Epic and Epic Nuts Bars

Part bargain bin delight and part oddment, these Epic bars were released by BP petrol stations a few months ago, selling for the hugely expensive price of $1 each. Given those facts and the lack of a brand name, I'm starting to have my doubts on the awesomeness of these bars.

Aimed directly at imitating the Mars Bar and Snickers bar, the Epic bars are made in Germany. Surprisingly, they have survived their long trips in pretty good nick. The original Epic bar, in the orange wrapper, is described as 'smooth caramel, serious chocolate', and on the reverse as 'soft nougat and caramel covered with milk chocolate' - it doesn't sound too terrible. Epic Nuts is similar, but with the addition of 'roasted peanuts'. The use of the word 'chocolate' is promising; it means that at least the outer layer is real chocolate made with cocoa butter (confirmed by the ingredients list), and not mockolate.Tick.

Unsurprisingly, both bars have a similar appearance to the Mars and Snickers bars as well. (At least the wrappers are clearly different from the branded bars.) The thick outer chocolate layer has a neat ripple across the top of the bar, and the bar itself is a decent size (55g for each bar), and quite solid. The chocolate smells less sweet than what you would expect for a bar containing caramel; it's actually a little salty on the nose. Epic Nuts predictably has a strong aroma of roasted peanuts.

Despite the promising ingredients list, the chocolate is very bland. There is very little sweetness, and on both bars it tastes rather stale. I found this across both bars. The nougat is firm and dense, but again devoid of flavour in the original. It's the most bizarre experience. The caramel is similar; it's gritty and tasteless. Luckily, in the Nuts bar, the peanuts have a significant impact on the flavour of the nougat. It's almost as if the nuts have been spread throughout the nougat (they haven't; they are in a layer between the caramel and the nougat). It also looks different, as you can see in the picture. It has a different colour and a slightly different texture. The chocolate on both is weak and only has a mild touch of sweetness. There's no milkiness or creamy notes, either. Despite containing cocoa butter, it tastes like mockolate.

The original Epic bar is a waste of money; you're getting very little flavour for the kilojoules. The Epic Nuts bar has a strong peanutty flavour that dominates over the bar (which is fine as far as I'm concerned). But you're far better off buying the branded version of these rip-offs.

Score: 1 out of 5 jelly beans.

Epic and Epic Nuts bars are made in Germany. The original bar contains gluten, milk, soy and eggs, and it may contain traces of peanuts and tree nuts. Epic Nuts contains gluten, milk, soy, eggs and peanuts, and it may contain traces of tree nuts.