Tuesday, 19 February 2008

February 19th: Cadbury Wispa

Kcal 210 Fat 12.9g Fat(sats) 8.1g Carbs 25g

Though now technically out of distribution again, if you look hard enough Wispas can still be found hiding on shop shelves. Avoiding the relaunch hype I only recently tracked one of these down (today) and have some strong opinions on the bar after eating it.

For those who dont know Wispas have been replaced by the Cadburys bubbly...a bar which I reviewed just over a week ago. I felt the bubbly was a good bar but just lacked a real USP...I thought it was just airated chocolate...but good chocolate at that.

To think differently about Wispa would be...well...absolute madness as its exactly the same bar just packaged and formed slightly differently.

I know this view is a tad contreversial and many people will feel that im not doing it justice but nostalgic feelings aside this is just dairy milk chocolate with bubbles in....I must stress this is neither something that should change or be scoffed at.

The Wispa is good at what it does..it gives you that chocolate hit thats ever so nice whilst providing an intresting texture to boot. Apart from this though it does very little in establishing itself as 'something special'....which is exactly what we are looking for here at 'The Chocolate Mission'.

Overall the Wispa will always be a bar that provides us all with good nostalgic feelings about our childhood whislt at the same time giving us a good chocolate hit. However I think to say it is the best chocolate bar out there is an exaggeration. Don't get me wrong I think this is a great chocolate bar, but personally I believe there are better crafted and flavour blended chocolates out there on the market.

I have had quite alo of criticism for this review, I must stress these ratings are only my opinion! This means my POV may or may not be shared with others and is not a general concensous. It would be great to get some thoughts on this...so please comment away

8.2 out of 10

63 comments:

alan said...

Hey Jim,

I do agree with you, it prob isnt the best bar in the world but is very nice.. it was interesting to see them aagin compared to an aero - and the size! aeros have shrunk enormously when compared to it and i personally feel the choclate is superior too in a wispa - esp as i said in the aero caramel review how much better a wispa gold was compared to the aero caramel lol did you knwo they're bringing those back too - wispa gold and mint as a limited edition when they relaunch wispa permanently ? can't wait!

cheers
alan

Jim's Chocolate Mission said...

Alan Its definitely not the best in the world :) Im pretty confident of that! But as you say its pretty damn good - and far superior to that of the Aero from what I remember **note to self review aero milk chocolate!**

I was aware about the possibilty of the Wispa Mint\Gold coming back!! God i hope its the Gold!! I was a massive fan! I hope its as good as I remember!!My fingers are well and truly crossed!!

Thanks
Jim

alan said...

lol yeah it is definitely superior to aero..is it just me or does nestle chocolate tend to be a little waxy?

i also think wispas are abit different to dairy milk bubbly (apart from the type of bar lol) as you say the bubbly is aerated dairy milk but the wispa has a slightly different taste to dairy milk and was/is meant to be a blend of milk and dark choclate (which i never knew til i looke don the wispa bit on the cadbury website lol) i wonder if the ratios of cocoa to milk etc are different. i much prefer the taste of wispa to bubbly lol


thanks
Alan

Jim's Chocolate Mission said...

Alan I think standard Nestle chocolate dosent tend to be that bad. Nothing special whatsoever but its passable!

Regarding the Bubbly/Wispa differences I honestly dont think there is too much! People just love buying into the nostalgia of the Wispa I think! Of course I will be retesting this theory when the Wispa comes out again ... lol it would only be correct of me :)

Thanks
Jim

alan said...

true - its not so bad on the bars, mind you, have you tried it in block form -ie the nestle equivalent to Dairy Milk? Not very pleasant lol.

lol i know what you mean, wispas are a nostalgic thing - but i def think theres some difference in taste/flavour, maybe its the aeration that makes it different.

alan said...

i was thinking, i havent seen a Bubbly bar in a long time - i wonder if they are still in production - or if they'll stay in production with the return of the wispa? lol

cheers
alan

lottie said...

is the wispa gold really coming back?! really really?this is most pleasing news, they used to be one of my absoloute favourites. Now all they need to do is bring back the fuse and all will be well in the world.

alan said...

apparently so yes, for a limited edition along with wispa mint, at the same time the original wispa returns for good. lets hope they sell enough of these to warrant a return of these aswell! :)

alan

Jim's Chocolate Mission said...

