Pop Works & Company Gourmet Popcorn

Pop Works & Company is a mail order gourmet popcorn maker.  Popcorn is my absolute favorite snack item (although I'm pretty particular, I don't like hot, fresh popcorn ... I like it frozen.  It gets more crunchy!).  I like savory popcorn (cheesy, truffle oil, spicy), I like sweet popcorn (caramel, chocolate, peanut butter), and everything in between (kettle).  So, I was excited to try Pop Works offerings.

As far as I can tell, Pop Works does not distribute in any stores.  They make only 3 flavors (Salted Caramel & Fudge, Cookies & Cream, and Birthday Cake), which you can mix and match into a "custom box" of any 3 bags for $15.99, shipped to your door.

Their tag line about sums it up: "crazy good popcorn & it's delivered to your door."  Well, then.  I'll be the judge of that.

All three varieties are very sweet: they have sweet coatings, are then drizzled with more sweet, and then sprinkled with even more sweet.  Yup, these sound right up my alley!  Unfortunately, of the two I tired, neither wowed me.

Cookies & Cream.

"Our Cookies & Cream popcorn is coated in a delicate fudge glaze, powdered with delectable chocolate cookies bits and drizzled with a vanilla cream. Let's just say if this popcorn was a person, you could definitely count on them for some fun and entertainment."

The first variety I tried was the Cookies & Cream.  The kernels were coated in some kind of sweet topping ("delicate fudge glaze"), then rolled in another sweet topping ("delectable chocolate cookie bits"), and then drizzled with white icing ("vanilla cream").  Sounded great, but, didn't quite deliver.

The popcorn was fairly light and airy, despite being well coated.  There was a vague "cookies and cream" sort of taste, but, overall, the flavor was quite muted.  I did not taste the "delicate fudge" much at all, nor did I detect any texture from "cookie bits", and the white drizzle just tasted like generic sweet, not "vanilla cream".

So ... it wasn't bad, but, it certainly didn't scream COOKIES & CREAM.  It didn't leave me yearning for another handful.  It just ... didn't quite satisfy.  And no, putting it into the freezer didn't fix it.

Salted Caramel & Fudge.

"Let's be clear: our Salted Caramel & Fudge popcorn, is AHH-MAZING. Our light and airy popcorn is brushed in a golden caramel glaze, drizzled with decadent fudge and sprinkled with savory salt. This popcorn has just the right amount of a little extra salty zing to balance the decadent sweet."

So I moved on to the Salted Caramel and Fudge.  The popcorn was coated in caramel and drizzled with fudge.  It looked pretty much exactly like the image on the bag (unlike the Cookies & Cream).

The caramel was sweet, the chocolate was, uh, chocolately, and all was about as expected.  Certainly a member of the "salted caramel" rage, although they were more successful than most.  The salt level was amazing, and went nicely with the caramel.

But still, I didn't really care for another bag of this, frozen or not.