The Good: Taste like they are supposed to, Limited edition nature
The Bad: Not the most nutritious thing ever, Environmentally problematic, Irksome to find (after the holidays), Waxy
The Basics: Tasty, but not Earth-shatteringly delicious, Irish Crème Hershey Kisses are fun, but not indispensable.
My wife spoils me and I have a deep suspicion that it comes from some wholly unfounded fear that I am going to leave her. Despite her insecurities about this, I love her quite madly and I often find myself begging her to not spoil me. I'm pretty sure that she keeps getting me confections just to fatten me up so I can't (literally) run away. Right before the holidays last year, which have never (classically) been wonderful for either of us, she took me through the nearest Target store and continually asked me “Do you want that?” as she pointed at virtually every limited edition chocolate on the shelf. She frequently did not listen to me when I'd say “no” and as a result on Christmas morning, most of the gifts I unwrapped were chocolate in nature (I guess I'm not too comfortable to sleep on, as bony as I am!) and I have been slowly been making my way through enjoying and reviewing them since.
In fact, I remember exactly how I ended up with the bag of Limited Edition Irish Crème flavored Hershey Kisses. As we turned a corner in Target and came upon a slew of boxes of various flavors of Hershey Kisses and I gave her my trademark “no,” she picked up two bags, which she thought I might like. One was Dark Chocolate Mint, the other was Irish Crème. She said (in a charmingly demanding way), “I'm getting you one of these two bags, which one?” to which I replied, “Neither, thank you.” And when she made the move to put both in the cart, I called her bluff and said, “Fine. I’ll go with the Irish Crème ones.” “Was that so hard?” she asked. I grumbled. She had been convinced I would go with the Dark Chocolate Mint Hershey Kisses and I decided to throw her for a loop; after all, she got me a ton (almost literally!) of mint chocolate things for the holiday.
Basics
Irish Crème Hershey Kisses are a limited edition flavor of Hershey’s Kisses. Like all Hershey’s Kisses, these come individually foil wrapped and this limited edition flavor was brought out around Christmas and is likely to be an annual limited flavor. Each of the teardrop shaped chocolates comes individually wrapped in a gold and green foil wrapper. It is worth noting that while I usually rail against the environmental impact of such things, it is hard to imagine Hershey Kisses not wrapped. This keeps each one clean, unmelted and intact.
Each Irish Crème Hershey Kiss is a seamless dollop of milk chocolate that is essentially a chocolate ornament sealing in a white Irish Creme-flavored paste which is quite good. In this form, the 10 oz. bag, the individually-wrapped chocolate kisses are packaged together in a standard plastic bag. This size has approximately fifty-four kisses and the thin plastic bag does little to protect the kisses. The bag is not resealable, though this matters very little considering that the chocolate does not go bad as they are individually wrapped.
One of these bags, even with only fifty-four Hershey’s Kisses, tends to run in the $5.00 range. They, however, are a tough sell at that price and my partner and I were glad to get them on sale.
Ease Of Preparation
These are candy, so preparing them is as simple as opening the bag and then opening one of the foil wrappers around the actual chocolate kiss one wishes to eat. There is no trick or mystery to eating Irish Crème Hershey Kisses. If you're smart and coordinated enough to remove foil from a chocolate, you can eat an Irish Crème Hershey Kiss!
Taste
The Irish Crème Hershey Kisses have a faint bouquet, which is appropriately enough of Irish Crème. The scent comes through the moment one opens the foil wrapping and it is surprisingly strong.
Placing the kiss on the tongue, then, may be a little disappointing for some consumers. Hershey, in their rush to mass produce these for the holidays, uses a very waxy chocolate for their Hershey Kisses and the Irish Crème ones seem unfortunately waxy in their execution. The waxy milk chocolate is very sweet and it only takes a few seconds for it to melt away. This exposes the white Irish Crème center and that is buttery and cinnamon-flavored. This has a very authentic Irish Crème flavor to it and when one indulges in it, their tongue is rewarded with a very creamy taste that will remind anyone who likes the famous liquor of its flavor.
The blending of the chocolate and the Irish Crème flavor yields one of the sweetest Hershey Kisses to date.
Nutrition
These are candy, seriously and a mass produced one at that, so it is tough to look at these for something nutritious and then blame them for not being healthy. Irish Crème Hershey Kisses are surprisingly good, though, which surprised me as the ingredient list did not degenerate into a listing of chemicals I could not pronounce. Instead, the primary ingredients are milk chocolate, sugar and vegetable oil. There is nothing unpronounable in these candies and outside the vague “less than 2% Artificial Flavor,” everything in these could be readily identified by me.
A serving of the Irish Crème Hershey Kisses is considered nine candies. From nine Irish Crème Kisses, one takes in 210 calories, 110 of those calories being from fat. There is 2% of the RDA of cholesterol and sodium, but there are no vitamins in these chocolates, unsurprisingly. There is, surprisingly enough, 8% of one's daily calcium in nine kisses, so that is certainly a plus.
Honestly, these are candy and anyone looking to them for actual nutrition needs to get a reality check. These are not Vegan-compliant, nor are they recommended for anyone with a nut allergy as they are produced on the same equipment that peanuts pass over. They are not noted to be either kosher or gluten-free.
Storage/Clean-up
The bags of these Irish Crème Hershey Kisses remain fresh for quite some time. I could not find any expiration date but given that it is chocolate, one assumes that if they are kept in a cool, dry environment they will not melt or go bad. Given that they are individually wrapped in a very sealed package, it is hard to imagine just what it would take for these to go bad outside melting and refreezing. Hershey’s chocolates do seem especially susceptible to melting, though.
As for cleanup, I applaud those who actually throw the wrappers away in socially appropriate places, as opposed to litter. Outside that, there is no real cleanup needed, unless one is eating them in a hot environment. In that case, it is likely one would need to wash their hands. If these chocolate kisses melt into most fabrics, they will stain. Getting them to melt, unfortunately, does not take much.
Overall
Irish Crème Hershey Kisses are a nice novelty and one bag a year might be nice, but it’s a very weak “recommend” I give these because they are not the most fabulous candy I have ever tasted . . .or have even tasted today.
For other candy reviews, please check out my reviews of:
Lindt Holiday Spice Lindor Truffles
Ghirardelli Holiday Assortment
Russell Stover Private Reserve 70% Cacao Assortment
Honey Bean Jelly Belly Jelly Beans
5.5/10
For other food reviews, please visit my index page for an organized listing!
© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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