Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Review: Bear Naked Maple Nut Real Nut Energy Bar


It sometimes amazes me how products can vary from store to store in the same grocery store chain.  For example, I usually traffic two-to-three different Kroger stores in my area, so I typically see the same stuff over and over.  This past weekend, I was in a Kroger that out of my ordinary area and upon perusing the nutrition bar section, I saw some bars pop up that I've never seen in my normal stores, so I snatched a few up and that leads me to today's review of this Bear Naked Maple Nut Real Nut Energy Bar that I grabbed for $1.25.  I've seen the Bear Naked granola cereals in several stores, but this is my first time seeing the actual bars.  This particular bar came it at 2.0 ounces with 260 calories and eight grams of protein.



After I took this out of the wrapper, I was immediately hit with an overpowering scent of maple.  Now, I have always been one of those people that puts too much syrup on my waffles and pancakes, so I obviously have no problem with maple.  That said, people that aren't as addicted to maple may have a problem with this because it is quite strong.  Also, just like the syrup, this bar is quite sticky to hold and the fact that there is honey in this too certainly doesn't help make it any less sticky.  As for the rest of the bar, it's a mix of oats and nuts with peanut butter in the mix as well.  All of the nuts (almonds, cashews, peanuts and pecans) are all visible, but it's the almonds and cashews that stick out the most, at least from a visual perspective.  The only other thing of note was that this bar was very soft and pliable, so I knew I was headed for something that would be chewy.

Not surprisingly, my primary taste as I bit into this chewy bar was that of sweet maple and that was helped along by the sweet honey as well, which surprised me.  I didn't think the honey flavor would be as noticeable as I was expecting it to get overpowered by the maple, but it managed to holds it own.  What was also surprising was the fact that the peanut butter that was in the nut and oat mix was as noticeable as it was.  It wasn't a sweet peanut butter and that was good because the last thing this bar needed was more sweetness.  As for the nuts, I would say that the peanuts had the most pre-dominant flavor, but that is probably more due to the combination of those and the peanut butter.  The rest of the nuts just brought additional texture to each bite.  The almonds and cashews brought occasional large crunch since they were larger pieces and the peanuts and pecans added more graininess to each bite, especially when mixed with the oats.  Still, the primary flavor here was absolutely maple.

Buy It or Fly By It?  I've already mentioned that I have always been an overuser of maple syrup, so I'd be naturally inclined to like this bar and it turns out that I did like this bar, so it gets a BUY IT rating from me.  Even if you aren't as much of a maple freak as I am, I think you'll enjoy this bar because the flavor is so different, yet also so appealing.  That said, if you are not a maple person, you need to totally stay away from this bar because it is going to repulse you.

BUY IT!!

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