Kit Kat Blueberry Muffin

 

Product circa: 2022

I like almost all food, but many folks are surprised to hear that I don’t like blueberries, or really any food/candy that they’re in.  I guess it’s a strange dislike to have.

With that said, this candy is impressive and delicious.  They’ve used white chocolate instead of milk/dark, thank goodness.  Upon opening the wrapper, you’ll see that the white chocolate is visually tinged with blue/purple, and olfactorily tinged with a fragrant blueberry smell.

The taste has the perfect amount of blueberry flavoring in the chocolate, and a natural flavor at that, which is not often found with blueberry products.  The wafer of the Kit Kat also has what I might deem as cinnamon added to it.  At the very least, it is not quite the regular Kit Kat wafer in this.

Anyway, this is good as hell, my own preferences notwithstanding. 

Snickers Cinnamon Bun

Product circa: 2021

Fun fact: when it comes to cinnamon buns, the distinct taste we know and love is arguably more about vanilla than actual cinnamon.

Well, Snickers took that tack here.  The only change to this product is that the nougat is more heavily flavored with vanilla, with only the slightest bit of cinnamon flavor.  If you ate this without a wrapper, you might have a hard time knowing it’s not an original Snickers.

Tic Tac Coca-Cola & Sprite

Products circa: 2019 & 2023, and intermittently after

For ages the only flavors of Tic Tac were various minty ones, and orange.  But over the last decade, they have started marketing more flavors, most of them fruity.  A few of them cross over into odd cross-branded promotions, like these. 

Coca-Cola - Using the same flavoring utilized by cola-flavored candy, this flavor goes quite well with the Tic Tac candy base.  After some moments, the candies take on a strange perfumey taste, which I don't hate, but is likely very polarizing.  Also the adorable Coca-cola logo on each candy is overkill, but an impressive attention to detail.

Sprite - These tastes immediately of a flavor recognizable as "lemon-lime", but in this case it reminds me more of Gatorade than Sprite.  However, quite quickly these become intensely bitter, almost as if the candy is trying to simulate citrus pith.  If so, that would be impressive, but in the end, these are very unpleasant. 

Reese's Oreo & Oreo Reese's

Product circa: 2025

The meta shit here is really getting screwy.  The brands are getting cheeky with it, and I'm here for it.

Reese's Oreo - A Reese's cup, half of whose chocolate is "white creme" in the style of Oreo, with Oreo cookie bits embedded in the peanut butter filling.  While the white creme is likely just white chocolate, upon the bite I find that it really doesn't taste much different than the original peanut butter cup.  The Oreo bits add a nice crunch, but on the whole, this snack is perilously close to the taste and experience of the original.

Oreo Reese's - A completely different conclusion than the one above.  Allegedly regular Oreo cookies with a peanut butter filling that is mixed with Oreo cookie crumbs/dust, much like the Cookies & Cream Oreos of old.  As coincidence would have it, I just so happen to have regular Peanut Butter Oreos on hand to compare.  The cream for this product is not the same as the PB Oreos; both my tongue and logic would say that this product's creme is more like Reese's, which is to say crumbly and salty.  It feels softer and fattier as well.  Along with the Oreo crumbs, it's delicious, much better than the PB Oreos.  The cookie is where these truly stand out: they are more brittle and less crunchy than your average Oreo cookie, in a way that is very pleasing to eat.  I find myself reaching for more in a fashion that I don't do with regular ones.  This product is special. 

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Mallow-Top

Product circa: spring 2021

The top layer of chocolate is white, but it's hard to tell if it’s white chocolate or something else.  The bite is notably different than the original.  It's hard to discern a marshmallow flavor present, but otherwise it's very tasty.  What an odd snack.  

Doritos 3D Crunch Chili Cheese Nacho

Product circa: 2022

These are a "re-release" of the original Doritos 3D from 1998.  I indubitably remember the originals from 1998, and these are completely different.

The originals were indeed tortilla chips that were somehow inflated during the cooking process, and the texture was sublime.

This version is more of a corn snack than a tortilla chip - think the texture of Bugles.  With that said, these are tasty.  The texture in the mouth is very pleasant, and the cheese flavor is good.  There isn't a heavy hand with the "chili" seasoning. 

