A documentation and review of limited time, special edition, or otherwise hard-to-find noms.
Product circa: 2021
An odd but welcome variant of the Starburst candies. These are soft and squishy, as opposed to the hard and chewy original. Their flavors translate well into this new form, whose integrated air bubbles make it all taste almost creamy. A nice try at a new product, though I don't think they were successful.
Product circa: 2018
A whimsical pairing, but nothing much to speak of, here. Half of the pastry is like a traditional Pop-Tarts variety with which we’re all familiar, and the other is a cheese-infused dairy “creme” filling. They go well together, but otherwise this is nothing stellar.
Product circa: 2020
An interesting iteration… I guess it was just a matter of time until these were made.
There is no “cake” in these snack cakes. They consist of brownie bars topped with a small amount of peanut butter and are chocolate-coated. These are also slightly overly sweet. If they had made the brownie more like cake and bumped the peanut butter ratio higher, I think these would have been a hit.
Product circa: 2018 and intermittently after
I’m shocked.
I literally winced as I took my first sip of this, knowing how green apple flavoring is treated in the junk food industry. But I was blown away. Gatorade has kept the level of flavoring to a minimum, and the sweetness is incredibly restrained. In the end, it’s refreshing, delicious… I can’t believe they’ve done it. This might be the first green apple product that has ever been properly good.
Product circa: 2017-2018
As mentioned in my review of the original Mountain Dew Ice, this product is a Mountain Dew-turned clear lemon-lime soda, alongside a dose of caffeine and a bit of 0-calorie sweetener to bring the calories down. This version has the addition of cherry flavoring.
Overall, it’s really not bad. The bitterness of the caffeine and the restrained use of 0-calorie sweetener keep it from being awful. In the end, it tastes like a half-decent cherry lemon-lime soda.
Product circa: 2014 and intermittently after
Nice! A snickers that swaps its nougat for more peanuts. A PayDay wrapped in chocolate. A lean-in to their marketing of Snickers as a cheeky meal replacement. A bit more plain tasting than the original, but heartier and a nice change.
Product circa: 2017
Chocolate cookie, chocolate cream, blob of strawberry creme in the middle. Not bad, but the chocolate overpowers the strawberry. With that said, the chocolate part tastes no worse than it always does.
Product circa: 2022 intermittently after
Instead of caramel like in the original product, there is a “cookie dough flavored creme”. It’s basically frosting, or a very light nougat. If it weren’t for the crunchy and chewy bits of cookie in said creme, you’d barely be able to tell that it was different from the original caramel. Occasionally on the swallow I can detect some vanilla that isn’t in the original.
Product circa: 2021
This was a Walgreens exclusive.
Quite disappointing and lazy. How I would describe these are having a mild barbecue seasoning with a bit of added citric acid and spiciness. The latter two are probably meant to simulate pineapple and habanero chiles, but otherwise they are not there, in terms of flavor.
Product circa: 2025
A cross-branded Dew offered only in a zero-sugar version, which is annoying for me but also not uncommon, these days.
But it must be said that this stuff is pretty impressive; the sucralose/Ace K sweeteners are doing a lot of good work here, and it's one of the better diet drinks I've had in many years. Despite the cute cross-branding, the flavor is uninspired and quite close to Code Red.
