Nestle Kit Kat Choc Whirl

Choc Whirl is a new variety of Kit Kat, the world-famous chocolate block and bar from Nestle. Unlike its brother Choc Mint Whirl, Choc Whirl is only available in the large 170g block (whereas you can find Choc Mint in the block and medium and king size bars). They were released together a few months back. I also believe Choc Whirl is unique to Australia as well.

Nestle Kit Kat Choc Mint Whirl

It tickles me pink when Australia gets something new in the confectionery world. Fellow lolly lovers from other countries tend to explode on Twitter. Even though it's not aimed at me, I still feel pretty special!

It's even more special when one of the new products is a new flavour of Kit Kat bar, a confectionery item with dozens of reiterations (and that's just in Japan). Choc Mint Whirl (and its brother Choc Whirl) are both new to the world of Kit Kat.

Gossip: Allen's Killer Pythons size change review

So this isn't a review per se, but rather a look at old vs new. Earlier this month, Nestle, the Allen's parent company, announced it was halving the size of their Killer Python snakes. The day after I read that article, I went on the hunt to find an old packet to do a comparison, but do you think I could find one anywhere? Both Coles and Woolies had the new stock in already. I took me until a few days ago, when I was in a Big W, to find an old bag hanging on the shelves behind the new stock (clearly someone doesn't know proper stock rotation). So, finally, let's compare!

Nestle Kit Kat Bites

My first experience with Kit Kat Bites wasn't today - it was actually a few years ago. Flash sale site Grocery Run (an off-shoot of the more popular Catch of the Day) was selling imported confectionery, and among them were a medium-sized bag of Kit Kat Bites. Intriguied, I bought them (alongside other American candy), and when they arrived I promptly devoured the bag. This was before my days as a lolly reviewer, so I don't have the wrapper and can't even tell you the country of origin, but I remember that I enjoyed them enough to go searching my local stores for the red foil bag. Of course I was sorely disappointed and came home empty-handed. Now they're here - so let's see if they are as good as I remember.

Head after the link for more!

Nestle Wonka Nutty Crunchalicious

The final part of the Wonka story is in the Nutty Crunchalicious block. The set of four (including Chocolate Tales, Triple Chocolate Whipple and Caramel Hat Trick) were released in August last year, and appear to have been selling well in stores. The Australian-made blocks might be a competitor to Cadbury's Marvellous Creations, but they are still pretty interesting on their own, too.

Head after the jump for more!

Nestle Kit Kat Cookies and Cream

I think it's cookies and cream season!

The last two seasonal releases we've seen in the four-finger bar from Kit Kat did not impress me greatly - which is odd as I'm quite a fan of the milk chocolate version. White, from late 2012, was a flop as the white mockolate was the big letdown, and Caramel Duo, from May last year, was just weak-flavoured. Hopefully Cookies and Cream will be the one to lift the game for Kit Kat - even if the flavour is unoriginal!

Head after the jump for more!

Lifesavers Tangy Tingles

Lifesavers is an international brand, distributed in Australia by Nestle. Around the world, the brand has different variations beyond the compressed confectionery rolls. In the US, for example, Lifesavers have a branch of gummies, available in boxes and bags. The Lifesavers products are a tried and true product, and it's common to go years without seeing a new flavour or update to the range. The last major revival I remember was around five years ago, when the size of the roll increased by 50% (and so did the price). I can't remember the last time I saw a new flavour. Enter Lifesavers Tangy Tingles.

Head below the jump for more!

Nestle Aero Limited Edition White

Nestle Aero White has been around for a couple of months now, but it's taken me a while to get my hands on one for reviewing as it hasn't turned up in supermarkets. It may be some sort of exclusive to smaller sellers - mostly the petrol and convenience sector, as that's where I found it for sale.

Head on down for more!

Nestle Wonka Chocolate Tales

Part three of the Nestle-owned Wonka blocks is Chocolate Tales. See reviews of Triple Chocolate Whipple and Caramel Hat Trick.

