I'm forever chewing bubbles (Nestle Aero Caramel)

Member Name: davidbuttery

Product:	Nestle Aero Caramel
Date:	26/10/09 (38 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good chocolate texture, not too expensive, fairly low in calories (for chocolate!)

Disadvantages: Caramel rather runny, a little too sweet, not vegetarian, Wispa Gold does the same thing better

The Aero range of aerated chocolate bars is one of Nestlé's most successful and enduring. It hasn't changed all that much over the years, but this Caramel bar is one of the newer entrants into the collection. The bar I ate (a little while ago now) cost me 50p in my local newsagent, but as usual it's likely that you can get it for a few pence less from supermarkets. It's not the largest bar at a mere 42g, but then it does have all those bubbles in it! Still, at least that means it's fairly light on the calories at just 205 kcal per bar.

The packaging isn't anything particularly thrilling, with the usual Aero "brown bubbles" design on the left of the wrapper, and a slightly lighter, caramel-coloured (startlingly enough!) tint used on the right. The ingredients list throws up no surprises, and the milk and cocoa solids proportions are very standard at 14% and 20% respectively. Sadly for vegetarians, there's no indication that the Aero Caramel is suitable for them, though I'm not sure what the problematic ingredient might be: conceivably the lecithin is of animal origin?

Unwrap the Aero Caramel, and you are confronted with a sweet smell. A very sweet smell, actually, and one that's maybe just a little too much of a good thing. It's not at all sophisticated, and gives the impression of a bar aimed squarely at the impulse-buy market - which at least in part means kids, though of course this truth cannot be admitted nowadays! The design of the bar is nothing to write home about: shallow lines give a vague approximation to chunks, but I don't see the point: this is not a bar to share nicely; it's a bar to gobble up yourself in a fast and frankly somewhat greedy manner....

Biting into the bar produces a surprise if you're more used to the standard Aero: the bubbles in the chocolate are noticeably smaller, which produces a feel on the teeth and tongue very similar to a Wispa. This is good, and there's a nice crumbly sensation as you bite further into the bar, although the chocolate itself is not as tasty as Cadbury's. However, the caramel layer on top slightly lets the bar down: it's just a tad too runny and so sweet as to be almost sickly. I wouldn't call it *bad* exactly, but although I used to like very runny caramel, these days I prefer it to be a bit thicker.

With the reintroduction of the Wispa, and in particular - temporarily, at least - the Wispa Gold, there is now a more-or-less direct competitor for the Aero Caramel. I'd generally choose a Wispa Gold ahead of an Aero Caramel, if only because the chocolate is superior, but the Nestlé bar is still quite nice, and matches the Wispas in terms of chocolate consistency at least. It's also almost certain to be cheaper than a Wispa Gold, and you could do worse than an Aero Caramel if you're after a quick bite.

Summary: Nothing fancy, but a reasonable choice for a snack on the go