Well, it’s that time of year again, Father’s Day is coming and you haven’t gotten Dad a gift yet. I’m sure you’re trying to decide between that Home Depot gift card or a BBQ set. WAIT! Don’t buy anything yet until you’ve read this!!!! I’ve found the ultimate CANDY to give as a Father’s Day gift: Beercandy! Yes, that’s right, candy made with beer. You have your choice of Caramels, Beertaffy, and HopDrops (which are hard candies made with real Hop oil).

Steve Casselman began brewing beer at home back in 1985. This past October, he started the Beercandy website in order to bring his beer candy to life. Steve uses 4 kinds of beer to make his candy: IPA, Stout, Lager and Lambic.

My husband is a huge beer fan and I’m actually on the site right now, ordering some Beercandy for his Father’s Day gift. Review to come!

• Beercandy Website

The Ghirardelli Caramel Latte chocolate bar is a limited-edition bar in Ghiradelli’s filled chocolate bar line. The bar marries Ghirardelli’s signature high-quality chocolate with a coffee-flavored caramel filling. Having lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for several years myself, I have to admit I am a teensy bit biased in Ghirardelli’s favor. And, as a native Portlander, I am way biased in favor of anything that has to do with coffee… as long as it’s good coffee.
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It’s not often that I get to review a local candy but I got an email recently from a chocolate company that just happens to be local to me – Red Light Chocolates. After a couple of emails, I was in possession of a beautiful box of their artisanal chocolates to try.

Red light Chocolates use the finest, freshest ingredients they can find. All of their flavorings are natural – pure fruit purees, organic mint leaves, and Madagascar vanilla beans to name a few. All of their artisanal chocolates are handmade in small batches. They don’t use preservatives, so they encourage you to enjoy the chocolates within two weeks of receiving them. Sounds delicious, doesn’t it?

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I should be ashamed of how quickly my household polished off Le Caramel’s caramel topping, caramel syrup, and caramel candies. But, it’s too good to feel bad about it. Granted, I think we finished a 14 oz jar of caramel topping in about one week, but hey, I took one for the team- to help you make good candy decisions. I know, I know… I do what I can.

I’m no gourmet caramel connoisseur, but, this was much better than your run-of-the-mill caramel. It was thick, creamy, and decadent. All of Le Caramel’s products are fantastic. I tried to put the salted butter caramel topping on anything I could find. I put it in my coffee, on ice cream, and on apple pie with ice cream. All were excellent ideas. I didn’t have any ice cream on hand (a crime in and of itself) so I bought some specifically for this caramel. I didn’t cheap out because I felt this caramel deserved the best vanilla bean, name-brand stuff. Crazy delicious!

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These treats make me selfish. I shared them with my roommates because I wanted their opinions for the review, but make no mistake, I resented it.

I open one of the packages of Allie’s Edibles Gourmet Crispy Rice treats and I’m overcome with the sweet smell of nostalgia wafted to my nose. It’s surprising how many of my childhood memories involve delicious foods (rubs belly and whispers “memories”). Rice crispy treats were and still are one of my favorites. We even grew up calling them “Rice Crispy Candy”. Adventurous as always, my Mom had coined a new name for them. It was only later as an adult that I realized this was not their proper name – to my embarrassment.

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