Defining my Candy Bar Palate

I know it's super lame to write about candy bars. But I've decided to embrace that. So much so that at one point I considered naming this post "Candy Bars I'm Grooving On" as that was the lamest thing I could think of. I also originally titled it "Candy barssss" which was a text that Brit sent me after I texted it was a rough day at work.

First off, there is a distinction between Halloween fun size candies and every day candy bars. While there is plenty of overlap, there's also some differences. For example, I made this list last year on Twitter, specifically ranking candies on Halloween:

That's a good list. But here's the thing. I'm not going to walk into a gas station and buy a KitKat. Literally never done that and never will. But on Halloween, it's fun to get Snickers, Twix, KitKat, Skittles, the classics. 

But on a random Tuesday in August, when I need a candy bar, what are my options?

Here's what I'm into lately (which makes it sound like I'm an audiophile talking about albums)

Top 4 In Some Order, Depending on Mood
Milky Way Midnight
Take 5
Mounds
Peanut Butter M&M's

Next 2 Up
Nutrageous
York

First, a quick note on Mounds/Almond Joy. Some people mistakenly believe that a Mounds is just an Almond Joy without the almond. Mounds has dark chocolate and Almond Joy has milk chocolate. The difference in chocolate is so great that even though I like the almond, Mounds is a top 4 for me and I don't even consider Almond Joy.

But back to my current favorite 6, here's what I've noticed. My favorites fall into two camps:
Dark Chocolate  (Milky Way Midnight, Mounds, York)
Peanut Butter/Milk Chocolate (Take Five, PB M&M's, Nutrageous)

If you don't have one of those things, I'm not buying you.

(If I'm at a high-end candy store, I would be excited to get some dark chocolate covered toffee or fudge. But the mass market toffee bars (Heath, Skor, etc) don't scratch that same itch.)

The last time I really posted about candy bars was back in 2006, and there are some great comments too.

My tastes haven't really changed that much. And I agree with Niraj that the seasonal Reeses's (eggs, pumpkins, trees, are where it's at). At any rate, this is still my primary plan: