On a very auspicious evening not long ago, a select group of agents gathered under cover of darkness to taste test one of the newest weapons in the vegan arsenal of delicious things- Go Max Go! Candy Bars.
These are no ordinary candy bars you see, they are 100% vegan chocolate bars that imitate some of your favorite “normal” chocolate bars from before you went vegan (Snickers, Milky Way, Almond Joy & 3 Musketeers). “All Go Max Go candy bars are covered in our signature-recipe rice-milk chocolaty coating. Light and lovely, it makes dairy-milk chocolate positively passé.” These promised to be every bit as delicious as the real thing, and we were determined to find out if this was true.
My team of specialists was asked to rate each sample with anywhere from 1 to 5 stars, 5 being best. They were also asked to indicate how close the sample came to the original and write down any notes or comments about what they thought. Identities have been (thinly) veiled for matters of national security.
First we sampled the Jokerz bar. This is the Go Max Go! version of a Snickers.
When your idea of the perfect candy bar is all about peanutty goodness, then we’ve got you covered. If layers of dry roasted peanuts, buttery-tasting caramel, and rich peanut nougat, sweetly wrapped in a delicious chocolaty coating sounds like a little slice of heaven, then smile, the Jokerz bar is for you!
Agent Orange: 4 stars. Awesome – my favorite. More nuts.
Agent Cupcake: Dense & a little bit like marzipan. Caramel is good.
Agent Faker: 3.5 stars. Lots of caramel, doesn’t taste like Snickers, tastes like Power Bar. Needs more nuts but overall good.
Agent Aum: 4 stars. Chocolate layer should be thicker. Can’t taste nougat but caramel flavor is excellent.
Agent of Chaos: Good, very caramelly, sticky, more nuts- but good.
Agent Triple xXx: 4 stars. More roasted nuts- would buy.
Agent MFC: 4 stars. Very caramelly, I love that. Needs more nuts.
The verdict seems to be that this was well enjoyed by all of us and we appreciated the delicious caramel while we longed for more nuts. Well listen close because I’ve got agents on the inside as well as I do on the outside. My sources tell me that:
“The next run of Jokerz should have a better ratio of peanuts to nougat to caramel… this was our first production run and the peanuts weren’t distributed as evenly as they could’ve been. But, it’s been tweaked so it’s all good.” All is good indeed… can’t wait for the next batch!
Next up we continued with our 2nd specimen, the Buccaneer. This is the Go Max Go! version of a 3 Musketeers.
How does a rich, fluffy, chocolaty nougat covered in a creamy chocolaty coating sound right about now? If you can’t answer because desire is consuming you… aye matey, ’tis a Buccaneer bar for you!
Agent Orange: 3 stars. Poor visual but Yum Yum Yum!
Agent Cupcake: I really like this, more dense than traditional nougat… caramel + nougat. The rice milk really stands out in chocolate.
Agent Faker: 4 stars. Taste is good, very rich. Bar is small & flat.
Agent Aum: 2.5 stars. Not tall or fluffy enough. Taste good, but like caramel instead of nougat. Chocolate not prominent.
Agent of Chaos: Tastes like Musketeer flavor but different texture. Ok.
Agent Triple xXx: 2 stars. Fudgy.
Agent MFC: 3 stars. By this point Agent MFC had already begun to slip in & out of a chocolate coma and could only respond with star ratings.
Seems like a mixed bag of ratings for this one. Some of us really dug the nougaty goodness while others got hung up on the texture or appearance.
Let’s move on to the Mahalo. This is the Go Max Go! version of an Almond Joy.
If you crave a gently sweetened coconut candy bar topped with three whole dry roasted almonds and covered in a luscious chocolaty coating… hang loose, the Mahalo bar is for you!
Agent Orange: 5 stars. REALLY good.
Agent Cupcake: Not trying this one :(
Agent Faker: 5 stars. Very good, love the coconut.
Agent Aum: 4.5 stars. Really great coconut flavors & the almond gave a good contrast. My only wish would be a darker chocolate.
Agent of Chaos: PURE AWESOME. No complaints- Amazing.
Agent Triple xXx: 4.5 stars. Maholler! Delicious.
Agent MFC: 5 stars. (at this point our agent’s choco coma had progressed to choco trance)
As you can see, nearly 5 stars across the board- there’s always one in the bunch who doesn’t like coconut, isn’t there? That’s too bad, because those coco-nut bars were FAN-FREAKIN-TASTIC. Just like the Almond Joy’s I remember of yore.
Last but not least we had a go at the Twilight bar. This is the Go Max Go version! of a Milky Way.