Alan / Lottie Whether or not the Wispa Gold/Mint is coming back is relatively unknown at the minute.

The possibility was very fleetingly mentioned in Marketing Week magazine (GEEK ALERT! - woops!!) though this is all very far from confirmed.

Alan Regarding the Bubbly - it is being phased out by Cadbury as we speak in peperation for the return of the Wispa!!

Regarding Aero - I actually just ate and reviewed one today! The review is scheduled to be up on the site on the 16th!! I now work a week ahead of myself...just so if something happens...say I get ill or something theres a bit of leeway!! :) ever the professional eh ;)

Cheers
Jim

alan said...

I'm sure I read not long ago, somewhere officila, tho i can't remember where, they were being brought back for a limited time when the wispa had its new relaunch. I imagine its more than a possiblity given the strength of feeling for the Wispa :) lets hope! lol

look forward to the aero review :)

cheers
alan

Jim's Chocolate Mission said...

Alan It was probably the online version of the magazine of that weekly marketing magazine I was talking about. One would hope some would at Cadbury would do the simple maths of

Wispa Gold + Consumers = ££MONEY££

We can only hope they are clever enough to work that one out! lol

Jim

alan said...

ive just noticed it wa son Wiki that it said that 'it was revealed that Wispa variants Gold and Mint will be reintroduced as 'limited editions' along side the regular wispas return in the autumn of 2008...' so we'll have to wait and see lol :)

alan

Jim's Chocolate Mission said...

Alan Wiki you say!? Doh! Its hardly the most reliable source going! As you say I guess we will just have to waite and see! Fingers crossed and all that!!

Jim

Alan said...

lol yes i know its not the most reliable souce goin but then what is lol

alan

Jim's Chocolate Mission said...

Alan Personally im not going to believe anything until I hear it from Cadbury themselves!!!

Jim

Alan said...

fair enough lol thats probably the best idea :)

cheers
Alan

Vicky said...

Come on Jimbo, call yourself a chocolate fan?

'Cadbury's Themselves'

I thankyee.

Jim's Chocolate Mission said...

Vicky We were infact referring to the potential Limited Edition Wispas that may/or may not be appearing - Cadbury announced the 8th of October return a long time ago :P :P lol

Still awaiting official word on the Mint/Gold possibility though!

Cheers for sharing that with us! I hadn't seen that page yet! I will keep an eye on it!

Thanks
Jim

Alan said...

looks like the Wispa stocks have been replenished ahead of schedule lol ive just spotted them and bought two (one for me and one for my sister) havent had it yet im waiting til later lol

they were sitting next to the single Aero bars and what a difference in size!! you definitley get more with wispa! :)

cheers
alan

Jim's Chocolate Mission said...

Alan That is the first sighting I have heard of! They aren't supposed to be re-released until October 6th! Good work tracking them down!

Jim

Alan said...

cheers lol i know, i was surprised too but there they were, on the shelf and also in the box on the counter! lol

alan

Jim's Chocolate Mission said...

Alan Where was this by the way? I'm sure a alot of people would be interested to know!

Cheers
Jim

alan said...

lol it was in the local small Sainsburys in my town of Saltburn (formely Sainsburys at Bells{the newsagents})
cheers
alan

Jim's Chocolate Mission said...

Alan cheers for sharing that! I read on a few message boards they are also popping up in random Asda's aswell! looks like the supermarkets got their stocks early!

Cheers for that
Jim

alan said...

it does! lol i was in the sainsburys local earlier and all the stocks on the shelf and counter had been well diminished and i only bought mine yesterday lol

do you remember the Secret bar? it was made by rowntree/nestle and was only around a short time but was absolutely gorgeous. i could never remember the name until i came across this advert!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3394676286237442332

i wish it was still around - i always thought it was a Galaxy product but obviously not lol

cheers
alan

Jim's Chocolate Mission said...

Alan Thats crazy being sold out already!! I honestly just dont get the utter admiration and sheer demand for the Wispa bar gets... yeh its a good bar, but its nothing special at all ... hmm maybe its just me!

I don't remember the Secret bar myself but alot have people have talked to me about it. The main reason cited for it being pulled from manufacture is that it cost too much to produce ... shame huh! Just another of those bars which might come back one day I guess!

Cheers
Jim

Anonymous said...

