I was pretty excited to snag a sample pack of these new Sour Patch Chillerz at the All Candy Expo. Excited – yet conflicted.
You see, while Sour Patch Kids are one of my most favorite candies ever, and the thought of a new flavor variety fills me with joy, these ones promise a “cooling effect.†That usually means the presence of menthol, which is definitely one of my least favorite flavors. It never fails to make me think of cough drops, especially when combined with any kind of fruit flavor. “Burning throat pain†is just not a sense association I want attached to my candy, thankyouverymuch (unless that candy is an Atomic Fireball, of course).
But nothing ventured, nothing gained – I tore open my pouch of Chillerz (is that “z†really still cool?) and was greeted with a nice fruity scent – with only a very faint whiff of menthol. In this low of a concentration, it was actually – pleasant.
When I popped one into my mouth, I couldn’t taste the menthol at all at first, just the usual sweet-sour Sour Patch goodness. But as I chewed, the minty flavor gradually started to come out. You have to give them a pretty good chew to get the maximum mint flavor, but then the mintiness hangs around in the back of your throat for a bit, providing a nice mild cooling sensation – not cough-droppy at all.
These come in four colors (or that’s what was in my sample pack, anyway):
Purple – a light grape soda flavor, augmented with that hint of mint.
Blue – a light, tart berry or fruit punch – for some reason, I didn’t get any mint out of this one at all, but it was tasty nonetheless.
Red – tastes a little different than the usual red Sour Patch Kids – I think it’s a little strawberry-er than I remember. The menthol comes out good and strong in these – unfortunately, I think this is the flavor it goes the least well with.
Yellow – As far as I can tell, the same lemon as the original. It tastes, frankly, like lemon Halls, only more on the lemon and less on the menthol side.
Up until now, my dislike of menthol-flavored things was based on cough drops and some extremely mentholated fruit-flavored gum that was popular when I was in junior high. This nice mellow coolness, however, seems to complement the fruit flavors rather than competing with them. So even if you don’t like fruity-minty things, give these a try – you may be as pleasantly surprised as I was.
Buy Sour Patch Kids Online:
- at Candy Crate
- at Candy Direct
- at Amazon.com
i totally ate these and couldn’t tell much of a difference from the original, but i think that’s a good thing
June 1st, 2009 at 10:33 pm[...] were actually way more sour than minty, with just a cooling hint at the center. (If these and the Sour Patch Chillerz are anything to go by, there’s some kind of trend towards more restrained fruit and mint [...]
June 2nd, 2009 at 4:01 amthese were disgusting. the menthol completely ruins the flavors and overpowers it all. it’s not chilling or cooling, it just tastes like a cough drop
September 19th, 2011 at 4:16 pm