Mars Bar
Before today I hadn’t had a Mars bar in say…at least one or two years. Like the Dairy Milk, they just seem so unremarkable, despite being one of the best sellers not only in the UK, but also in America under the title of ‘3 Musketeers’ ‘Milky Way’.
Why they’re called that in America, I don’t know, but no doubt they’d say the same about why we call it a Mars bar, so I won’t get into that debate. But basically, a Mars bar is mostly made up of fluffy nougat, with a layer of caramel above it, and coated in chocolate. It sounds good, and it is good, but that’s all there is to it really, and I usually look for more when it comes to chocolate.
It’s a nice bar, but there are better chocolates out there. I love Kinder Buenos, and the Peanut Butter Kit Kats and so forth, and whilst I like this, I never see it on the shelves and think about how much I want one, so this is a strange one. Still, I can’t fault it too much, because it does what it sets out to do, the nougat is fluffy, and the main three components are mixed well, not one is too overpowering.
I guess if these are on offer, which from what I can tell they usually are, then I’d suggest picking one up, but other than that I can’t understand why you’d want this over everything else a typical shop would offer. But if you do crave one, then rest assured it’s a decent enough bar and you shouldn’t be disappointed.
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May 24th, 2007 at 2:30 am
They’re called Milky Way here in the States. (3 Musketeers is even lamer now as names go - it’s just nougat covered in chocolate - it used to come in three segments with one vanilla, one chocolate and one strawberry.)
I like the idea of Mars bars, but they never quite live up to it.
May 24th, 2007 at 2:48 am
Milky Way is it? Ugh, I’m sure you know we have another bar called the Milky Way, and it’s just gonna get confusing if we try and sort out what’s called what and where.
2:45am, it’s too late for this. I guess I just got the wrong bar.
May 24th, 2007 at 4:02 am
Yeah, I tried to figure it all out one day. Here are the bars made by Mars in the US:
3 Musketeers - nougat & chocolate - Called Milky Way in UK
Milky Way - nougat, caramel & chocolate - called Mars in UK
Snickers - nougat, caramel, peanuts & chocolate - was called Marathon in UK, now Snickers
Marathon - caramel & chocolate (same as Cadbury Curly Wurly)
Mars - nougat, caramel, almonds & chocolate (discontinued, now called Snickers Almond but also contains peanuts)
All I can say is that the Mars company really didn’t think things through.
May 24th, 2007 at 4:22 am
Well done Cybele, much appreciated.
Gotta agree with you about Mars’ brand naming policy. What were they thinking?
May 24th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
I agree with you Terry. I was underwhelmed by the Mars bar when I first tried it about a month ago. That being said, I always have been a fan of the milky way….but especially the “midnight” version that uses dark chocolate and vanilla nougat.
May 25th, 2007 at 12:19 am
Sera, that sounds pretty good. It amazes me that one of the top selling bars in the UK has no limited editions at all, except for the recently released (and poor) Mars Planets. Dairy Milk is the top seller and there are loads of limited edition varieties, Mars need to pull their finger out.
June 20th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
I’ve eaten Mars Bars for over 46 years. Around 10 to 20 years ago it was utterly differrent. The basic concept was identical but the consistancy was much harder. The quality was excellent, and altogether another division. The old Mars was top of the premier league, the current is bottom of div 2. Although many might like it now, and I still do, just, it bears no comparison to what it was at all. The reason, simple, thev’e made it ‘better’ by making it cheaper to make, much, much cheaper.
June 20th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
That’s unfortunately what a lot of the chocolate from the big corporations is like nowadays, Mark. You may be interested in my Chocolate Trading Co. bar review, which you can find on the right hand side of the page under the same title. Basically the only real quality chocolate you’ll get nowadays is from honest confectioners, who are usually quite small, and usually quite expensive.
40p just doesn’t get you good quality anymore.
June 20th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
Yeah, seems that Mars wants to play it safe and stick to the classics. I remember reading a news brief a while ago about how Nestle started to lose revenue once it started to put out all the LE Kitkats…
If you ever want me to send you a Milkyway Midnight, just email me and say the word!
June 20th, 2007 at 11:19 pm
Yep I remember that same article. Nestle went a bit crazy though, they brought out loads all at the same time for no particular reason. Mars won’t do any at all though, not even 1.
As for that offer, I may very well have to take you up on that…
June 25th, 2007 at 10:36 pm
I miss the American Mars bar. It was my favorite.
Things never stay the same do they?