Black Thunder – Big Thunder
During my first trip to Japan, I was blown away by the sheer number of options of snacks in even the smallest of convenience stores like Family Mart and 7-11. I can’t quite put my finger on why they seem so much better than the ones we have over here in the Frigid North. I’m sure there is a huge element of bias, and perhaps I’m just used to what we have here. But even among my travel mates, the Japanese convenience stores were almost a mandatory check out whenever we passed by one (which we did quite often). It’s just not the same with the ones here in the west.
I bring this up because each time I paid a visit to a 7-11, Lawson or Family Mart, I almost always ended up poorer by a few dollars. One of the pickups was what is known as Big Thunder. I’ve had positive experiences with Black Thunder so far, and I instantly recognized the packaging and logo on this product. This specific product is a variation on the classic bar. Instead of the standard, chunky looking bar, this one goes for a thin, wafer like shape. The internals are still the same, just a different shape.
It should also be worth mentioning that this bar feels just as hefty as the classic bar. Because of how thin and flat this bar is, it’s a bit more fragile (at least that’s how I had to treat it). It has a distinct grid like pattern, which reminds me of a giant wafer, or waffle. One distinct advantage of that is it’s easier to do controlled breaks and snaps, to get just the ride amount. Opening the package greets me with the ever familiar smell of milk chocolate and cookies. This is definitely a Black Thunder bar.
The main concern I have with this bar, as I open it up and snack it in half to do a cross section, is that it is very flat. Flatness, on its own is not an issue. It’s only a concern for a candy where the main selling point is the filling itself. I’m used to Black Thunder bars being somewhat substantial in the center, and I feel like this might throw off the ratio of chocolate to cookie pieces and filling.
Biting into it, I’m met with the familiar combination of cookie and milk chocolate coating. It’s great that they capture the general feel and experience of Black Thunder in an interesting new format. Unfortunately, as I predicted, the shape leads to some slightly off ratios, where there’s too much chocolate in each bite in comparison to the filling. Obviously mileage varies, but I really like the original ratio of lots of cookie and pieces, to outer milk chocolate coating. Because of the size of this, the random balls of cookie are also either absent or so small they aren’t noticeable.
Would I recommend this? If you like trying new things, sure. But if you are looking for a good ol’ fashion chonker like the original bar, I would pass on this one. I ended up buying a lot of Black Thunder products while in Japan, so never fret. More to come!
