Candy Review: Cocktail-Flavored Gummies Are Here and We Have Some Thoughts

You may recall a few years ago when there was an ill-conceived* trend to soak gummy bears in booze, effectively making alcoholic gummies. (*Actually, it was a great idea until it permeated the underage drinking community.) So it was only a matter of time until alcohol-flavored gummy bears came to pass.

Although wine- and champagne-flavored gummies have been around for a little while (along with beer-flavored Jelly Belly), philanthropic gum and mint company Project 7 has recently introduced five cocktail-themed (yet non-alcoholic) gummy bears: Moscow Mule, Apple Cinnamon Manhattan, Old Fashioned, and two flavors of champagne: Brut and Rosé.

As equal-opportunity enthusiasts of both drinking and novelty candy, we were pretty excited to sample the series (which is exclusively available at Target). Here are our honest reviews of each of the five flavors.

Moscow Mule

The real cocktail contains: Vodka, ginger beer, lime juice, and a mint sprig garnish

The gummy bear tastes like: Sweet tea with mint. Where the English Breakfast flavor comes from, we’re unsure — but we do know it’s a far cry from spicy ginger. There is a hint of citrus (although it definitely skews more orange than lime), and the mint finish is classic Moscow Mule. But if we’re being honest, this tastes more like a Long Island Iced Tea Gummy Bear.

Apple Cinnamon Manhattan

The real cocktail contains: Rye, applejack, cinnamon vermouth, bitters, and a cinnamon stick garnish

The gummy bear tastes like: Cherry cough syrup. Although that may sound like a dig, keep in mind that cough syrup is alcoholic (sizzurp, anyone?), so they’ve nailed the liquor element. However, what should be a strong play of apple tastes much more like cherry or pomegranate and there’s no cinnamon whatsoever. It’s actually pretty delicious, just wholly inaccurate.

Old Fashioned

The real cocktail contains: Bourbon, bitters, sugar, orange slice, cocktail cherry

The gummy bear tastes like: An Old Fashioned! Now maybe we’re biased here because Old Fashioneds are one of our favorite cocktails, but we really feel like this bear hit the bourbon on the head. The very first note is a bitter-tasting orange, and then it finishes with a sweet cherry. This is hands-down the best offering from the bunch.

Champagne Dreams — Brut

The real champagne is: Extremely dry

The gummy bear tastes like: Welch’s white grape juice. It’s not a totally unfair comparison — champagne is made from grapes, after all — but the result is much sweeter than a true Brut, which is the driest of all champagnes. A citrusy finish curbs the sweetness a little bit, but the overall effect is much closer to a Lemondrop cocktail (which we’re here for, honestly).

Champagne Dreams — Rosé

The real champagne is: Fruity, floral, and melony

The gummy bear tastes like: A watermelon Jolly Rancher. Exactly like a watermelon Jolly Rancher. If you, like me, cannot stand artificial watermelon flavor, then you, like me, will probably run to the nearest trash can and spit this out. On the flip side, if you’re one of the legions of watermelon ‘Rancher fans, these gummy bears will make your rosé!