Tuesday, August 21, 2007

3 Musketeers Mini Mix

Mini MixI was thinking back when I wrote the review of the new 3 Musketeers Mint about the original 3 Musketeers. I’ve been searching high and low for images of it, but alas there are none to be found via my diligent use of google. What struck me as so wonderful about the concept was that it was much like the long-gone 7up Bar and the still here Sky Bar - a combination of segmented flavors.

The old 3 Musketeers would have been the Neapolitan nougat of candy bars.

Imagine my surprise as I ducked in the Rite Aid on Friday to pick up some things for my vacation (yes, I’m on vacation right now as I type this) that not only did the store have much of their Halloween candy on display, they also had this Autumn Minis Mix. It doesn’t say limited edition or anything. Perhaps it’s seasonal, there are golden leaves on it, after all.

Here’s an old commercial I found from the days of black and white television animation:

All for fun, and fun for all! Alexander Dumas would be proud.

3musketeersvanillaIt features not vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, but a slight twist with Strawberry, French Vanilla and Mocha Cappuccino.

The little mini bars are tiny, about the size of a normal boxed chocolate. Take them out of the wrapper and put it on an elegant plate and it might even pass for one at a glance.

While I’ve never quite understood what French Vanilla is (and it’s often used as a description for candles and ice cream), I appreciate that this 3 Musketeers is a little lighter tasting. Where a regular one has a rather malty and dark salt flavor to it, this is light. It doesn’t quite have vanilla oozing from its pores as a flavor (more like the absence of any other flavors distinguishes this one), it’s still pleasant.

3musketeersstrawberryAgainst my better judgment, I love the Strawberry. It absolutely reminds me of Neapolitan ice cream! The strawberry is sweet and has a light caramelized sugar touch to it, a little floral-y and certainly on the fake side. But the soft, fluffy and rather foamy nougat pulls it off. The chocolate is passable enough as an enclosure and adds the cocoa flavor to bring it together (I can certainly see me hating it if it were covered in white chocolate).

The pink color of the insides is a little shocking and I’m guessing where the artificial colors listed in the ingredients are used. Kind of unnecessary in my book (especially since it seems that folks accepted the uncolored insides to the new Mint bar). 

3musketeersmochaMocha Capuccino are surprisingly nice. Not too sweet, a good texture and creamy counterpoint of the chocolate to the nougat. However, they don’t taste like coffee. Nope, they taste like pecans or maple, but not like coffee.

I don’t mind the flavor in the slightest, and considered it my second favorite of this bunch, but someone really needs to tweak their “coffee flavor” that they’re selling to these candy companies. (It could have been much worse, it could have been that dastardly Mocha that those limited edition KitKats had.)

Overall, these are a nice change up from the standard 3 Musketeers and the simplicity of the bar in the first place makes the flavor changes perfectly acceptable.

The price point on these, $3.79 for a 9 ounce bag was a bit hard to swallow. I prefer paying about $2.50 for these sorts of things, but I figured, I’m on vacation (or will be).

Related Candies

  1. Paskesz Milk Munch
  2. Snickers Almond Dark
  3. Bubble Chocolate
  4. Golden Boronia Nougats
  5. See’s Awesome Nut & Chew Bar
Name: 3 Musketeers Mini Mix
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Mars
Place Purchased: RiteAid (Vermonica)
Price: $3.79
Size: 9 ounces
Calories per ounce: 117
Categories: Chocolate, Nougat, United States, Mars, Kosher

POSTED BY Cybele AT 7:37 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. “French Vanilla” is really just a variation on the basic vanilla ice cream recipe, where extra egg yolks are addded to the mix to make the ice cream richer.

    There really isn’t a flavor that one could call “French Vanilla”.  Just more marketeer-speak, I guess.

    Comment by Brian on 8/21/07 at 8:53 am #
  2. WANT!!! I’ve always wished so hard they’d bring back the original 3 Musketeers. The strawberry looks wonderful!!

    I’m on a mission to find these now!

    Comment by Sera on 8/21/07 at 9:24 am #
  3. They don’t need to change the coffee flavour, just to rename all their “coffee” sweets maple pecan. I’d buy something maple pecan flavoured over mocha anyday!

    Comment by leigh on 8/21/07 at 12:05 pm #
  4. oh my! b/c neopolitan is my fav fav fav ice cream flavor i must get these; thanks for the review smile

    Comment by Sunny on 8/21/07 at 12:43 pm #
  5. I’m with Leigh. The minute you mentioned maple/pecan I was planning a trip to the store! Of course, they will take forever to come to Berkeley…. Oh, well. Sometimes the hunt is the best part.

    Comment by Kate on 8/21/07 at 12:55 pm #
  6. I love seeing all those old commerical videos—-keep them coming!  I visit your blog daily—-always look forward to your posts!

    Comment by JEP on 8/21/07 at 2:03 pm #
  7. you’ve made the strawberry flavor sound absolutely delicious!

    Comment by jesse on 8/23/07 at 3:24 pm #
  8. I wish I knew what ‘French vanilla’ meant too!

    I think it may have something to do with richer, alluding to something custard-based, but when I tell my French friends about French-vanilla, I just get blank stares back.

    (And imagine trying to explain a 3 Musketeers bar…)

    Comment by David on 8/24/07 at 1:46 am #
  9. Imagine my surprise when I walked over to our Rite Aid, and they had them!  (They’ve actually had them for a couple of weeks, but I didn’t pay close enough attention to labeling, figuring it was just one of their “fall mix” bags.)  My coworkers absolutely love them, and so do I!

    Comment by luuv2shop on 8/28/07 at 10:42 am #
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