Hershey Candy

Today's chocolate review is a little different from the norm, in that I'm pretty sure that 100% of people reading this have enjoyed their products before.  Ok, perhaps not enjoyed, but certainly tried!  This chocolate maker needs no introduction.  This is America's default chocolate: Hershey.

I'm including them here for completeness, and because I encountered a lot of Hershey chocolate over Halloween, so I have tried a lot of it recently.  It is pretty much exactly what I remember.

Hershey Kisses

• Air Delight:  "Milk chocolate gently blended into a light, airy texture." Tasting notes: Not good milk chocolate, strange airy texture.
• Special Dark: Tasting notes: Not complex dark chocolate, but decent bitterness to it.  Very creamy for a dark.
• Mint Truffle: "Sweet mint truffle center surrounded by classic Hershey chocolate".  Tasting notes:  Milk chocolate was standard forgettable Hershey, center has minty filling but mostly just sweet.  Not interesting.
• Hugs: “Milk chocolate hugged by sweet white cream. "  Tasting notes: Tasteless milk chocolate, tasteless white milk chocolate, meh.
• Caramel: "Milk Chocolates Filled with Caramel." Tasting notes: Too sweet, poor quality chocolate, meh.

Hershey Bars

• Milk Chocolate with Almonds: Tasting notes: Really, their chocolate is just not good.  Waxy, no chocolate flavor, meh.  At least the mouthfeel is decent?  The almonds were fairly flavorful, and there were a generous amount in the bar.  But this was just not very good.

Hershey Miniatures

• Special Dark: "Mildly sweet chocolate bar".  Tasting notes: Very smooth, fairly chocolatey, but not much going on here.  Not complex.  Slight chemical flavor on the finish. [ "dark"?  Seriously.  This is a very sweet piece of chocolate, no dark chocolate complexity at all.  Pleasant, not offensive, but certainly not dark chocolate. ]
• mr. Goodbar: "Crunchy blend of freshly roasted peanuts and chocolate candy."  Tasting notes: This really had no flavor.  Lots of tiny chunks of peanuts, but no peanut flavor.  Chocolate not creamy or really very good.  These used to be my favorite of all of the miniatures! [ I love all the bits of crunch, but, this is very boring chocolate. ]

Reese's

• Reese's Pieces: "Peanut butter in crunchy candy shell."  Tasting notes: Pretty tasty, I want them in a sundea with hot fudge, peanut butter sauce, and whipped cream though :)
• Reese's Peanut Butter Cups: "Peanut butter surrounded by milk chocolate." Tasting notes: I used to love these.  They still hold a pretty special place in my heart.  Is the peanut butter filling more fillers than peanuts?  Probably.  Is the milk chocolate coating the same generic stuff Hershey uses in all of their products?  Yes. But ... can you really resist the combination of chocolate and peanut butter, even if they aren't exactly high quality?  I can't.  The filling is creamy, has enough peanut butter flavor so that you know what you are eating, and the chocolate, while crappy, combines perfectly.  Sure I'd prefer a higher end version of this, but sometimes, a Reese's peanut butter cup really hits the spot.  And they go great on froyo. [ Yes, low quality ingredients, but totally irresistible! ]
• Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Dark: "Classic peanut butter smothered in rich, dark chocolate".  Tasting notes: I thought this would be good, as I like dark chocolate far more than milk chocolate.  And I enjoyed my last peanut butter cup.  But, this wasn't very good.  The dark chocolate was not complex and it overshadowed the peanut butter, so all you tasted was not very good dark chocoalte.  Meh.

Other Chocolate Candy

Whoppers.

"Malted milk balls covered with a chocolate-flavored coating".

Not very flavorful malted center, crappy milk chocolate coating, very sweet.  I do like how the center melts in your mouth! [  I used to love these, or so I thought.  Hmm.  Again, crappy chocolate coating.  Inside just sweet and not as malty/interesting as i remember ... I thought it disentegrated all interestingly, but this was kinda just boring. ] [ These just are not good! The chocolate was horrible, and the inside was just ... there.  MEH. ]

Take 5.

"A unique taste experience by combining pretzels, caramel, peanuts and peanut butter, and covering it all with chocolate". 

Very crunchy!  But crappy chocolate.  Pretzels were kinda stale tasting.  Didn't really detect much caramel nor peanut butter.  This sounded like a great combo of sweet and salty, but didn't really come through. [ Majority of this bar is just pretzel.  And not goods ones at that.  And then lots of  crappy chocolate.  Not sure where the peanuts, caramel, or peanut butter were.  Sounds good, but isn't. ]

Rolo.

"Chewy caramels in milk chocolate"

Meh, not very good chocolate, not very good caramel.  Do not like.

Almond Joy.

"Coconut and crunchy almonds in creamy milk chocolate."

Milk chocolate coating, sweet mushy coconut inside, almond.  Just kinda sweet, crappy chocolate, almond did have decent flavor.  I’m clearly spoiled by eating macarons. [ Crappy chocolate.  crappy coconut.  just not good at all. ] [ Crappy milk chocolate, gooey coconut that doesn’t taste all that much like coconut, a single almond that doesn’t have much flavor … I want to like this, as I love all the components, but it is just too low quality. ] [ Just mushy coconut filling that isn't that great, cheap chocolate, flavorless nut.  Meh. ]

Heath Bar.

"Toffee coated in milk chocolate."

Very hard to bite into, solid toffee.  Toffee not very flavorful.  Milk chocolate is generic crappy Hershey.  Not very good at at all :( [ Crap chocolate crap toffee.] [ Hard, not very good, meh.  Maybe good crumbled on ice cream? ] [ I adore this mixed into my soft serve ice cream! ]

York Peppermint Patty.

"The cool, refreshing taste of mint dipped in smooth dark chocolate."

I remember loving these when I was younger, I always liked the strong mint taste and the dark chocolate.  But now ... I don't find them minty enough at all.  And the chocolate I thought was super dark is really just mediocre chocolate, without a deep flavor.  Meh to this.

I also used to love freezing these, but, even freezing them doesn't save them for me anymore.

Non-Chocolate Candy

Twizzlers.

"Strawberry flavored licorice twists." 

Chewy texture is nice, but I swear these used to actually be more flavorful, where is the strawberry flavor?

Subsequent notes: They kinda taste like plastic.  But I enjoy the chew.

Jolly Rancher.

• Hard Candy Doubles: orange/green apple.  Tasting notes: not classic jolly rancher shape, this was a round hard candy.  Liked green apple half but not orange.
• Fruit Chews: Tasting notes: tasted like plastic.  Horrible.