tiramisu, and lemon meringue are all here, alongside the more classic fare. While I suspect many of these flavors are covered somewhere int he Jelly Belly pantheon, they certainly aren't standard in every package. Color me impressed Gimbals. 

AND even cooler, printed right on the back of the package are some recipes!Sure I believe Jelly Belly has these too, maybe even printed on some of their packaging, but I like that Gimbals has it too. I appreciate that 3 of the four recipes are fruit mixes, while the last is pure desert. I bet you can guess which one I'm going to make...

 Finally on the back of the bag is a little note from none other than Lance Gimbal which says "My family's promise for four generations has been to create truly exceptional candies, bursting with flavor in each and every bite. Your satisfaction is guaranteed, - or your money back. Its as simple as that." Well sir, I accept that challenge Mr Gimbal.

Lets get this open and have a look at the beans themselves. Opening the package is great. I seriously love opening candy packages and getting that first smell. Its one of the simple joys in life. Gimbals delivers with a great fruit and sugar smell. Looking at the beans they're about the size of a Jelly Belly and the colors pop. There may be a slightly disproportionate amount of grey, and off-white, but this isn't a bag a rainbows and sunshine skittles here. This is serious. And there are honestlya few oranges and yellows too

The beans generally look great, but a few have some shoddy speckling. Maybe I'm crazy to care about this but on some level it defintiely affects how I think of the candy overall. Check this out.

Here is some really good speckling.

Here is some really bad speckling.

Its pretty obvious when you point it out. Seriously who let the jelly  bean with the massive head wound into the party?! That does not look at all appetising...

That aside lets get into it. The beans themselves taste... honestly great. I am definitely impressed with the flavors here. I started with some of my favorites buttered popcorn, and I'll tell you I can't tell the difference between this and a jelly belly. The popcorn jumps out, and the butter  is smooth. I am definitely a fan.




Some of these flavors as I said as really original. The java is a great one to mention. Its a complex falvor that could easily get lost in the sugar but it doesn't here. It really tastes like a nice sweet coffee flavored jelly bean.Of course I imagine they're really using coffee (to some extent at least) but I'm happy to say that they pulled it off.

 What else, well tasting the fruit flavored beans isa bit of a letdown. I wonder if maybe Gimbals thing is focusing on the more complicated flavors, because crafting something like tiramisu is a real accomplishment, and maybe people don't pay as much attention to something like lemon. With that, I have to say while most of the fruit flavors are passable, there's nothing in them that wows me. Lemon could use more zest, and tangerine could use more punch. Maybe I'm too accustomed to super strong fruit flavor after all the years eating Skittles, but I still feel that I'd like to see more here.

And what about the recipes? Well my plan, as you may have guessed was to make the Sunday Sundae, however I only received a single ice cream cake bean in my bag. It seems like if you're going to promote a recipe on your bag you should definitely make sure the ingredients are contained within.

So instead I went with the Smoothie Blast. While I doubt I'll ever know what the Superfruit Fusion is (that's the blue one) I have to say this overall tasted pretty good. Since I'm so much more of a dessert guy I don't know that I'd go out of my way to make this again, but I think it did the trick and half the fun is in the making of these things so I appreciate that aspect.

Overall I'm impressed with Gimbal's Gourmet Jelly Beans. They have a tough road, living in the shadow of Jelly Belly, and for the most part they cary themselves well. Aside from a few minor gripes, mostly about style and presentation I'm satisfied with these and would happily get them again.

Walking the Candy Aisle rates Gimbal's Gourmet Jelly Beans - 4 / 5

For more on Gimbal's please check out their very nice website at this link. Also it wasn't until just now that I realized that Gimbals is right in my backyard in South San Francisco. Props to them on making some good candy. Maybe I'll go visit them and get some more :)

Jelly Belly Snapple

Here's a quick update to the Jelly Belly post I put up recently. There's a new flavor in the aisle this week, and its based on one of my favorite drinks, Snapple!

Kiwi Strawberry and Mango Madness are quite possibly my two favorite flavors of Snapple so it seems like they chose wisely here. I wonder if they managed to keep the fun facts in there somewhere. It'd be cool if they printed a fun fact on the inside wrapper or something. Probably not, but I know I'd appreciate it.

What other drink lines would you like to see in a Jelly Belly? My vote would be for Orangina, and at Christmas time I'd love to try an egg nog flavor.

Jelly Belly - video review

Another fun mix bag of intense flavors is on deck for review today, let's have a look at Jelly Belly.



For more please read through the written review, or check out all of the Candy Aisle reviews on the Reviews Page.

Jely Belly review

After talking about them earlier this week I just had to get some for myself, welcome to your review for Jelly Belly.

Please note this is a review for the 20 flavor assorted package as seen above. I'm not going to make note of every single bean flavor here. This is an overall review of the product and some general impressions. So lets get to it :)

Looking at the packaging I'm impressed right off, the logo of red and yellow just pop off the bag. And they've taken the explosion of beans you might see on a skittles bag and amped it up. The bean colors and patterns jump off the white background and showcase Jelly Belly in a very good light. I find now looking at this that I have some definitely nostalgia around these beans and this logo. It reminds me of being a kid and what a treat it was to have these.

If for some reason you don't know Jelly Beans are gourmet jelly beans. Smaller in size, and more expensive than traditional jelly beans but packed with real fruit flavors, and hitting on some totally unexpected but delicious flavor combos. Can you think of anything else in the candy aisle that might taste like toasted marshmallow, buttered popcorn, or orange sherbert? Probably not. And so Jelly Belly hits a very nice niche market that they really dominate.

On the back of the packaging we see the flavor chart. All mix packages of Jelly Bellys have this map showing what beans are to be found inside. There are some real standouts in this Assortment too. cotton candy, strawberry jam, buttered popcorn, and toasted marshmallow are all some of my favorites.


While they do feature a disclaimer on the packaging that the "package may not contain every flavor" I have to say I was disappointed to see that my bag had no cotton candy, lemon lime, or sour apple. I kind of feel like an assorted bag should feature at least one bean of every flavor. But they are upfront about it, and its not a dealbreaker by any means.

Here's my breakdown of what I got in this assortment. As you can see, lots of watermelon, and a bunch of red one I couldn't easily classify. One of the odd things about Jelly Bellys is that they don't really smell like anything from the outside. I suppose thats not odd, just surprising since the flavors inside are SO strong.



Ok, lets get into it for realsies. The beans are made well, I love the logo printed on the side, and the speckling on the ones that are patterned. Biting into a jelly belly isn't too dissimilar from any regular jelly bean. They're textured like granulated sugar. With a gummyness that perhaps goes a bit further tan I'd personally like. But you're here for the flavors, and man do they pop. Not quite as intense as say a Starburst or Skittle, these flavors are most impressive because they really live up to their names. Some of these flavors are really complex, and Jelly Belly uniformly pulls it off. Even on a flavor that I don't particularly enjoy, like say watermelon, I have to admit I am impressed with how true this tastes.

Jelly Bellys are a marvel. They are packed with flavor and even though there may be a few misses in this assortment, they are misses because I just don't dig on that particular flavor, the beans themselves are fantastic. I highly recommend you check out some Jelly Bellys in the near future... hasn't it been too long...

Walking the Candy Aisle rates Jelly Belly - 5 / 5

Jelly Belly is a product of the Jelly Belly Candy Company. Find out more about them at http://www.jellybelly.com