Quick List For Adults

Here's a quick list of the best adult candies I've ever reviewed on candycritic.org. What makes a candy adult could probably be subject of a future podcast.

My First Experience With A Black Tap Milkshake

 

I should start this off by saying that I'm not a big fan of extreme milk shakes, or at least that was my opinion of extreme milk shakes when I walked into a Black Tap Craft Burgers in Dubai. We were visiting Dubai with some friends and we decided we wanted to explore some of the chain restaurants we'd never tried before at home. None of us had been to a Black Tap before (keep in mind that two of us are Canadian and all of us have been living overseas for most of the last 10 or so years), but I had heard of it. As far as I knew, and as I explained to my friends, Black Tap is known for their burgers and crazy milkshakes.

As I mentioned before, I'm not a big fan of extreme milkshakes. I've had one or two of them in the past, and it was never too impressive. I've also seen pictures of them on the internet, and I often see the extra stuff as making it harder to drink the milkshake, rather than being a bonus. I also question the quality of a milkshake that has to decorate itself up so much. Basically, my few experiences with this where not great, and nothing online made me think it would get better. The reason I wanted to try this is because from what I understood, Black Tap was the place that made its name with these milkshakes. I figured that I'd give it a try and if they couldn't pull it off I would never bother again.

Let me start by saying, outside of the milkshake, my experience at this particular Black Tap was amazing. The burgers are actually very good at Black Tap, better than I thought they would be. I'll admit that the price was pretty high, but honestly none of us felt ripped off at all. The food was also matched by the service. Our waiter and the entire staff were amazing. They were there when we needed them, but let us have a good meal amongst our friends as well. I rarely find this perfect a balance when eating out with friends. The best part is that all of the staff seemed genuinely happy that we wanted to watch them make our milkshake.

We decided to order our crazy milkshake as a dessert, because we're getting on in the years, we understand the importance of hydrating and we understand that a milkshake does not provide any kind of real hydration. For those unfamiliar with Black Tap, often (I assume often because I have not been to every Black Tap) at the front of the restaurant they have a bar like area where they make the crazy milkshakes. It looks like a cross between a dive bar and a candy store. From what I understand they have a milkshake specialist on staff that makes the milkshakes there in front of people. I feel like it's used more for attracting people to the restaurant than as a place for people to gawk at the person making their food. Fortunately, as I said before, the staff at this Black Tap in Dubai was more than happy to let us walk up to the milkshake bar and watch the milkshake specialist make our dessert/drink.

The process of making the milkshake was mostly good, in particular our milkshake expert seemed to really know what she was doing. There were a few parts of the process however that disappointed me a little. First of all, there's an implication that the milkshake is entirely made fresh for you, I feel like this is only partially true. Sure I don't expect them to bake cookies or cakes in front of me, but there were certain parts of the process done in advance that I feel would have made the treat better if done live, as well as would have made the show a little more entertaining.

Most notably is the fact that the ice cream sandwiches and the mug decorations were all pre-done. She basically just pulled them out of the fridge/freezer. The ice cream sandwiches even came out of packages, which tells me they're probably not even made in store. Both the menu, and a lot of the advertising implies that these two features might be made live in store, but alas they were not. The only other part that disappointed a little was the fact that at this restaurant, the milkshake makers were at the back of this bar. I mean, the main part of this dessert/drink is the milkshake, and for the most part that process remained hidden from view.

While I feel like these improvements could have made my milkshake better, I was not disappointed at all. Every other element of our Snickers themed milkshake was pretty darn good. It looked great, and was actually a little less messy than I expected. At least messy for us, the table was a disaster, but the staff was totally fine with that. They also provided the right tools to deal with this milkshake, including plates and spoons. The surprising part that I enjoyed was the stuff on the rim of the glass. I used to assume that they used chocolate to rim the glass and adhere the various treats to the rim, but it's not. Or if it is, it's tempered in a way that makes it very easy to get it off. I thought scraping this off of a glass would have been annoying, and that I would have just not bothered and left it on the glass, but instead it was actually kind of satisfying and we cleaned off our glass fairly well.