 

Lay's Cheetos (potato chips)

Product circa: 2021 and intermittently after

These indeed have the same seasoning on them as Cheetos snacks.  Unfortunately, the seasoning isn’t nearly as good on potato chips.  It’s that simple.

 

Lay's Doritos Cool Ranch

Product circa: 2021

Eating these has made me realize that Doritos tend to have way more seasoning powder on them than potato chips.

So these are potato chips with light Cool Ranch seasoning.  Not bad.  The seasoning seems to compliment the tortilla chips more.

New Coke Re-release 2019

 

Waffles & Syrup Oreo

Product circa: 2017

Fun!

The cookies here have an amped up vanilla plus a little other something that’s hard to detect.  The creme has a bit in the middle that’s flavored with maple sugar/syrup.  It’s a good attempt overall, but unfortunately, my personal tastes come into play, as I don’t love maple.

Mountain Dew Game Fuel 2014

 

Product circa: 2014

Commemorating the release of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

This stuff is pretty simple, it's like a half-and-half mix of original Dew and lemonade... really low quality lemonade. 

Neapolitan Oreo

Product circa: 2022

Really glad they decided to put all 3 flavors into each cookie sandwich.  That’s definitely in the spirit of the “big reaches” that Oreo usually pulls off.

This is delicious.  There’s something about all 3 cremes together that really result in something complex.  Add to that the slightly-cinnamon and tons-of-vanilla cookies, and in the end, this is a really special product.  This is one that they should make permanent.  And surprisingly, I'm not too bothered by the overload of creme, here.

Milky Way Cookie Dough

Product circa: 2022

Supposedly there is cookie dough-flavored nougat in this, but I honestly don't taste a difference between this and the original. 

Reese's Potato Chips Big Cup

Product circa: 2020 and intermittently after

I suppose this is the natural evolution of the Reese’s Cup.  With Reese's being the champion of the cross-play of salty & sweet, the logical next step is to make it saltier, as I imagine making it sweeter isn’t a great idea.

The result is a truly decadent snack.  Sodium and sugar levels are off the chart as this somehow manages to be even more unhealthy than the original.  The additional salt is not unwelcome; it’s novel, and even enjoyable.  As for the crunch, I don’t think it adds much for me, but I’m sure many would love it.

Pumpkin Spice Oreo

Product circa: 2014 and intermittently after

Golden Oreo cookies with pumpkin spice-flavored creme.  Honestly, the flavoring here is probably the same bulk generic pumpkin spice flavoring used for every confection on store shelves that boasts the same name.  It’s lazy and, frankly, not stellar.

Sprite Tropical Mix

Product circa: Intermittent

Some folks may not realize this, but this is basically a reincarnation of Sprite’s Tropical Remix from the early 2000s.  There were 2 Tropical Remixes and, frankly, this Tropical Mix might be a mixture of the 2.

The copy says pineapple and strawberry are the main flavors, here.  I would say... pineapple, definitely; mango, probably; orange, probably.  The strawberry brings up the rear and is subtle.

This stuff is great.  It's a satisfying spiritual successor to the Tropical Remixes.  It's fantastic that Coke has made this available, and seemingly it is now a semi-permanent product.  Color this reviewer happy.

Coffee Nut & Honey Nut M&M's

Products circa: 2016

Coffee Nut - A fun variation!  There's a slight coffee note in the chocolate… It’s almost like I forget I’m eating an M&M and not a chocolate covered espresso bean.

Honey Nut - It's hard to tell exactly what they did here.  Honey flavored snacks usually don’t taste like honey, do they?  They added a caramel-like flavor that makes the nuts taste more nutty, somehow.  This is what normal peanut M&Ms should taste like

Mountain Dew VooDEW 2021

Product circa: 2021

Supposedly this was flavored like "fruit candy chews".

Ends up tasting like some sort of berry lemonade, like many other Dews have in the past.  I can taste lemon Starbursts if I try hard enough.  With that said, it’s well balanced and delicious.

Reese's Outrageous!

Product circa: 2017

A variation on Nutrageous!, which has always been one of my favorites.

This version is simply Reese’s peanut butter, rolled in Reese’s Pieces, and then covered in chocolate.

