Review: Quaker Big Chewy Sweet & Salty Caramel Popcorn Crunch Granola Bars

I've touched on one of these new Quaker Big Chewy Sweet & Salty granola bars in a prior review and in classic Chewy bar fashion, it was tasty, but certainly not anything that would re-define my life.  Even though I've got that prior experience with countless Chewy bars, I was still anxious to dive into this box of five Quaker Big Chewy Sweet & Salty Caramel Popcorn Crunch Granola Bars because just the flavor combination seemed intriguing since it is something that I've never seen in granola bar form before.  Anyway, I picked up this box up on sale at Meijer for $2.00 and each bar in the box was 1.41 ounces and had 170 calories.

The base of this bar is a layer of chocolate coating.  On top of that chocolate coating is a mix that contains Quaker Chewy's standard granola mix, large pretzel rod pieces and also fairly sizable chunks of caramel popcorn.  The bar is then topped with a swirl of chocolate coating for what I'm sure is decoration's sake.  In terms of smell, it was a mild combination of smells that included both chocolate and caramel. It's also 60% bigger than a standard Chewy bar, so woo-hoo!

Biting into the bar definitely provided that familiar Quaker Chewy feel, although this time it was mixed with the airy crunch of the pretzel pieces which brought a hint of saltiness and then the caramel popcorn pieces that brought a bit more of the airy feel mixed with a bit of biting sweetness.  The chocolate base and swirl then melted over all of that mix to provide some decadent sweetness that tamed the saltiness of the pretzels and the hint of salt coming from what should have been a semi-sweet popcorn.  All in all, it was an equal mix of sweet and salty, and since that was clearly what Quaker intended to happen, they can declare this combination a victory from a structural standpoint.

Buy It or Fly By It?  Just like the last bar, it was nothing mind bending, but this was still a tasty and solid product and for that, it gets a BUY IT rating.  Given the choice between this bar and the previous Sweet & Salty Big Chewy bar that I reviewed I'd choose this one, but much like most Quaker products, you'd be safe grabbing any of them as you'd have a tasty treat.

BUY IT!!