Blast From The Past 2: Nestlé in the Noughties - ft. Irish Cream Rolos, Sticky Toffee Aeros & More!


As promised in my first Blast From The Past post, here is part 2 featuring many other product spinoffs Nestlé did in the mid 2000's. During that time they had brought in a new manager whose strategy was to flood the market with lots of new products. It was rather similar to the endless new product releases from Cadbury, the only difference being that many of these products went unnoticed due to limited distribution.

If you remember any of these yourself please do get in touch via the comments!

Rolo Irish Cream:
These were a bit sickly sweet, as I recall, and didn't have a strong irish cream flavour, but made for a nice change from regular Rolos!

Rolo Florida Orange: 

These contained orange-flavoured caramel. They were interesting but the orange flavour wasn't very strong. McDonald's did a Florida Orange Rolo McFlurry when these were available which was nicer than the actual chocolates!

Milkybar Choco Mousse:

These were available in 2004 and contained a chocolate-flavoured mousse filling. They made a nice change from regular Milkybars, although weren't particularly memorable.

Aero Sticky Toffee:

This Aero contained a butterscotch flavoured bubbly centre. They were extremely sweet, but I rather enjoyed them. The bars were much larger than a "large" Aero is nowadays!

Aero Irish Cream:

This Aero contained an Irish Cream flavoured bubbly centre, which I found rather sickly. 

Aero Chocolate Truffle:

This was a rather pointless bar that contained a bland tasting truffle sat above a base of regular Aero chocolate.

Golden Crumble:

In 2005 Nestlé brought the Australian classic "Violet Crumble" to the UK to compete with Cadbury's Crunchie, but renamed it as "Golden Crumble". It didn't really take off, and I'm not surprised because it didn't use real chocolate - just a fake chocolate-flavoured coating.

Milkybar Munchies:

These were available during the early 2000's and were one of my favourite Milkybar products. They were a simple combination of crunchy shortcake biscuit pieces coated in creamy Milkybar chocolate. Nestlé tried to market them as being for adults rather than kids - anyone else remember those funny adverts?

Kitkat Strawberries and Cream:

I overlooked this Kitkat flavour in my last Blast From The Plast post - they were a Summer limited edition available only in a 2-finger format, and consisted of regular Kitkat wafers coated in white chocolate with strawberry flavour chocolate marbled into it. They tasted okay, but skimped on the strawberry flavour a bit so were ultimately disappointing!

White Chocolate Rolo Caramel and Cream:

These were released after Irish Cream Rolos were discontinued. They were white chocolate Rolos containing caramel and a layer of soft white chocolate "cream". They were nice but very sweet.

White Chocolate Smarties:

These were ace and far nicer than milk chocolate Smarties! I remember them being on special offer in Woolworths at 4 packs for a pound (back in the day when you could still get 4 chocolate bars for a pound!). They were a limited edition for Christmas 2004.

Milkybar Choo:

Last seen in the early 2000's, I don't know why Nestlé discontinued these - they were ace! They tasted like a Milkybar version of Cadbury Fudge, but much creamier.

Milkybar Milk & Cookies:

I don't remember much about this bar but it was apparently available in the early 2000's in some discount stores. I'm not sure if it was an official release or an imported product.

Aero White:

A white chocolate Aero centre coated in milk chocolate. They were nice but nothing amazing.

Aero Honeycomb:

These were nothing special, but I'll always remember the adverts for them with the mouse!

Nestlé Texan Bar:

Nestlé relaunched the Texan bar briefly in 2005 as part of a Blast from the Past range which included retro wrappers on several other products. It didn't last for long and I'm not surprised - it contained overly chewy toffee and bland tasting milk chocolate.

Yorkie Hot Stuff - Rum Flavour:

This was a rum flavour Yorkie bar brought out for Christmas and only came in a large size. It had a horrible artificial flavour that was very unpleasant.

Yorkie Blue Ice:

This Yorkie contained blue-coloured crunchy mint chips, and was surprisingly tasty! I'm not sure about the strapline though...I don't think they'd be able to get away with that nowadays!

Polo Liquid Orbs:

Another minty product Nestlé did for a while were these liquid-filled Polo Orbs. They were a very odd concept and unsurprisingly didn't last for long! The packs contained little gel capsules filled with an intense mint-flavoured oil, and were basically the sweet equivalent of washing machine gel tablets!

