Red Band Top Gums

Yummy, good. Hard to find.

Reviewed by Jonny

July 15, 2008

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A few days ago, Scotty, Matty, myself and all of our kids made our way to a fabled San Francisco store (which will be reviewed later) that we had heard had an amazing selection of German imported candies. So, with kids in tow, we entered, and did in fact find a mecca of sweets we’d never been able to access locally before.
Most impressive was their expansive selection of Haribo, with flavors I’d never even heard of, let alone been able to purchase. However, we all decided to get a little daring and to purchase some new things that we had absolutely no information about. Damn, I love my job.
Fast forward to @ 10:45 that evening. The kids are asleep, we have an extra large sausage & mush pizza in our guts, and aren’t exactly sober. A great time to bust out our HUGE bags of candy, right? We always try to be methodical–we take one piece from each bag, taste, and discuss.
It was at this time that I busted out a roll of Red Band “Top Gums”. They’re individually wrapped in wax paper, and come in several flavors-pretty much the standard European Wine Gum flavors- flavors like lime, lemon, strawberry, raspberry, and black currant. These bad boys made an immediate impression upon me, as they’re WAY firm. And the flavor is subtle-not too sweet, not tart at all.
We all looked at each other as if we had stumbled upon buried treasure. Then we moved on to the next candy.
The next day, in a more sober and tired state, I ate another one. I’m sad to report that it didn’t live up to my hazy memory of the previous night at all. So I popped another, and…let’s just say that’s that. They’re definitely good, don’t get me wrong. I’m just not sure that they’re any better than standard bulk wine gums you can find in candy stores, and they’re certainly not better than my fave, Maybard’s Wine Gums. Despite being a huge fan of very firm gummies, the uber-firmness kind of started to bother me. I think ultimately it’s because the flavor just isn’t tart enough for my liking. I always judge wine gums against my current all time favorite gummy, Rowntree’s “Fruit Gums” (review to come) and none of them compare.
So, in short, I’d say that Red Band Top Gums are a good little chew. I’m not sure you’ll ever find them in the States, but if you do and you like Wine Gums or firm gummies in general, you might want to give them a try.

< Jonny’s Bottom Line
: These are pretty decent, but if you want top notch Wine Gums, try Maynard’s or even better, Rowntree’s “Fruit Gums”.


Matty’s Bottom Line
: Agreed with Jon, good not great. Wine gums are weird to me. I always expect them to taste…well like wine.

 

Zolli Candy

2 Comments

  1. Li'l Hateful

    Cybele-

    The store is "Lehr's German Specialties" on Church & 26th street. Enjoy!

    Jonny

    Reply
  2. Cybele

    I’ve never seen these in the states before.

    What’s this store? I’m heading to SF this weekend.

    Reply

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