"new product" news and stories

A new energy drink called Liquid Experience, inspired by Jimi Hendrix, is being released this spring by Beverage Concepts. The drink, which is named after Hendrix's breakthrough album, "Are You Experienced?" is nonalcoholic and uses the guitarist's image as part of its promotional materials. While the Jimi Hendrix vodka didn't seem to excite much controversy, the energy drink is not going over too well with fans, who feel that "his image and the beautiful feelings it has created during my lifetime cheapened by base advertising." Hopefully, those somewhat disgruntled fans can take comfort in the fact that Beverage Concepts Chief Executive Josh Glass has promised to donated a portion of the royalties from the sale of the drink will go to educational causes, as many other products that have use Hendrix's image in the past have done. According to Glass, the company will probably choose a music education foundation.

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I think that Cybele, who writes Candy Blog, gets a lot of her candy samples from convenience stores, which are more likely to stock the limited edition varieties of bars than the average grocery store. It just so happened that, while on a little bit of a road trip, I spotted this Limited Edition Triple Chocolate Twix in such a store.

The bar had the same milky, sweet chocolate covering that most Twix bars do, but also had a layer of chocolate caramel on top of a chocolate cookie. The cookie went wonderfully in the bar. It had a good chocolate flavor and was very light and tender, especially when compared to the much firmer cookie that is usually included in the candy bar. The caramel did not seem all that chocolaty when eaten alone, but it really tied the chocolate coating in to the chocolate cookie. When taken as a whole, the bar was excellent. It was lighter and more addictive than the standard Twix, with a good balance of chocolate and sweetness. It's hard to say how long a limited edition bar will stick around once it has been released, but this flavor is clearly a winner, so let's hope it is available for more than a couple of weeks.

Peels is a brand of alcoholic mixed drinks that, unlike most others in their category, are made with real fruit juice. Like so many mixed drinks, they are aimed a women, but their flavors - Blueberry Pomegranate, Cranberry Peach and Strawberry Passion Fruit - should appeal to anyone who likes fruity flavors. For this holiday season, the company has released a new flavor, Spiced Apple. The drink is made with 100% natural ingredients and tastes similar to a classic spiced cider, with the crisp taste of apples and the warming scent of cinnamon. It can even be heated up, although the rest of the Peels drinks are generally meant to be served cold. It contains 5% alcohol by volume and the company says that it is "perfect for a girls' night-in, a seasonal party or just enjoying in front of the fire."

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By now we have firmly established that the end-of-the year is pie season and, while pies are still delicious year round, they are rarely more appreciated. To capitalize on our love of pies in fall, Godiva has released a limited edition American Pie Collection. The 18-piece box features pie-flavored truffles, elegantly painted and shaped into little wedges of "pie." There are a total of eight flavors included:

• Apple Crumb Pie - made with real Granny Smith apples and cinnamon
• Strawberry Pie - features fresh strawberries, sugar and butter, like the summer pie filling
• Key Lime - condensed milk, vanilla and lime juice inside a white chocolate shell
• Lemon Meringue - white chocolate with a meringue-textured lemon filling
• Banana Cream Pie - a mix of banana and vanilla in a white chocolate ganache
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie - combines natural-style peanut butter and chocolate cream
• Chocolate Cream Pie - a 72% chocolate truffle center in dark chocolate
• Pecan Pie - pecans mixed into a molasses flavored milk caramel and mixed with milk and dark chocolate

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It looks like Hershey's has just rolled out a new limited edition chocolate for the upcoming Christmas season. Before I took a good look at the package, I momentarily thought that the Candy Cane Mint Kisses might be tiny mints that were shaped like Kisses, but it turns out that they are a white chocolate-based treat. The white kisses are flavored with mint and have red stripes on the outside. Embedded in the chocolate are tiny red nonpareils, which add a tiny crunch to the candy and look vaguely like bits of candy cane, though they actually have no discernible flavor of their own. The chocolate is very smooth and the mint is not so overwhelming that it would stop you from reaching for a second, but the Kisses seem to be slightly richer than average. Overall, these seem like a good holiday candy option to put out in a candy dish for occasional treat, but they're not so good that I would want to have a bowl all to myself. If they ever decide to put bits of candy cane in them, however, I might have to reconsider.

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