Munchies Bar: 

I always remember trying this Munchies Bar, which I was once given as a birthday treat. I loved it! Back then Nestlé Munchies were great chocolates with soft tasty caramel and crunchy shortcake biscuit, and this bar version was even nicer than the regular ones! Unfortunately it was only available very briefly.

Lemon Sorbet After Eights: 
Available around 2006, these were meant to be a Summer spinoff, but didn't last for long. They were very nice as I remember!

Irish Cream After Eight:


These were rather sickly and only lasted for one Christmas. Apparently they are still produced in other markets but are combined with mint flavour.

Quality Street Pizzaz:

Nestlé did a spinoff Quality Street product called Pizazz in 2006. They contained flavours such as cookies and cream and were marketed as being more modern than regular Quality Street.

After Eight Straws Mint:

These were stick-shaped versions of After Eight which contained a greater amount of mint creme filling than regular After Eights. They were marketed as being suitable for dinner parties.

After Eight Straws Grand Marnier:

These were only available for one Christmas and contained a Grand Marnier liquer flavoured filling.

Milkybar Bites :

These were around very briefly, and were honey-flavoured crunchy bites coated in Milkybar. They were too sweet as I recall. This small pic is the only one I could find online.

Milkybar Raisins: These were also only available briefly and were basically raisins coated in Milkybar chocolate. They were marketed as being "healthier" and for kids. I can't find any pictures online unfortunately.

Lion Peanut:

These too were only around briefly, but a Polish version has since made a return in many discount stores, alongside the fantastic White Chocolate Lion Bar!

Little Notions:

These were interesting. They were marketed at women using what Nestlé called "girly logic", with phrases on the packets such as "I'll just have one and save the rest..." and "It contains fruit so it must be healthy". They didn't last for long, and the products were quite rubbish and overpriced. The range included a lemon cheesecake bar, coconut and white chocolate wafer bites, and raspberry yogurt bites.

Milkybar Strawberry Mousse Eggs:

These were really nice, they were classic Milkybar chocolate eggs with a tasty strawberry mousse filling. I don't know why they stopped making them!

Rolo & Hunnies (image: taquitos.net):

These were a bit pointless - a bag of regular mini Rolos that also contained nuggets of chocolate-coated honeycomb.

Milkybar White Moments (image: Jim's Chocolate Mission)

These were available more recently but have now been discontinued. They were basically a white chocolate version of Minstrels, and are similar to the white chocolates found in Vice Versas but without the dark shell.

Well, that's it for my second Blast From The Past post! I hope everyone has enjoyed reading and hopefully you've seen some products you may remember... or perhaps some interesting ones you've never heard of!

I'm hoping to feature some of Cadbury's various product spinoffs and limited editions throughout the years for Part 3 (including a Lemonade flavoured Crunchie bar!), and eventually I'd like to write about products from the 80's and 90's. Yes - I'll be delving deep into chocolate history! If there are any bars you remember or would like to see featured, please don't hestitate to get in touch! :)

*Credit to chocolatereview.co.uk for most of these images, plus ciao.co.uk and snackspot.org.uk 

Comments

  1. Firstly - Wow! This post is huge and must have taken ages to research! The first post was so much fun to look through, thank you for doing it again. :)

    Secondly - I think I must have lived in a cave for quite some time, because I remember next to none of these.

    I'd like to see a return of the Milkybar choco mousse as that's something I'd like to try, though if you don't find them particularly memorable there's probably something that could be improved in the execution! I'd definitely want to find the Milk and Cookies version though. I'm sure I've seen an imported version (Australia, perhaps?) on the CyberCandy website. But yes, I'm too lazy to check right now. ;)

    I tried the Australian Violet Crumble about a year ago and actually preferred it to the Cadbury's version - I thought the honeycomb middle had a better texture and liked the fact the entire thing didn't seem as sugary. I hadn't realised Nestle had tried to release a version of it here!

    Speaking of Nestle things, the limited edition product I really wish had stayed around was the Wonka Whipple Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight. It was released as a tie in to the Depp Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie along with two other flavours. If memory serves me correctly, it was very good. I think that's partially why I'm so disappointed in the newly relaunched Wonka offerings with the caramel paste.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Also, so sorry, didn't mean to write an essay! Oops!

