Hershey's Extra Dark

Candy Bar Review

Size: 3.52 oz (100g)
Price: $1.99

For anyone who loves chocolate, Hershey's is name to curse and to conjure. For many Americans, a Hershey bar is chocolate. Many other Americans lament that such a waxy, weak, weirdly dry bar could so dominate our home market. On the other hand, Hershey's is one of America's great candy empires, and they make a lot of bars that are enojoyed by those looking for something other than a pure cacao kick. Come on, can you really put down a company that makes Heath Bars? How long can you live without an Almond Joy? Personally, I don't want to find out.

It says something about the growth of the high quality chocolate market in the US that Hershey's has now entered the fray with their Extra Dark bars. If you honed your darker than milk chocolate buzz on the bitter, grainy Special Dark bar, here's something you might find surprising -- these bars are good.

The basic Extra Dark is a 60% bar. It's quite dark in color -- darker by several shades than most 70% bars -- but one taste is enough to see that it's a little less powerful than the seventy-percenters. Still, it's got a good chocolate taste. Not a complex taste with lots of notes, just a warm, fairly deep blast of chocolate. If you're looking for a mixture that has notes of citrus, or grass, or wine, or coffee, or... just about anything, look elsewhere. There's also no hint where the chocolate itsef originated. Clearly, this is a blend. There's a touch of that Hershey's waxiness, but just a touch. There's a decent feel in the mouth, though the melt doesn't really release as nice a bloom as many bars.

Overall, this is a very approachable bar for something just climbing the cacao ladder. It's not going to dethrone Domori, or take the budget bar title away from Santander. But for a bar you can pick up at your local drugstore, it's good chocolate.

Hershey's Extra Dark scores 78 on the Theo scale.