Like the rest of the 170g blocks in this release from Nestle, the Wonka packaging is a smart maroon cardboard box, housing the chocolate block wrapped in patterned gold foil. For those simpler cravings, the Chocolate Tales variety consists of 'creamy and smooth Wonka milk chocolate'. No strange additions, just smooth milk chocolate.

And also like the other blocks, Chocolate Tales has its own unique block mould that has inspired the name (or perhaps it's the other way around). The block is shaped like an open book, with a short story spread across the 'pages'. Each piece contains a few words as part of the story, and the pack reports that there are five different tales to be found. Click on the picture to few the story on this block up close.

The chocolate is a little lighter in colour that Cadbury Dairy Milk, and smells a bit less  milky. This chocolate contains a minimum of 22% cocoa solids and 25% milk solids (whereas Dairy Milk is more in the region of 26% cocoa/28% milk, but this can vary between varieties). The grooves in the block make for a clean snap with a minimal amount of crumbs. And like the other Wonka blocks, they have a low profile to fit in the slender box, measuring just 7mm tall.

In the mouth, the chocolate is beautifully smooth and melts well (perhaps encouraged a little by the 30 degree heat here today). It is not too sweet, and has a mild flavour without much depth. This would be a good accompaniment to something more complex in flavour, like a coffee. I can't find anything wrong with this chocolate, but I think it is made to be served alongside something, not just by itself.

Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Nestle Wonka Chocolate Tales contains milk and soy, and is made on equipment that processes products containing peanuts, tree nuts and wheat.

Nestle Wonka Triple Chocolate Whipple

Triple Chocolate Whipple. Has a wonderfully Wonka-esque name, doesn't it? Nestle's Wonka chocolate range, released earlier this year, includes this scrumdiddlyumptious 170g block. I reviewed the Caramel Hat Trick variety last month.

Dressed in a smart maroon-coloured cardboard packaging, and with yellow and white text, Triple Chocolate Whipple is a milk chocolate block that contains, as the name suggests, three types of chocolate filling: choc fudge, choc sauce and choc cookie. The moulding of the block is based on the pipes of the Wonka chocolate factory, and also include a round circle with the trademark Wonka W. The unique shape of the moulding means that there is probably a little bit less of the filling than if the pieces were moulded in a standard pillow shape.

The back of the pack describes the block as one side containing smooth fudge, the other flowing sauce, and the centre 'they take turns flowing over crunchy cookie'. Confusing, right? And of course once you've taken the block out of the pack, passed it around and broken up the pieces, it becomes a bit of a lucky dip to find out what the centre of your piece is. But I think that the parts where the pipes intersect with the centre piece is where they join with whatever is in the pipe. So some round pieces are cookie plus fudge, and some are cookie plus sauce. Which of course makes it difficult to review as there's actually four flavours in the block... By the time I realised this little fact I didn't have enough pieces to review, so you'll just have to make up your own minds on the combined pieces.

The milk chocolate outer is quite sweet and milky. It doesn't contain a lot of cocoa or milk solids, at a minimum of 22% and 25% respectively. Vegetable fat is unfortunately the fourth ingredient in the chocolate's list. I can already tell that this is going to be a sugar fest.

The centre pieces hold the cookie centre, and to be honest, aside from the sweetness of the milk chocolate, I didn't get a real taste for the centre. I did discover little chocolate biscuit pieces floating around in there which added a nice texture every now and then.

One of the pipe pieces contains choc fudge. It's a slightly darker colour than the surrounding milk chocolate, and has a rich flavour to it. It's rather sweet and well, fudgey. It's very nice, but too many make my teeth hurt. The final piece is the choc sauce. Similar to the choc sauce in the Kit Kat Chunky 3 bars, the sauce in this Wonka block, by itself, is thin, but a little syrupy and very strong in chocolate flavour. It's a lot like chocolate topping for ice cream. In conjunction with the milk chocolate outer, the piece is very sweet, and sticks to the teeth a little.

