Friday, August 1, 2014

Review: KIND Strong & Kind Honey Smoked BBQ Almond Protein Bar


I mentioned in my last KIND review that the thought of a savory snack bar kind of frightens me.  Still, I'm always looking to try out new products, so despite my fears, I had a desire to try out this KIND Strong & Kind Honey Smoked BBQ Almond Protein Bar that I picked up in the same shopping trip as the last review for $1.25 at Kroger.  This bar clocks in at 1.6 ounces with 230 calories and ten grams of protein.  It's also gluten free, so it's more than just a pretty face...or something.



KIND is kind enough (get it?) to put their bars in clear packaging, so there's not a lot of mystery in how these look once you get them out of the wrapper.  The only real mystery lies in how they feel and how they smell.  Being that this bar clearly identified honey as an ingredient, it should come as no surprise that this bar was quite sticky.  In terms of smell, it unsurprisingly smelled like a barbecue sauce, albeit one that had a bit of cayenne pepper in it as that was definitely a discernible smell out of the packaging.  In terms of the actualy composition of the bar, you can clearly see that there are A LOT of almonds and pumpkin seeds spread throughout this one and having had one of these Strong & Kind bars before, it seems that is par for the course.  Within the mix of the bar, there's also some standard barbecue seasonings like pepper, mustard, garlic, etc.

As opposed to my last try at a Strong & Kind bar, my first bite did not provide me with an initial burst of heat and spice.  This bar was particularly mild and I would almost say that it was only slightly warmer than your typical ketchup.  As for the flavor itself, it definitely had a peppery taste from both the black pepper and cayenne pepper in the mix, but like I said, it wasn't particularly overwhelming and didn't really reveal itself until the end of each bite.  What was noticeable about the barbecue flavor in this bar is that the honey actually made its presence known and brought a degree of sweetness to each bite and since I'm a "sweets" guy, I appreciated that.  As for the texture, the nuts and seeds brought a great deal of crunch and graininess to this bar and as a "crunchy" guy too, I appreciated that as well.

Buy It or Fly By It?  I'm still having trouble getting over the savory bar thing, but for a savory bar, I found this one to be particularly enjoyable and I'll give this one a BUY IT rating.  It certainly wouldn't be my first option to grab off the shelf if I was looking for a snack because it is savory, but if I was looking in that direction, I'd be delighted to grab this one as it was just mild enough for me to enjoy.

BUY IT!!

2 comments:

  1. I picked up this flavor as soon as I heard KIND was making a savory variety. Having WAY too many dietary restrictions, I was excited to see a bar that I could actually use as an emergency lunch substitute. 'Cause, blueberry-vanilla-cashew isn't very lunch-y.

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    Replies
    1. I never thought of it that way. As a lunch substitute, I think savory makes more sense and I could see myself doing it. As a snack/treat though, I tend to lean toward sweet, so this bar couldn't fill that role for me.

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