I’m not even a fan of Reese’s Pieces, but I really like this.  Whereas I’m used to the crunch of peanuts in a candy bar that looks like this, this one instead is soft, almost brittle.  The taste of the peanut butter “creme” in the Pieces is drowned out by the Reese’s peanut butter next to it, and in the end, it’s a real joy to eat.
 

Diet Coke Flavors 2018

Products circa: 2018

In 2018, Coke released a bevy of flavors for their Diet Coke line.  Definitely an odd choice, as Coke Zero (Sugar) had been out for a long time by then, and I'm pretty sure it was the more popular 0-calorie product.  But with that said, some 20 years ago Coke experimented with both Lemon and Lime variations of Diet Coke, and I've heard die-hards talk about both of them ever since; they should really re-release those to see how they perform.

Twisted Mango - A very light mango taste added to the original, whose mild tartness somehow makes the mix taste less sweet than the original.  Refreshing, even.  Nice.

Feisty Cherry - A cherry flavor that is dry and not overly sweet.  Bordering on peppery, like a black cherry.  Interesting, but not my cup of tea.

Ginger Lime - Dry ginger, like a ginger ale, and a dry tart lime.  Refreshing, like the mango above.

Zesty Blood Orange - Light tart orange, and it really goes great with the Diet Coke formula.  Definitely the best of the bunch. 

Overall, I'm pretty impressed with the lot, mainly because they seemed to realize that the sweetness needed to be restrained.  Impressive!  But we'll definitely never see these again.

Key Lime Pie Oreo

Product circa: 2015

The green-filling-on-vanilla-cookie aesthetic alone is worth the trouble for this one!

Unfortunately, that’s where the novelty ends.  Natural citrus flavoring is inherently volatile, and cannot survive the industrial processing and shelf-life required for mass-produced snacks like these.

As a result, these are flavored with the same flavoring that you’d find in a lime lollipop, which really tastes nothing like lime, much less key lime.  It’s disappointing because the food scientists set out making this product probably knowing that their attempt would be a sham
 

3 Musketeers Hot Cocoa with Marshmallow (ULTRA THROWBACK)

 

Product circa: 2013 and 2015 

Cute little fun-size-only candy bars that popped up a few times in the 2010s.

As perhaps could be expected, the only difference here is that the nougat has slightly more chocolate flavor than usual.  I was hoping that these would nail the “cereal marshmallow” flavor that some snacks have been able to do, but they do not.  With that said, they’re just as delicious as the original.

Lay's Cheesy Buffalo Dip, Loaded Nachos, and Hot Sauce Potato Chips

 

Products circa: autumn 2025

 

As NFL season 2025-2026 is upon us, Lay's released these 3 new varieties.

 

Cheesy Buffalo Dip - A fairly simple experience.  Ultimately, the chile flavor isn't very detectable, and the heat is quite modest, and so these end up tasting like cheesy chips with a significant zing of acid.  I wouldn't reach for these again.

 

Loaded Nachos - A hodge podge of typical seasonings all thrown together.  The cheese is well tempered by a mix of savory flavors like onion, garlic, cumin, and coriander.  It tastes like a muted taco meat seasoning.  There is also jalapeno and bell pepper powder here, which I always enjoy.  There's a bit of heat that will trail at the end, as well.  But overall, all the flavors are quite muted.

 

Hot Sauce - A very well done simulacrum of hot sauce.  Heavy on vinegar, heavy on chile, which occasionally tastes like Tabasco, though I doubt they used fermented chiles in this.  I swear they used a bit of cheese powder to make these taste a bit creamy, but it's not in the ingredients list.

Pepsi X (ULTRA THROWBACK)

 

Product circa: 2012

You may or may not know that dragonfruit, despite its striking appearance, is mostly flavorless.  Regardless, Pepsi followed a trend and made this product.

This stuff is like Pepsi with a shot of B12.  The dragonfruit adds a subtle and generic fruitiness, but in a way that makes it lighter, and tastier, than the original.  Very well done... one that I remember from time to time over the years.

 

Starburst Airs

 

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.

Pop-Tarts Frosted Strawberry and Drizzled Cheesecake

 

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.

Reese's Snack Cake

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.

Gatorade Fierce Green Apple

 

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.