I really enjoyed this block, but you will have to be a huge chocolate lover and a sweet tooth to enjoy the variances in texture.

Score: 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Nestle Wonka Triple Chocolate Whipple is made in Australia. It contains milk, wheat and soy, and is made on equipment that processes products containing peanuts and tree nuts.

Nestle Wonka Caramel Hat Trick

Happy 100th blog post!

Released in August this year in answer to Cadbury's Marvellous Creations range, the 170g Wonka chocolate blocks from Nestle come in a range of four different varieties. I have the Caramel Hat Trick here to review today.

I say that the Wonka blocks are a rebuttal to Marvellous Creations, but honestly that's just my opinion (and these are a bit less creative than MC anyway). Nestle has actually been sitting on the Wonka branding since 1988 (international). The whole name of the brand is The Willy Wonka Candy Company, although all - bar the word Wonka - are not used in Australia. Interestingly, the Wonka chocolate blocks already exist in the UK and Ireland with similar packing, but with vastly different flavours (Millionaire's Shortbread, Creme Brulee and Chocolate Nice Cream).

Caramel Hat Trick is described on the pack as 'smooth flowing caramel and crunchy caramel pieces covered in creamy and smooth Wonka chocolate'. The block itself is moulded in squares that measure about one inch square, complete with Wonka top hat, and some are upside down. On the back of the pack, there is a pictorial guide to which parts of the block contain caramel, and which parts contain the crunchy caramel pieces (the two outer columns contain the caramel, while the centre column is made with the candy pieces). The chocolate itself is milky and light brown in colour, and smells strongly of sweet milk chocolate. (The block comes wrapped in this great diamond-patterned gold foil, which I love.)

I first bit into a caramel square. The chocolate top hat is 1-2mm thick, and provides good protection of the flowing caramel. It's rather runny, a bit like topping used on ice cream, but on its own is not crazily sweet. It has lovely burnt sugar notes that are complimented by the sweetness of the chocolate.

The caramel candy squares are moulded the same as the flowing caramel ones (in that the top hat contains all the fun stuff). The little candy pieces are small, like the flecks of popping candy in some of the Marvellous Creations blocks, and are yellow and translucent against the milk chocolate. They add a nice crunchy texture to the smooth chocolate. I also found that these squares were sweeter than the others, and tasted more along the lines of a caramel-flavoured hot chocolate. They weren't bad, but when eaten in conjunction with a flowing caramel piece, it upped the sweetness considerably and made the mouthfeel rather cloying.

There's no denying that this block will only be enjoyed by people who love caramel (but really, that was obvious from the start, wasn't it?) I found that I needed to have this one square at a time, and slowly; doing the opposite was a bit much, even for me. I bet that perhaps salting the caramel on one side would break through the sweetness, but alas, playing with savoury doesn't seem to be within Wonka's skill range.

Score: 4 out of 5 stars.

Nestle Wonka Caramel Hat Trick is made in Australia, and contains milk, wheat and soy. It is made on equipment that processes peanuts and tree nuts. A serving size is 16.2g (or two squares).

Gossip: Nestle Aero White

This one is actually so new, I don't have any information on it! I spotted it at the servo a few days ago and had to share though. Aero isn't usually a range that plays with different flavours, so it's good to see something new!

Image via mysweeties.com.au

Allen's Sour Rush Jelly Beans

The partner to Nestle's new release from their subbrand Allen's is their Sour Rush Jelly Beans. A complete 180 from the other flavour Funfair Thrills, Sour Rush is, predictably, based on sour fruit flavours, and has nine varieties included just to make sure they hit all their bases.

While some of the flavours are more common, such as Lemon Lime, and Green Apple, there are some interesting flavours that have sneaked in for the sour party: Blackberry and Strawberry. They're the two I didn't really pick as top candidates for sour, but I guess we will see if Nestle have hit a home run.