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    2. Hehe no worries Lindsey, I'm glad you liked this post, it did indeed take a while to research but it was rewarding :)

      Perhaps the Aussie Violet Crumble is different to the one Nestle tried to release here...I just remember it had a horrible chocolate flavour coating on it. I bet the real one is nicer! And yeahCyberCandy do sell the milk and cookies Milkybar, Grocery Gems has reviewed it before, I think.

      Ah, I remember the Wonka Fudgemallow Delight! The other flavours were Triple Dazzle Caramel (white chocolate bar filled with caramel) and another one...Nutty Crunch or something like that. I think they also did some Wonka fruity drops coated in Caramac, white and milk chocolate. I'll have to do some research and do a new post on them sometime :)

      Delete
  2. It worries me that I hardly remember/know of any of these!

    Milkybar Munchies, though...oh my word they were amazeballs. Why oh why where they discontinued? :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They were indeed amazing...I think we need to ask Nestle to bring them back!

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  3. I remember the white chocolate smarties :)
    Kev, your making me want to reach for my strategically hidden bar of chocolate now.
    I really fancy a pack of those white chocolate munchies though - shame you can't buy these anymore!

    Emma
    (Dear Thirty)

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    Replies
    1. Ah, I'm glad someone else remembers the Smarties :) I find it so surprising they've never made any before or since then. They'd surely be popular with kids!

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  4. Awesome post Kev. Only the other day I was trying to remember what Little Notions were called and now I know! I used to be addicted to the raspberry yogurt bites, I ate a packet every day for a long time.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Hannah :) Oh wow I'm surprised you remember the Little Notions...thought it was just me lol! I remember they used to be sold in Superdrug and places like that. Those raspberry bites were probably the best ones they did...did you ever try the lemon cheesecake bar?

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    2. It's so weird because I really was sat there racking my brain about these just last week and I always got them in Superdrug near my work at the time. I don't remember trying the other products in the range. I tried the raspberry ones because I had a pack free with a magazine once and then they became my favourite lunchtime treat!

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  5. I remember Little Notions, Pizazz, Milkybar Choo, Milkybar Munchies, Sticky Toffee Aero

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  6. Wow!!!! I must admit this review is quite honestly the tastiest, mouth watering, sensational masterpiece I have ever happened to stumble across. I've been readin ur reviews for many hours now....(just wish there was more). If only I had ur talents and taste buds. I would love to know what ur opinion is towards the new vice versas, im currently starting a petition to bring back the old ones as one strongly believes they are not the same ingredients.
    Your truly
    Lucy

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  7. This is brilliant! Which one do you think we should get Nestle to make again? I've got a mate there so could pull a favour! haha!

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  8. I only know 2 other people who remember the Milkybar Choco Mousse! I loved them!

    Does anyone know if it is possible to buy them from anywhere? They were only avaialbale for like 6 months or something were they not? I was surprised they weren't more popular.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I actually remember quite a few of these and I don't know why they discontinued some of them esp the smarties :) the only ones I don't remember seeing and wish i had are the Yorkies :( Lovely review

    ReplyDelete
  10. I remember most of these... especially the irish creme rolos those used to be fantastic

    ReplyDelete
  11. I found a picture of Milkybar Raisins online although the photo of them may be a bit small. http://csimg.leguide.com/srvprd/GB/6234994/T/210x210/C/FFFFFF/url/product.jpg

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for that April! Nice to see them again. Only just noticed your comment nearly a year late lol.

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  12. I have memories of munchies that had a whole hazelnut and caramel centre but nobody else seems to remember them. Are they a figment of my imagination?

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  13. There was briefly a Atkins diet KitKat in 2004! I didn't buy one , but I wish I had bought one for my chocolate wrapper collection...

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  14. Also, be aware of any poppy seed foods, like pastry or hemp related foods or oils as these have the potential to register a false-positive. In the rare instance where you are found positive for drug use, and you are confident that you did not use that drug, take a close look at anything you might have taken or eaten that could have produced the false-positive in urine testing. The use of a professional drg tests company can also prevent false positives. All positive screenings should always be confirmed by a laboratory certified by the Federal Government. It’s relatively apparent that anyone interested in learning how drugging testing to pass should be aware that the best method for passing is to completely abstain from illicit drug use.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks for this! My fav was the milkway choco mousse!!

    ReplyDelete

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