Mountain Dew Ice Cherry

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.

Snickers X-Treme

 

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.

Chocolate Strawberry Oreo

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.

Twix Cookie Dough

 

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.

Pringles Wavy Pineapple Habanero

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.

Mountain Dew Trolli

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.

Strawberry Nut M&M's

Product circa: 2017

A small amount of potent strawberry flavoring between the peanut and the chocolate.  It’s way better than I expected.  Very flavorful and very different tasting from the original.  But I can’t help but think that strawberries and peanuts just don’t go together.

The Artist Marshmello's Limited Edition Coca-Cola

Product circa: 2022

Jesus, that’s a mouthful.  This was part of Coke's Creations line of artsy interpretations.

Billed as a strawberry and watermelon Coke, I can detect no watermelon.  So I guess it's a strawberry Coke.  It's fine, nothing impressive.

As for the zero sugar version, the overall flavor and experience suffers greatly... but oddly, I can detect the watermelon in the diet version.  Go figure. 

Cheetos Flamin' Hot Tangy Chili Fusion

Product circa: 2023

As suspected by the packages design, these Cheetos combine the classic Flamin’ Hot seasoning with the seasoning from Doritos Spicy Sweet Chili.

And by the way, I encourage you to try Doritos Spicy Sweet Chili while ignoring the marketing.  Smell and taste the product and discern its flavor unbiased, and I think you’ll find that it tastes like umami more than anything.  Like a soy-based potsticker dipping sauce.  I think they should have named the chips something else.  But I digress.

Like I said above, these taste exactly that the two products above combined.  Not bad.  An odd combination, but not bad.

Pringles Cheeseburger

Product circa: 2016 and intermittently after

One of the shining examples on how junk food is made to taste like complex cuisine, and cheeseburgers are often the subject of these successes.  Individually, your tongue with detect distinct flavors of charred beef, cheese, onion, mustard, and pickle.  Add to this a very salty delivery, and it's one of the best potato chips (if you can call it that) that I've ever tasted. 

Mountain Dew Flamin' Hot

Product circa: 2022

Erroneously called “Hot Cheetos Mountain Dew” by some, this obviously has no cheese flavoring in it.  In what seemed like a cross-branding blitz of “Flamin’ Hot” products in 2022, Dew wasn’t left out.

There’s extra lime flavor added in to this, but no additional tartness, as some Dews have done in recent years.  This ends up being a sweet limey mix, not unlike Baja Blast.  There is a spicy kick on the swallow, which Dew has also done before.  This is VERY tasty, I might buy this more often, if I had the opportunity.

Jelly Donut Oreo

Product circa: 2017

Oddly designed, this is a vanilla cookie with a blob of jelly inside the creme filling.  I believe the jelly is flavored with raspberry.  Anyway, these things are as delicious as they are novel.  Bravo! 

Pepsi x Peeps

Product circa: spring 2023

With this insane crossover, Pepsi proves why it's the unmatched with its crazy flavored colas.

This tastes like the old Pepsi Vanilla, but with an added flavor that tastes exactly like the kind of marshmallows you'd find in a cereal.  It's not quite as tasty as the original Pepsi Vanilla, unfortunately. However, I have no idea how they have captured the flavor of cereal marshmallows and applied it to a beverage.  Thankfully, in the years since I first tried this product, I have also tasted that flavor elsewhere in other snacks.  I'm glad to see it's being used more. 

Mystery Oreo 2017 & Fruity Crisp Oreo

 

Products circa: 2017 & 2016

Mystery: This one was easy.  Upon first bite, it was overwhelmingly clear that it was flavored like Post Fruity Pebbles cereal.  The likeness is uncanny.  And also very odd paired with chocolate cookies.  But quite tasty overall.  The first of the Oreo Mystery flavors, if I recall correctly.

Fruity Crisp: Almost identical to the product above, these use vanilla cookies, which pairs much better with the cereal-accurate creme.  Absolutely delicious, and very novel.

Kit Kat Duos - Strawberry + Dark Chocolate

Product circa: 2022

I suppose that strawberry and chocolate aren't a strange combination, but they are when the strawberry is the same artificial flavoring used for hard candy and soft drinks.  They tried to dial back on too much strawberry, but it ends up being unremarkable.

