Review: Red Vines, Super Ropes, and Sour Punch Bites

Sunday, February 12, 2006 - by Brian

Here’s the story so far:

1. SNL released Lazy Sunday/Red Vines + Mr. Pibb = Crazy Delicious.
2. I mentioned that I had never had Red Vines before and a reader admonished me for it.
3. I found Red Vines locally, reviewed them, and realized they were EXPIRED!
4. The American Licorice Company, the makers of Red Vines, heard of my plight and sent me a box of fresh candy to try/review.
5. What follows are the reviews of the fresh candy.

Super Ropes: I had never heard of Super Ropes before, so I tried those first. The bag contained six 34-inch ropes (17 feet of rope). They are freakin’ great. They come in Red, Slammin’ Strawberry, and Wild Cherry flavors but my bag was original red flavor. I thought the flavor was cherry, but I was told by a representative from the company that “they are Red flavor and it is a secret recipe”. I thought orange was the only color that was also a flavor. I can see how kids would really love them too since they are so long you can twist them around and even tie knots in them. Once I start on a rope, I can’t help but finish it.

Red Vines: Fresh Red Vines are a totally different beast than expired ones. These were much softer than the expired ones (and softer than Twizzlers). Red Vines are also “red flavor” which I can’t totally describe but is pretty darn good. Super Ropes are solid, but Red Vines are hollow. You can even bite each end off and use it as a straw (but only if you are under the age of 13).

Sour Punch Bites: I tried both the Sour Apple and Strawberry flavored Sour Punch Bites. The Sour Apple Bites were pretty good, very soft and chewy with a really good sour apple flavor. The Strawberry just didn’t have much flavor to me and what flavor was there was just so-so. I didn’t think either of them were very sour, though that’s a good thing sometimes. I convinced my wife, the Strawberry-Twizzlers-lover, to try one and she could not stand how sour they were – I wish I had taken a picture of her puckered-up face. They don’t even even phase me – maybe I have built up a tolerance by ingesting too many Sour Spanks.

Snaps: I hate black licorice, so I didn’t even bother trying these. I am not the person to review anything that tastes like black licorice. It’s like asking a four-year old to review peas. The best you will hear is that it’s ok. The worst….it’s awful. So, from the Snaps page:

Snaps® is the candy with the licorice center, pastel-colored candy coatings and unique taste. Introduced in the 1930s, Snaps brand candy is the nostalgic confection with a legion of rabid fans. Many consumers remember Snaps bites in their 2-cent classic red boxes, especially eating them on the playgrounds of their youth. Though attempts have been made to duplicate its proprietary formula, nothing matches the original. With its licorice center, unique flavor and colorful pastel candy coatings, the look and taste of Snaps candy has remained unchanged since the 1930s, making Snaps® a true classic.

UPDATE: Sera has given Snaps a proper review.

Black Red Vines: See Snaps, above. This one bewilders me. Black Red Vines. They are not red, nor “red flavor”. They are black and black licorice flavor. How confusing.

In summary, the Super Ropes and Red Vines (red) are great. They are going on my favorites list. Great stuff. The Sour Punch Bites weren’t bad, but nowhere near as good as the Super Ropes and Red Vines. The Snaps and black Red Vines are licorice and I didn’t even bother trying them since I hate black licorice.

As a bonus for those that have read this far, here is a piece of trivia: In 1925, the American Licorice Co. created a licorice shoe for Charlie Chaplin to chew in his movie “The Gold Rush”.

Links:
Super Ropes
Red Vines
Snaps
Sour Punch
American Licorice Co.

candy, licorice, red+vines, review, reviews, food, food+blog, food+blogs, red, vines, sour