The milkshake was also pretty good, and was surprisingly not too rich. I feel like they might go a little lighter on the milkshake to balance out the crazy ingredients, and that's a really great way to do it. In the past when I've had crazy milkshakes, they tend to go heavy on the milkshake and I'm pretty sick halfway through. Instead the milkshake provided a nice refreshing break from the cookies and treats. I'm not sure that I'm completely turned around on this whole crazy milkshake trend, but I feel like this Black Tap milkshake won't be my last. I believe there is hope for this trend, but it takes a lot of thought and a lot of work on the people making it.

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Every Year I Post This Commercial

 I'm not sure that it's possible to make a scarier candy commercial, so it's perfect for Halloween.

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Creepy... Maybe Not Scary

 Snickers is great at making scary Halloween commercials, this ones fun, but I think it's more creepy than scary.

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Not All Snickers Are Created Equally

 Check out my list of the top 5 Snickers variants that I've ever reviewed.

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A Snickers by any Other Name

I'm never really sure how this works, I think Snicker's bars are called Marathon bars in the UK, but a while back there was also a Marathon bar made by Snickers in North America.  I'd like to see all three versions of this bar in the same place at the same time.

Don't get confused, relax and pick up a copy of my comic book called Snack Facts.

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A Halloween Tradition

Every year I share this commercial, and every year it continues to creep me out.

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Is Peanut Butter Overused?

 

This week's new candy review is of the Snickers "Creamy Peanut Butter". As far as I know there has already been another Snickers with peanut butter, and in fact I would argue that just about every single major candy company has produced at least one version of their treat with peanut butter. While I do enjoy peanut butter with chocolate, I feel like this ingredient is overused. More to the point, I feel like every candy companies figures that peanut butter will always work. This may be true, but judging by this review I think it's not. Peanut butter has a particular flavour and texture and it doesn't always work with everything, and even when it does "work" it has to be used properly. Peanut butter is not just an ingredient you can slap onto every single candy bar and guarantee a winner.

Find out why this week's featured candy doesn't work, even though it has peanut butter.

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Every Year I Post This Commercial Around Halloween

I do it because I still have yet to see any candy commercial that is creepier.

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I'm Batman!

I wasn't sure where this was going, but I was happy when it got there.

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Dyslexics of the World Untie!

Being dyslexic myself, I can relate to this.

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Spooky Candy In The Media - Scary Snickers

This is and I believer will always be the creepiest Halloween candy commercial ever.

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Candy In The Media - Snickers Hair Do Not

I wish I could focus on anything other than the hair choices in this commercial, but I can't.

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I'm Feeling A Little Bitter and Old Because Of This Review - Snickers "Adult Bitter"

There's a trend in Japan that kind of makes sense, but is also really weird. The trend is associating dark chocolate with being an adult. According to several  chocolate bars in Japan (this week's review included), only grown ups eat dark chocolate. While I can't deny that many of the people I know who really enjoy dark chocolate are adults, I don't know if there's enough of them to say that all dark chocolate should be for adults. I think there are kids out there that also like dark chocolate, and many dignified adults who don't. It's a weird generalization.

Click here to find out why we feel more adult about this bar.

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Halloween Candy In The Media - A Warning From Snickers

This commercial goes from being a Christmas advertisement, to being a strange Halloween commercial, to being a warning to all you people out there giving out cheap candy on Halloween. They pack a lot into thirty seconds.

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5 Strange Candy Choices For Valentines Day - Part 5 - Snickers Hearts

Of all the candies we've featured on this list of strange choices for Valentine's Day, this one is probably the most personal. I say this not because I have a grudge with Snickers, in fact I really love Snicker's bars, and might even be eating one right now. I just personally don't find Snicker's to be very romantic. If I had to give it a feeling, I think it might be tough. When I associate Snickers with a memory it often involves Betty White getting tackled in a football game and not a first kiss or memorable date.

I guess these might be OK since they're heart shaped, but I'm still not sure how I feel about the candy that makes me feel more manly being used as a way to romance.

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Candy In The Media Halloween Edition - Truly Scary Snickers

I'm not totally sure if this commercial is supposed to be scary. I get the joke, but I'm not sure if the creators of this commercial realize how scary the mask is.