Doritos Spicy Pineapple Jalapeno

Product circa: 2023

What a wild ride these are.

It starts with the aroma, which is a familiar green vegetal jalapeno, the likes of which I’ve encountered on other snacks.  The immediate taste is an off-putting artificial fruitiness that I can’t help but compare to a fresh-scented surface cleaning spray.  After a few chomps, once you get past the typical onion and garlic, you’ll notice a familiar pineapple flavoring, tasting identical to that which is put into the pale yellow Life Savers in a typical variety pack.

Not an ultimately pleasing combination, but I can’t deny that they took a huge swing here.

Coca-Cola with Coffee

 

Product circa: 2021

A short-lived line of really interesting products from Coke.  A successor, in a way, to Coca-Cola Blak, this version boasted more coffee added to the formula than Blak.  There were also Vanilla and Caramel versions in addition to the original Dark Blend (black coffee).

I'm only going by memory for this entry.  I do remember Coke with Coffee tasting much more of coffee than Blak.  But like I said in my thoughts on Blak, I don't think more coffee made it a better product.  Coffee and Coke are flavors that don't necessarily marry well, but they did an impressive job trying.  I recall the Vanilla and Caramel versions being better than the black version, as taking the focus off of the coffee/Coke combination was beneficial. 

Pringles Wendy's Baconator

 

Product circa: 2020

You love to see cross-branding like this.  Unfortunately, these come across as a little one-dimensional.

Despite not having any meat products in these, the first and most prominent flavor is smoky pork.  After that… really nothing.  No beef or cheese… which, it seems, is literally all that is in a Wendy’s Baconator.  The ingredients list boasts things like spices, cheese powder, and tomato powder, but I don’t get any of it.  Just smoky pork rind-like powder, and that’s it.  It could be part of how old this can is, though it was air-sealed and is in great condition.

Coca-Cola Blak (ULTRA THROWBACK)

Product circa: 2006

Due to the time elapsed since this product's release, this post will concentrate on what the product was, and not how it tastes.  But to be clear: I have this bottle pictured, and I drank it around the year 2020.  Years ago, on a whim, having remembered this old product, I went on eBay and bought an unopened bottle.  As expected, the taste wasn't much, due to age.

If I'm not mistaken, Blak was Coke's first coffee-flavored product.  It was piloted in France, then released in North America, and it shows; it was a boutique product.  It was released in 4-packs, in small glass bottles wrapped in plastic which had a coffee-like design.  These were fairly expensive, as well.

The taste was not unlike its successor, Coca-Cola with Coffee.  It had a dark-roasted coffee flavor, which doesn't perfectly pair with the cola flavor, but it was fine.  In a prescient move that wasn't popular at the time, Coke switched half of Blak's sweetener with the sucralose and acesulfame potassium mixture that was getting popular at the time.  Did it make the product suffer?  Probably.

In the end, Blak is simply one of the more oddball entries in Coke's historical stable.  While not as storied as something like Pepsi Blue or New Coke, I consider it among them as one of the more memorable blips in the beverage industry history.

Brownie Batter Oreo

 

Product circa: 2015

Simple: a chocolate cookie, with chocolate creme.  But the creme is somehow different than the regular Chocolate Creme Oreos that you can find; it’s darker, more sumptuous/unctuous??  It might even have some flour or flour-like flavor mixed in, like some cake batter products do.  Really good overall.

 

Mountain Dew Liberty Brew & DEW-S-A

                  

Products circa: various years after 2016

Liberty Brew- Supposedly this is 50 fruity flavors all in one recipe; it certainly tastes it.  There are some interesting but unknowable flavors that pop up here and there on the tongue, but ultimately this just ends up taste blue, like its color.  But this is one of the sweetest Dews I’ve ever tasted.  After this product was released, it was re-released in subsequent years as Liberty Chill.

Dew-S-A - This product is a mix of the Code Red, White Out, and Voltage products, to match the red, white, and blue theme of the American flag.  However, this formulation was the 2017 version, which had zero calorie sweetener in addition to sugar.  Aside from this awful sweetener combination, the tastes of Code Red and Voltage combine to provide an overall berry taste, but it's further ruined by the pepperiness of the White Out.