I remember when I bought one last year and thought it was like Wispa Gold with caramel and realised it was just the normal one- I was so annoyed lol! I remember having Wispa Golds when I was little but didn't realise the difference between them then haha!

alan said...

lol well they sold like that last time too,... i know what you mean, but i suppose the nostalgia thing kicks in but also its very much 'old school' in terms of size and looks compared to many bars which have shrunk/altered (ie Bubbly) or vanished over the last few years and people tap into that don't they :) plus there really isn't any equivalent (unlike other bars eg caramel, fruit n nut etc)except aero and theyre not really the same lol

yeah it is a shame about the Secret, then again im sure cadbury said once the Wispa was expensive to make lol

cheers
alan

Jim's Chocolate Mission said...

Anon The Wispa Gold was an absolutely outstanding bar wasn't it ... far superior to the standard Wispa in my book!!

Alan In my book Cadbury should do a seasonal bar of its retro portfolio....ever quarter release something that used to be in distribution! It would mix things up a bit that is for sure.

If Nestle bother taking any notice of consumer demand they will realise there is quite a lot of underlying demand for the Secret bar...surely they must be able to bring it back in some instance..who knows maybe they are looking at NPD driving growth and reverting back to old strategies!

Jim

alan said...

yes id prob agree with you there jim, wispa golds wwere gorgeous! that sounds like a fab idea, reminds me of when nestle did a retro box of qulaity street a couple of years ago, with some old chcos in and the old box.

nestle seeem to have a habit of taking away its best bars - what happended to the Double Cream range? that was lovely like the nestle version of Dairy Milk but even creamier, even more so than galaxy too. ahh well lol


cheers
alan

Jim's Chocolate Mission said...

Alan I remember the double cream Nestle bar... I remember it having a slightly waxy texture...I could be wrong though - I didn't used to take half as much notice of the actual chocolate quality back then! It was all about getting it down my gob lol!!

Jim

alan said...

lol i dont think it had a waxy texture, just very creamy, very unlike the standard nestle chocolate. i just think they dont give any new bar enough chance to settle in and see how it does they just take it away without a chance :( oh well lol

cheers
alan

alan said...

hi jim

i found a very interesting article about Double Cream dating from 2005 - cant believe it was that long aago! lol

http://www.brandrepublic.com/bulletins/br/article/525901/nestle-set-axe-double-cream-chocolate-brand/

just shows really how they can pitch a good idea wrongly! lol


cheers
alan

Jim's Chocolate Mission said...

Alan I always remember being a big disappointed by the bar .... the words double cream always used to get me ...but I often remember feeling left disappointed.

Great find on the article! I wasn't aware there was ever a double berry variant! I never tried it myself.

I think I remember them also doing a double cream egg at some point!

Cheers for that again!
Jim

alan said...

lol im quite surprised by that as it seems right up your street lol i was never sure of the name though, always sounded a bit lazy to me lol i liked the chocolate but cant remember trying the double berry - if i remember it was white chocolate. i prob did at some point but they changed the wrappers to nasty shiny foil or plastic from the original bars matt foil (rather like cadburys new bars) which i really liked so that put me off lol.

cheers
alan

Jim's Chocolate Mission said...

Alan I can only remember them being in the matted wrappers ... I also seem to remember they came with a claim at being made with some fancy Ecuadorian cocoa beans!!

Jim

alan said...

yeah they did - its just shame they cant put that much effort into their other chocs and bars lol

oh and i was in sainsburys local today and guess what - one wispa left!! lol this is the funny thing tho - they had the price at 48p - i was in a bigger sainsburys yesterday and they were
42p!

cheers

alan

lottie said...

Bon soir! I remember the double cream egg too. It was passable in its natural state but if you split it in half and dipped it in tea..wowzer.I can only describe it as epic.I pine for them still. Also, I found a wispa lurking in Morrisons so they're definitely sneaking them in. I wish they'd make a bigger deal out of the re-release actually. Maybe involve a parade.

Jim's Chocolate Mission said...

Alan Those impulse channels do generally charge a few pence higher as they know they can get away with it... its the cost of convenience I guess!!

Lottie Morrisons eh!? so that is now All four major mults apart from Tesco!! Lol I cant think of anything more wrong than a parade to celebrate the Wispa!! Grrr it winds me up even thinking about it!! lol I wonder when I turned in to such a crouchy bastard!! A parade for the re-release of the Wispa Gold/Mint and now your talking!!