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This Candy Review Is Nothing To "Snicker" At - Snickers "Oats"

My opinion of bars that comes out with a huge variety of flavours often depends on the last one tried. While I didn't hate this bar, it did make me think that some candy companies don't give as much thought as they could to new varieties. Having said that, a few week's ago I would have been much more enthusiastic on the subject after trying a really clever Kit Kat bar.  So I don't seem to have a hard and fast opinion on this matter.

Click here to find out why this Snickers bar made me say "meh".

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This Week In Candy

Well summer is upon us, and s'mores are once again making a comeback. In general I like s'mores, they take two things I love, gram cracker and chocolate, and something I only like toasted, marshmallows, and turn them into something fun. I've seen all kinds of s'mores variations and machines this year, including the one above, but nothing really beats the classic made on a campfire in nature. Summer is a strange time for candy, since most candy melts in the hot sun, but somehow we managed to create a sweet treat that makes sure we can still enjoy some chocolate, and uses heat to its advantage.

You may have noticed a lack of "This Week In Candy" last week, this was in great part because of the insanity we had going on here during Canada Day and eventually the 4th of July. I think we're back on track for now, however I see more disruptions in the future this summer. We have two epic adventures happening this summer, one of which is going to change things a lot here at candycritic.org. I always here stories of the long slow summer, but I rarely seem to live it, it's always chaos at our house. The good news for any of you following along on Twitter and Facebook is that you can keep up with out adventures this summer.

This week is hopefully going to be filled with editing and recording episodes of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!!, and Junk Fud On The Road. Next week we'll post an episode of Junk Fud On The Road, and later an episode of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!! We're also working on a few episodes of In Hindsight that we'll post later in the summer.

This week's new review is of a classic bar, but a classic bar with a twist.  In general I shudder when I have to eat a classic candy with "a twist", but this one wasn't all bad.  Click here to find out why the Snickers bar can be crispier, but maybe it's not necessary.

Superbowl Candy Commercials

I have to be honest with you, I generally don't watch the Superbowl. I don't watch the halftime show, I don't watch the commercials, and I most certainly don't watch the game.  It's not that I don't like sports, in fact I really enjoy watching basketball and baseball, I just don't like the idea that one game can determine the outcome for an entire year.  I also don't like the commercials because I live in Canada and they don't play those amazing American commercials here, we get low budget Canadian ones.  I don't watch the halftime show because then I'd have to watch the game and the low budget Canadian commercials to know when that happens.

Having said all of that, every year, the day after the game, I go through YouTube and watch some of the commercials.  I have three categories of Superbowl commercials that I watch. I watch any trailers for upcoming TV shows or movies that I'm interested in (as a side note, really excited about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2). I also watch the commercials that everybody is talking about, not that many this year to be honest.  Finally I watch all of the candy related commercials, which I'm going to share with you right now.

This year there weren't that many candy commercials, or at least not many that I could find.  Worst of all it seemed to be the same brands that have commercials every year.  Just once I'd like to see a Hershey Bar or Gummy Bear commercial.  Better yet, if they ever bring back Runts Candy, they should introduce it with a Superbowl spot.  This year there were two candy commercials, and an interesting cola commercial that I feel suit being posted on this blog.

Surprisingly, or not at all, the folks at Skittles decided to do a weird commercial.  This seems to be a trend with them, and I'm not sure why.  It's become so common place for Skittles commercials to be weird, that it's not weird anymore.  I think to surprise us, one year they should just do a normal commercial, with nothing weird at all, now that would be shocking.


I imagine that this Snickers commercial might have been more entertaining if you were watching it while the game was on, because it has details about the game live.  That would have made this kind of funny.  Watching after the game, having not watched it at all, it just seems a little weird, but not weird like the Skittle commercial.

As a Canadian I can't say that this commercial made me feel any kind of patriotism, but I'm guessing it's not supposed to.  This is in fact a jab at Trump, and the current American governments stance on immigration. Unfortunately it appears that Trump was actually at the game, so he likely didn't see it, unless he reads this blog, which is very doubtful. So it's a pretty commercial, with a message for people other than myself.

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