The amount of limited edition candy being released these days seems to be increasing and all the major candy names have jumped on the bandwagon. One of the most recent victims of this is 3 Musketeers with the 3 Musketeers mint variety as well as the strawberry, vanilla and mocha cappuccino flavors that were released in the late last year. Now in 2008 we get three new flavors: Cherry, Raspberry and Orange. I missed the Valentine’s Day cherry release but luckily I caught the Raspberry and Orange varieties.
3 Musketeers seems like the perfect candy bar for limited editions. It’s fairly simple in concept: flavored nougat enrobed in chocolate, and one would imagine that the flavor combinations could be endless. However, looking back on all the varieties they’ve released so far, I’ve felt that something has gone awry. With these two new releases, I was hoping the flavors kinks would finally be worked out.
Raspberry: The wrapper says that this version is made with dark chocolate, and the color of the chocolate is indeed quite dark with a rich brown hue. It smells mostly of the chocolate, but there is that recognizable, floral fruity smell of raspberry there. It’s not very powerful, just noticeable.
In the first bite you immediately taste the raspberry and it’s very nice. It has the same components as the aroma: floral and fruity with a nice sweet/tart combination that reads as raspberry. The flavor is all in the fluffy nougat, which seems more purple in color to me than pink, which I would have expected since raspberries are red. The dark chocolate provided a nice, sweet background to the raspberry flavor and you notice it more in the aftertaste when the raspberry flavors have disappeared. I think out of all the “fruity” flavors I’ve had so far, this is one of the better ones.
Orange: The packaging immediately looks odd with all the orange going on. I’m so used to the silver/red/blue that this just seems garish. The green color for the mint flavor’s packaging worked for me since it’s a color that matches red in the color wheel, but I digress. There’s no orange smell at all once I unwrapped my mini from the package and I was expecting at least a slight whiff of orange!
Taking a bite, it’s very normal 3 Musketeers: light, creamy and chocolaty. Where’s the orange? I mean, the center is certainly orange colored, but can’t taste anything at all. I found the flavor, sort of, in the second bite. It’s in the aftertaste and it’s very, very faint: a light orange note that’s very, very sweet. I’m disappointed since this could have been a really fun and punchy combo, which instead falls flat due to lack of flavor and too much sugar.
I wouldn’t recommend picking these up unless you’re a die hard fan of orange or raspberry flavors in chocolate. The Raspberry was good, but unremarkable enough that I didn’t finish them. The Orange was so uneventful that I ended up forgetting about them in my cupboard (and trust me, that is not a regular thing for me to do)! I wish Mars would make the limited edition flavors of 3 Musketeers more intense, which I think would solve the dilemma. How about you? What are your thoughts on these flavors?
Buy 3 Musketeers online:
- at CandyDirect.com
- at Oldtimecandy.com
- at Amazon.com
WOW and here I was trying to figure out how to reduce my chocolate intake. Then you bestow upon me information of this magnitude? I love 3 Musketeers and raspberries are like my favorite artificial fruit flavor. I have a box of Reese’s 3 whips because they are like 3 Musketeers but peanut buttery.
So it looks like something else I’ll have to purchase….
Thanks for the great find!
March 12th, 2008 at 10:53 amI’ll take the rest of your raspberry ones! I’m totally addicted to them! I think I could eat them every day and not get tired of them.
I also had the cherry and my reaction to them was like your’s to the raspberry – good but not outstanding (though I did eventually finish them).
March 12th, 2008 at 2:41 pmThanks for trying these– so I don’t have to! ;>
March 12th, 2008 at 3:55 pmI picked up the Raspberry ones a couple weeks ago and passed them around the office… I haven’t seen the Orange ones, but I would try them too… I am a Candy Addict after all.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:48 amThe raspberry ones sound good, but in my head i am actually imagining the taste of chocolate-covered raspberry jellies from Trader Joe’s – I doubt it’d be anything like that! Step up to the plate, 3 Musketeers!
March 13th, 2008 at 3:48 pmI just managed to finally find the orange ones, I only had one, but it was quite nice and refreshing. Not too strong, but definitely not lacking flavor! I truly enjoyed it!
March 20th, 2008 at 11:16 pmI still have some of the Cherry ones from Valentine’s day and they are really good. They were good. I didn’t get a chance to try the Vanilla, Strawberry or Raspberry flavors. I may have to check the stores to see if they are still selling them.
April 8th, 2008 at 1:50 amI don’t know what people are talking about the orange 3 musketeers was the bomb I couldn’t get enough of them! I searched everywhere to find more of them and then was told they were a limited edition! If there is any way I could get more please let me know. I found one the other day in my son’s room and I was in HEAVEN but only for a moment and then it was gone. SOOOOOOOOO PLEASE hook me up!!!!!
September 1st, 2008 at 6:55 pmI’m with you Maxwell the orange was the best candy bar I had had in a long time. They should have kept it rather than the mint. Mint is too predictable and only good once in a while. I could have eaten the orange regularly.
October 30th, 2008 at 3:58 pm