Like with the Funfair Thrills release, the colours of the Sour Rush jelly beans are difficult to tell apart, both on the little guide on the back of the pack, and in the hand. The colours aren't especially inspired; you'd think for a product that uses artificial colours they would be a little more accurate.

The flavours are listed in the order of the beans in the picture: left to right, from the top row. However, I had to use process of elimination to identify each flavour, so I could very well be wrong.

Grapefruit (mauve)
Wow, this flavour is right on the ball! There is a bit of tang here that hits as soon as you bite into the bean. It's bold and juicy and tangy. I've never had a grapefruit before (only juice) but I would say this flavour is quite realistic. Alas, no sour tang.


Lemon lime (pale yellow)
Very tenuous connection to lemon or lime. There's definitely no sourness; the flavour is more like a syrup made with lemon juice and lots of sugar. Disappointing.

Blood Orange (dark pink)
I mistook this one for strawberry at first. This bean is quite warm and has some mild berry notes, but is missing any tang of depth that would make it really sing. It's a little bit like strawberry jam but with a quarter of the sugar. Only the end notes give away a mild tangy citrus flavour.

Blackberry (dark red)
There were a lot of these in my bag. These are very warm and jammy in flavour, mild in the sweetness factor but nice nonetheless.


Mandarin (orange)
It's quite floral in flavour, and I'm not sure if that's the bean itself or if it has picked that up from the other flavours in the packet. The citrus is hiding and barely noticeable, so the flavour heads more in an orange direction rather than mandarin.


Pineapple (medium yellow)
The flavour on these is rather interesting. It too is absolutely not sour, but the sweet flavour is almost like passionfruit. There is the tiniest hint of a tangy kick. It's quite nice, actually.

Peach (bright yellow)
I'm sensing a pattern here of these flavours being not at all connected to their namesake! This was sweet and sugary, with a bit of warmth that leaned in no particular direction to any sort of fruit.



Green Apple (green)
Very accurate in flavour, this bean is probably the closest to sour. It's very tart, almost more like a pear. The end notes are a little celery-like. I'm not a fan of green apples or pears so this flavour didn't do a lot for me personally.

Strawberry (light pink)
These were the hardest to pick and I only identified them through process of elimination. Not to mention the colour in-hand is about two shades different to Blood Orange! The flavour is rather tangy and a bit warm, and that's about all it's got going for it. There's no strawberry notes, not jam or anything else I'd expect from a strawberry-flavoured product.

Unfortunately the whole bag was a fail in the sour category. I tend to leave a period of time between taking photos and doing the actual review, so it's possible that somehow the sourness evaporated (or something), but that's no real excuse. The flavours were way off the mark too. They were nice, just not what was expected, given the flavour list on the back.

Score: 2 out of 5 stars

The Allen's Sour Rush Jelly Beans are made in Australia. They contain wheat,  malt and barley, and are made on equipment that processes products containing milk powder. A serving size is 20g.

Gossip: Wonka Bars

Wonka is a brand that has existing in Australia for many years, but mainly in the form of lollies - Nerds, Nerd Ropes, Gobstoppers and Raspberry Twists. Internationally, Wonka is more well-known for its chocolate range. Previously, the only way to get Wonka chocolate in Australia was to purchase it from import stores, or import it yourself. Until now:

 (Image stolen from Woolworths Facebook page.)

These are being distributed by Nestle. Woolworths and Coles have been confirmed to be stocking the Wonka chocolate block range in stores. (If you see it at other chains - let me know!) The 170g blocks come in four flavours: Chocolate Tales, Triple Chocolate Whipple, Nutty Crunchilicious and Caramel Hat Trick, and come in a cardboard envelope wrapper. The blocks themselves are uniquely shaped into an open book, and are moulded with a story in the top of the block.

Even better, these are made in Australia - they are not imported stock. Good one, Nestle!

I spotted three of the four flavours in Coles a couple of days ago.

Do any of these new flavours take your fancy? What will you be trying first?

