For some reason, caffeinated products surrounding the ass seem to have multiplied lately. In a few short months I have been able to try Kick Ass energy shots, Whoop Ass energy drink, and now Double Kick candy, featuring a very angry donkey kicking in the air ( geddit - a kicking ass) and is even put out by the KickAss Candy company. These are big sweets - but as they provide a satisfactory crunch, decent taste and a wicked buzz, I am very very glad they found their way to my doorstep. This is really candy store candy for grownups - something that belongs in those specialty candy emporiums that are popping up in malls across the country, only it's in every way not kid appropriate. In a way that adds to the fun. After all, just because we have grown older does not mean our taste buds have lost their enjoyment of a simple sugary sweet. Not to mention, its fun to have something that would be irresponsible to
Problem is I could not keep them around my house for very long. My kids, coworkers and just about anyone who saw me popping one obese into my mouth wanted to try out my treat samples. I really wanted to hoard them in an secret compartment and be all Daffy Duck about them (Mine! Mine! Mine! All Mine!), but in the end I managed to hold onto one of every flavor and not much else. It's OK, I like sharing, and it is just a testament to these candies that enough people wanted them.
Packaging:9
Double Kick candies borrow a whole lot from other candies I have loved in the past. For one, they come like Zots - in there are more than one in a pack, and they come in strips. This is brilliant packaging, as it gives them enough room to write a full ingredients list and nutritional label, as well as design something fun and keep them safe. I don't think these could possibly work if it was sold singly - there just would not be enough room. While this is not a marvel of technology, it does work very well for what it is trying to do, and you really gotta like their ingenious solution.
Double Kick candies borrow a whole lot from other candies I have loved in the past. For one, they come like Zots - in there are more than one in a pack, and they come in strips. This is brilliant packaging, as it gives them enough room to write a full ingredients list and nutritional label, as well as design something fun and keep them safe. I don't think these could possibly work if it was sold singly - there just would not be enough room. While this is not a marvel of technology, it does work very well for what it is trying to do, and you really gotta like their ingenious solution.
The design on the front is pretty cartoony, reminding me of a cheap Halloween novelty candy, or something you might find on a tab of acid. One thing for certain is it does not take itself very seriously. But hey - its a candy, not marketed as a workout supplement or dietary pill. In this way it works very nicely, as it then goes onto list caffeine content, the nutritional label and all the other info you would like to know about the double kick you are going to get. And you will be eating double, as with many of these flavors is too hard to stop munching the second package shortly after finishing the first.
Taste: grape:10, cherry:9, strawberry: 9, Orange: 8, Blue Raspberry:7, Watermelon: 7, Lime (although it is supposed to be Green Apple): 3
The texture of these treats was perfect for me, a lot crunchy, but could crumble to dust with ease. It reminded me a whole lot of Tums, in both size and crunch. An even better example was a short-lived candy that hit the markets a number of years ago - Giant Sweet Tarts. While these are not really giant, they are about Spree sized, and while one candy does not satisfy, the two-pack certainly does. I really like how you have about 30 seconds of suck if you can make it without crunching. All the sourness in the candies give it just the right pucker to give it a good bite if you can keep from chomping down.
Some of these flavors are better than others. The red and purple are my personal favorites. When the flavor is right - it tastes just like a Popsicle. The grape tastes especially Rocket Pop, the orange most like an Emergen-C and the strawberry and watermelon tasting just like Sweet Tarts. The green one is probably the worst - tasting like fake lime (although according to the flavor profile it's supposed to be apples?), but rather than tasting like a sour candy it ended up being too harsh and medicinal to really be enjoyable. When you get a package from them, it will contain an assortment of flavors, so like in a bag of Skittles or Starbursts, there are bound to be at least a couple flavors that you leave until all the good ones are gone.
Buzz:9
Most caffeinated candies are pretty mellow on the energy. It is just hard dealing with ingredients like Vitamin B and Glucurolactone and not get a treat that tastes more like ass than kick ass. Most of those ingredients are pretty bitter, and getting a candy to taste like candy is not such an easy feat. Most candies accomplish this by making very low doses of energy ingredients. In Double Kick's case, there is a serious...kick.
While they do not disclose the amount of caffeine on the package, they do on their website, and the buzz is enough to really feel it - especially if you have both candies. The interesting thing is how the buzz reacted in my body. Rather than it being a burst and then tapering, it was more of a subtle build - and it took a good half hour to start feeling it too. When I did, the buzz was more of just an all over awake and alert feeling and it lasted for a good three hours or so. While I am not sure I would turn to this if I needed an immediate pick-me-up, it was cool to see how potent these little Kick Ass candies are.