Now imagine that rich, fluffy, chocolaty nougat topped with a layer of thick, buttery-tasting caramel all wrapped up in our very own creamy, rice-milk chocolaty coating. If this gives you sweet dreams of good taste, then the Twilight bar is for you!
Agent Orange: 4 stars. Very good.
Agent Cupcake: Same aftertaste as Jokerz.
Agent Faker: 3.5 stars. Tastes a lot like Buccaneer, very buttery and caramelly.
Agent Aum: 3 stars. Thickness was good. I like the caramel but the nougat needs to be fluffier. Chocolate layer should be thicker.
Agent of Chaos: Hella good, could be more gooey. Ok.
Agent Triple xXx: 3.5 stars. Would buy.
Agent MFC: 4 stars. (at this point our agent was toast)
Average to high ratings. Around now our team was near it’s limit… the fresh baked white chocolate chip, peanut butter cookies provided by Agent Faker didn’t help matters. One can only consume so much chocolate and sugar in one sitting.
Further investigations are pending.
Now you’ve heard what the panel of experts thought, it’s time you check some of these treats out for yourselves. One of the hardest things for me to give up when I went vegan was my beloved candy bars… and while no one as of yet has provided me with a vegan simulation of my all time favorite, a Twix, I am totally stoked that some of these other favorite flavors can now be re-enjoyed by vegans who miss them, and in turn, make it easier for people to go vegan.
The Go Max Go! website provides you with a handy dandy location finder so you can track down these beauties somewhere near you, or you can mailorder them from a number of the online vegan specialty shops such as Food Fight! or Vegan Essentials. The good news for us L.A. vegans is that soon all the Southern California Whole Foods will begin carrying these as well, starting in August. Many in other parts of the country already carry them or will soon.
Such a great time to be vegan! How can anyone say doing this is hard? The only hard part about it is being able to restrain yourself from non-stop eating of yummy things like vegan candy bars all day.
Best quote: “Maholler!”
I absolutely love my secret agent name (and the others). Thanks for hosting this rockin’ get-together and for the brilliant write-up!
I’m DYING to try these! Great reviews. I must agree that the “Maholler” is awesome.
Yum! That’s a lot of sugar. Nice reviews :c)
you are the best! what a great review, and i was laughing out loud at everyone’s responses. i think i am gonna order a case of mahalo.
yum! those candy bars look delish. i’m definitely taking some on my next surf trip because although vegan friendly meals aren’t too hard to find, vegan desserts are!
I can’t wait for them to be sold at our Whole Foods stores. Thanks for the reviews and info! I might even have to try the coconut. I am really going to have to start a group for fat vegans. All this high calorie good food is going to kill me but at least I’ll die happy.
does ‘agent triple xXx’ mean that that agent has 9 x’s?
I’m looking forward to trying these.
I recently converted my mom from just a vegetarian to vegan and she misses her gross Hershey’s chocolate bars…these should do the trick.
Mmmm those all look amazing! I wonder if they’ll have any of these at Opa event in Echo Park this friday! Vegan Potluck what what…check it out -I saw it on GirlieGirl Army http://girliegirlarmy.com/blog/
I know who SOME of the agents are!
these are now available at locali…
Doesn’t eating a bunch of candybars and cookies sort of defeat the purpose of eating vegan in the first place?
“Yes, it’s a completely sugar-filled junk food candy bar, but it’s healthy because the milk isn’t really milk!!! OMG!”
Ryan: (aka, troll who left a fake email)
No one said these candy bars were health food, just vegan… meaning, they contain no animal products… meaning, vegans can enjoy eating unhealthy junk food just like you without killing animals in order to do it. OMG!
Foodeater…We love, love, LOVE your response to Ryan the troll. He needs to stay under that
bridge eating his alfalfa sprouts. I’m guessing Ryan became vegan for “health reasons”, he
wants to hang around for about 106 years so he can give people crap for enjoying their lives.
The people who go vegan for reasons of compassion really get what the lifestyle is about. Obviously Ryan does not. For all you great vegeheads…..eat, drink, and for God’s sake be merry! By the way, Ryan is his own worst punishment…he has to be him all day, every day. Thanks Foodeater and all the reviewers and posters here…Go Max Go is sending you all some love!
I was hungry anyway before starting reading your post, now be sure that I am going to grab some sweets. And you just gave me the idea to bake some brownies this afternoon. So cheers to that!
I love these chocolate bars! My husband and I are so into them.
Omg when I was reading this I couldn’t stop laughing ! I thought it was hilarious with all the judging the candy bars :D . Btw THANKS foodeater and btw good response to ryan !! I found out some stores around where I live sell them soooo yay ! Go max Go !! :D
My son gave me the twilight bar to try and it was awesome. I think it’s better than the real milkyway. I can’t wait to try the other candy bars, these are GREAT!