Nestle Aero Bubbles Mint

Netle's new Aero Bubbles might be new to Australia, but they have been available in the UK for many years. I first heard about them through Catchoftheday.com.au a few years ago, where they were imported stock, and even better, in orange flavour (a favourite!) Unfortunately I never ended up placing an order, something I've regretted for ages, but at least now Australia has their own stock!

Well, not quite. These are UK-imported stock, recently confirmed by Nestle on their Aero Australian Facebook page.

The Bubbles are small, spherical bites of the classic Aero aerated confectionery, surrounded by a layer of thick milk chocolate. The centre on Aero Mint products is a 'confectionery' (it's not technically chocolate). I can't say why they don't use white chocolate instead, but I would hazard a guess that cost has a lot to do with it.

The green matte-finish foil package is bright and easy to spot on the shelf as it looks very similar to the standard Aero bars.  The bag weighs 35g, while a bar comes in at 40g, but the 5g difference is a lot more noticeable with the different product size (balls versus a bar). I received 12 balls in my bag.

The balls are very similar in size to a Mars Malteser, at about 2cm wide (shown with a Mentos for size below). Although the chocolate layer is a nice colour to it, it looks a bit dinged from its travels. Some balls had a small hole or crater where the chocolate had broken. All of the balls have a noticeable seam in the chocolate as well. They smell very sweet with a sugared-up mint scent, and they are quite strong.

I was surprised to find that the glazing layer over the chocolate was a touch sticky if my fingers were even slightly warm. I would not want to touch these on a warm day! When I bit one open, I found that the chocolate layer was quite thin - less than 2mm - which is very different to the product image on the bag. The light green confectionery filling also didn't fill the entire ball; instead there are fairly even big air bubbles inside. I bit open a few different balls and found most had the big air bubbles.

Luckily the taste is nice. I found these milder than an Aero Mint bar in terms of both sweetness and mint flavour - perhaps it is the proportion of more chocolate to less confectionery centre. The bubbly confectionery centre is quite light - as to be expected from an air-filled product. The chew is not very milky or melty, and the mild mint flavour doesn't hang around afterwards either. I rather enjoyed them as something mild, but I did find that the more I ate, the stronger the sweetness became. I think I can understand why the serving is six pieces, and not the whole bag.

I liked the flavour, but the stickiness is offputting. 3 out of 5 stars.

Made in the UK. Contains milk and wheat. Nestle has said on their Facebook page that the Aero Bubbles Mint "do not contain peanut and tree-nut ingredients" and there is no nut statement on the bag.

Gossip: New Allen's Minties, Jelly Beans and More

Allen's Lollies, owned by powerhouse Nestle, has been busy with all sorts of new creations!

First up, the brand as a whole is slowly moving through and changing all of their lollies over to natural colours - which means bye-bye to artificial food dyes. That also means no more blue snakes in the Snakes Alive packs, or blue racing cars in the Party Mix bags. But it's all for the greater good, right? Curiously, I haven't seen a whole lot of advertising about this.

Allen's have just released their own take on The Natural Confectionery Company Bliss lollies under the name of 'Cheekies'. I will be reviewing both flavours shortly.

The Jelly Beans are getting a shake-up with two new flavours: 'Sour Rush' and 'Funfair Thrills'. Coles seem to be stocking them already (and IGA as well according to Allen's Facebook page), but Woolworths doesn't have them yet. Have you seen them around?

Finally, there's an update to the 90-year-old favourite Minties, in the form of 'Choc and Vanilla Smooth Mint' flavour. What do you think; do they sound good?

Kit Kat Caramel Duo

Nestle's last Kit Kat variety  from October of last year was an epic fail, so you can imagine I approached this new variety with some trepidation. Visions of mockolate and 'white confectionery' aren't far from my mind, and with a pack that describes the product as 'Wafer Fingers Covered with a Smooth Milk Chocolate base & Creamy Caramel Flavoured Choc Top', I wasn't all that reassured. At least the base is chocolate, and I love caramel, so it can't be all that bad - right?

The packaging is made with the new matte-finish foil wrapper that seems to be the range these days. It still has the bright red, easily-reconisable background and bit Kit-Kat logo, but the bottom right corner of the bar includes a tan-coloured swathe dedicated to the new flavour. Often the packaging will also include an illustration of the flavour - for example, a picture of a strawberry on a strawberry-flavoured product. There's no such guide here. I know caramel can be difficult to illustrate, but that tan swathe could be representing leather for all I know!

Our 45g bar is in the classic four-fingers shape, with the foot or base of each finger made from a layer of milk chocolate, while the rest of each finger has been coated in 'caramel flavoured choc'. The caramel area is a nice tan colour, perhaps a touch lighter than I would expect for a caramel product, and is matte with no discernible gloss at all. My bar is a weeny bit heat damaged though, so that may have contributed. The bar as a whole seems quite heat sensitive too - I couldn't even hold a finger for five seconds without it beginning to melt.

The caramel coating smells suspiciously like caramel milkshake flavouring: it's sweet, and I get a hint of spices there as well (?). It's a little bit like fudge, too. Not bad! The milk chocolate base isn't as nice though; it smells bland, like poor quality Easter chocolate.

In a regular chocolate Kit-Kat, between the layers of wafer you would find a chocolate-based smooth product. Although I can't tell what it is, Nestle appear to have replaced the chocolate with a tan-coloured product inside, presumably to add to the flavour.

The wafers in my Kit-Kat were lovely and fresh and added a good crunch. But then it's downhill from there. The flavour is somewhat boring; the caramel is strong enough to dominate the milk chocolate base, but overall is weaker than the scent it gives off. Although I don't drink coffee, the weak caramel flavour is about what I would expect to find in a caramel-flavoured coffee product - the flavour is there but doesn't do a whole lot else. I don't know what I was expecting, but I'm disappointed. This is not a product that stands on its own. It's okay. There are many other nicer products out there I could have spent my $2 on.

A serve is two fingers (half the packet). This product contains milk, soy and wheat, and is made on equipment that processes products containing peanuts and tree nuts. This product was made in Australia.

Gossip: New Cadbury Packaging and Blocks Land, New TNCC Chews and More

First up: The new 220g Cadbury blocks, complete with new foil wrapper and new piece shape have landed in stores. I spotted these in Woolworths. The new rounded square seems to be consistent across all varieties (nut-filled, soft centre, etc), although the Mousse varieties were still in their cardboard wrappers.

The Old Gold range is also included in the new packaging, and the designers seem to have given that range's layout a bit of a shake-up in general.

Also in Joyville, Cadbury has released another new Marvellous Creations flavour alongside the Clinkers, Raspberry Chips and Marshmallow bar I reviewed a few days ago. The other new flavour is Clinkers, Gummi Bears and Choc Biscuit. Sounds good - keep an eye out for it!

Next up, I spotted the Aero blocks have changed the shape of their bars. Previously, the bars were wide and stubby, and marked in 'strips', and now they seem to have adopted a square piece with a domed bubble on top. (Sorry for the blurry picture.)

I also spotted the brand new 'Aero Bubbles' in Woolworths, which I will be reviewing shortly, so no picture yet. ;)

The Natural Confectionery Company have been busy and have added two new products to their range: Smoothie Chews and Sour Chews. These were also spotted in Woolworths and I'll be reviewing them when they go on special.

I spotted these Limited Edition Double D Sugar Free Gummy Bears on the shelf as well at Woolworths. I don't know how long they have been on the market so far. I may not get around to reviewing these, but they looked nice and squishy.

Finally, I saw these bags of Fino Premium Confections at Coles last week. They seem to be gourmet sugar-covered jellies (also known as jubes). They come in two flavours - citrus and berry. The price tag was also at a premium (around $5.50 for the 120g bag) so it's unlikely that I will be reviewing these. Perhaps one of our readers would like to review them and share a guest post with us!