Thanks for your contributions - just as random after thought it would be good to see price comparisons for different outlets selling Wispa bars... I wonder who is trying to rip everyone off the most!!

This has just given me a fantastic idea for a new competition!

Cheers
Jim

alan said...

lol i'm not sure id call 6pence a few lol but yeah, mind you look at petrol station prices theyre just ridiculous!

i'm still waitin to see if the wispa gold/mint do re-appear. i think they must do after all of this! lol

cheers
alan

alan said...

Lol i went into my local corner shop the other day and told them theyd missed a trick not getting any wispas since everyone is buying them up - they said theyd got thru 3 BOXES within a few days and went back to the wholesalers and they had none left for now lol

in my sainsburys local they had a box on the conter next to the new cadbury cranberry and apricot bars- now theyve relegated those to the shelves and keep a permanent stock of a box of Wispas at every till! (aswell as a big supply on the shelves too!) lol

theyve obviously hit on something with everyone - who knows - it may encourage cadburys ( and other makers) to try out a few more bars from the past! :)


cheers
alan

Jim's Chocolate Mission said...

Alan Although it would be cool if it encouraged more older bars to come back I would hope that it wouldn't stop innovation of new products altogether .... in my book although I was happy enough to see the Wispa to come back I was far more excited at trying the new Cranberry and Apricot bars.

If Cadbury turned their NPD focus to just re-releasing old bars it would soon get tiresome

...the ideal situation!??? A mix of both if you ask me!

Jim

alan said...

obviously lol but i just feel sadly alot of todays bars just lack something that many older bars had... much a s i like the cranberry n apricot bars im not sure how many people will think 'ahh the cranberry and garnloa bar, i really miss that'

a mix of both would be cool... i think sometimes that they dismiss the good things in favour of a worse alternative and the so called NPD (ie Bubbly!) goes the wrong way lol im all for new bars but i just think they should be mindful of not dismissing the old bars :)


cheers
alan

Jim's Chocolate Mission said...

Alan I concur with that 100% ... in a perfect world there would be a great mixture of retro re-releases and NPD.....

be sure to check out this competition they are running at the mo at Cadbury

http://www.aglassandahalffullproductions.com/#/factory/

You can design your own chocolate bar and if you win, they'll make it and send it to you. Problem is with a 1-off, would you save it (as a unique thing) or eat it?

I would photograph the hell out of it ... and then eat and review it to see if I made the perfect bar!

hmmmmm
Cheers
Jim

alan said...

that sounds interesting - i'll have a look! you'd almost wish if you won that theyd produce it properly lol

i was thinking about the whole thing about some newer brands etc not having the same appeal as some of the older ones and i realsied that many new ones get no where near the amount of advertising the older ones used to get - i look fondly on old ads on youtube that i remember growing up with for mars, galaxy, fruit pastilles, milkyway, milkybar, crunchie, twix..... the list is endless.. but nowadays with i think the stricter advertisng restrictions you just dont see adverts like those now for new products do you?

often the ads you do see are ones for the old products/spin offs. the ads you do see for newer stuff dont seem to have the same inpact as earlier ones, at least for me anyway lol ive yet to see an ad for the cranberry and apricot bars lol

cheers
alan

Jim's Chocolate Mission said...

Alan some of the old ads are fantastic aren't they!! The crunchie one that was first produced ten years ago was re-run for a limited time only last yr! Still highly relevant now though!

The only thing I have seen in regards to advertising for the new Cadbury bars for the apricot/cranberry bars were a few random posters round London last weekend.

Saying that the Cadbury Twisted had that terrible 'GOOOOOO' campaign ... shocker I thought!!

Also I can't say much for the new ads for the NCC jelly sweet brand they suck as well in my opinion.

Cheers
Jim

alan said...

they are lol i like the crunchie ad, was amazed to see it crop up again, but as you say still works fantastically.

It reminds me of the rerun Maynards Wine Gums ad which theyve been re running recently with the dancing scotsman which must be donkeys years old now - i think they ran 2 versions -it made me smile coz on one version you get a distant shot of the packet he's holding, aswell as the close up at the very end but on the distant shot theyd ommitted to update the packet, so hes holding the ancient bag from the original ad and on the end you get the current one lol but on the other version they havent changed either packet lol

yes i hated the Twisted ad, yuk. what are NCC jelly sweets, ive not heard of them before lol

cheers
alan

Jim's Chocolate Mission said...

Alan a subsidiary of Cadbury I believe ...

http://www.naturalconfectionery.co.uk/

"Hear come the trumpets!"

Jim

alan said...

ahhh i know now, ive had soem of their sweets once, theyre quite nice tho ive not seen any ads for them lol how interesting that theyre australian - its australia every where i look since my mate moved lol

cheers
alan

Anonymous said...

Hey... DOn't suppose you know if Cadbury will be exporting the Wispa? We get loads of the UK chocies here in Dubai... but - nostalga or otherwise - I loved the Wispa as a kid/teen.... and would love to try them again! Don't have a UK trip planned.. just a trip back to OZ in December... Bummer huh??
Cheers,
Fiona...

Jim's Chocolate Mission said...

Fiona I am unsure as to whether Cadbury will be exporting it.... to be honest I would expect not as they have never done before!!

A bummer indeed - maybe you could try some of the import sites ... or better yet ebay!! Should be able to get your Wispa fix that way!!

Cheers
Jim

David said...

I do actually miss a modern chocolate bar: Cadbury's Dream With Strawberry. Shame they ditched it. I like the Apricot bars they have now too.

Heidi said...

http://talkingretail.com/products/product-news/12673-wispa-gold-makes-a-comeback.html

YAY!!! :D

Jim's Chocolate Mission said...

Heidi Thanks for sharing that with us - I hadn't seen it yet!

I am a little worried at how excited I am :D :D :D

Thanks
Jim

Heidi said...

I know right?! LOL don't be worried about being ridiculously excited, from one chocogeek to another I totaaly understand ;)

Jim's Chocolate Mission said...

Heidi Haha Chocogeek :D Love it

Thanks
Jim

alan said...

Hey Jim

I am so pleased they are bringing back wisdpa golds!! I wonder if they will follow with the other varieties!? I used to like them all even mint and im not the biggest mint fan. I always wondered though why they didn't bring out a wispa orange to go with the mint?! lol

Caramel and chocolate combos are one of my faves and wispa golds always worked their magic on me lol

it's interesting to note how nestle tried to fill the gap with aero caramel/truffle/cappucino etc or whatever, and that they failed in the long run and certainly havent created the same desire to have it back like with wispa golds!
Compared to a wispa gold aero caramel was a very poor immitator.

cant wait to see WG back on the shelves!
cheers
alan

Jim's Chocolate Mission said...

Alan

Its great news isn't it! BEats the Aero Caramel all ends up in my book ... well it used to any way! Lets hope they haven't changed the recipe at all!!

As soon as I get my grubby mits on it I will give it a review! Really looking forward to it! How sad of me eh!? Now all we need id the Wispa Mint and we ahve the lot!

Cheers
Jim

alan said...

Lol well I can't imagine it would be any different, well i shouldnt have thought so anyway. It would also be interesting to see what anyone who had never had one will think of them!

If we get wispa mint too it wont be quite the lot - theres also Wispa Bite and Wispacino! lol :)

cheers
ala

Jim's Chocolate Mission said...

Alan

Wispaccino? Never heard of that one before! Lets hope they bring them all back as limited editions for a while! That would be cool.

Cheers
Jim

alan said...

lol I only vaguely remember the Wispacino, I think it was the very last edition to the range before they discontinued them all together. I think it had a cappucino flavour topping! I don't remember having one though. Would be interesting!

cheers
alan

Thea said...

Wow 61 comments! After re-reading the review I expected them all to be critical but they're not, lol. lol@ Wispa Gold + Consumers = ££MONEY££ but I actually liked this plain Wispa much, much better. I had zero expectations trying it (huge nostalgia for Cadbury, but none for Wispa since aerated chocolate didn't exist where I was) so I was really impressed. If I had read the wrapper more carefully I would have realized this was 'bubbly' chocolate, but it came across as more of a cream filling just dry. I'm guessing the 'criticism' came about for the 'low' rating but I actually would've given it less points, for sustenance only, because I loved this bar. I hope the mint came out cause I'd really like to try it, too.

BJ said...

Wispas are back in circulation at the moment. I think they are much better than Aeros.

Is it just me or does the Dairy Milk chocolate taste lightly sweeter than usual in this bar? It's a little too sweet for me, but otherwise, very nice.

I often get this bar missed up with the Twirl because the packaging is seems so similar.

 

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