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Thursday, February 23, 2006
BottlecapsThese were a revelation when I had them as a kid. It was one of the earliest recollections I have of considering product design from top to bottom. (Well, that and AIM toothpaste which was a big deal back then.) The name of the product, the shape if the candies and of course the flavors all seemed to indicate that there was someone behind all this. Before that, I think I just though that kindly cooks slaved away in “test kitchens” to come up with new candies, or everything had just always been that way.
Bottle Caps are little crumbly, chalk-like candies flavored like sodas. They come in cherry, root beer, cola, orange and grape. I’m not sure if there was ever a Dr. Pepper/Mr. Pibb flavor, but it certainly doesn’t exist now. The packaging varies, sometimes you can find them in packets (like the Razzles) and sometimes in rolls like this. I like the rolls because they’re compact, but it does make it hard to avoid the colors you don’t want to eat (that’d be Cherry for me). Seeing how there are so few Root Beer flavored candies, this is one that always calls to me. The root beer of a Bottle Cap is vastly different from a Root Beer Barrel hard candy. A hard candy relies on the herbal/balsam qualities of the flavor along with a fair dose of sugar. This candy has a bit of a sour bite, I think to mimic the acidic carbonated drink and has a slight cooling quality on the tongue. It’s plenty sweet and has that root beer essence to it, but misses on the more complex flavors of the actual root beer flavor. The orange and grape are nothing to write home about, they’re just a fruit flavor with the sour/cool bite to them. The Cola flavor is equally interesting, with its earthy acidic bite and unique flavor. I like the flavor of cola, though I really don’t like soda (I wish other things came in cola flavor, like Root Beer Barrels). I can’t say that I feel like buying them again. I don’t think I’d had them for about 15 years and I could probably go another. I think I like the idea of the little snack packs better, maybe I’ll have to get some for Halloween this year and then have two or three to satisfy that wee craving. I know Bottlecaps have their feverish defenders and that’s cool. I’m not saying it’s a bad candy, I think it’s delightful and original. Just not for me. Note: this candy was manufactured in the United States.
POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:55 pm 
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Candy, you know, that stuff made with sugar. These are my candy reviews. Open your mouth, expand your mind.
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VOTE IN OUR POLLDo you stock up on candy?
Total Votes: 158
Yes, when it's on sale. 
18% (29)Yes, it's a regular item on my shopping list, no matter what the price.
15% (23)Kind of, I keep regular items on hand and supplement when I need a different fix.
23% (36)No, just single servings as my cravings dictate.
39% (61)I don't buy candy, I just mooch off of others.
6% (9)voting ends 05/08/2008
 
All content (text and photos unless otherwise credited) is copyright 2005-2008 by Cybele May
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I always like getting bottlecaps. Any candy that comes with a soda flavor - particularly cola - is a good one in my book. I’m a particular fan of those gummy cola bottles, both sour and sweet.
Don’t they have a Dr. Pepper flavored Jelly Belly? And I’m thinking bottle caps used to have a lemon-lime instead of (or maybe in addition to?) that cherry one…
I absolutely LOVE BottleCaps
Especially the cola and root beer flavors. One of my all-time faves. 
And Tricia, yes, there is a Dr. Pepper flavored Jelly Belly
Brian
I have memories of sorting through the Bottlecaps in my Halloween haul (I only ever seemed to eat them at Halloween), and picking out the yellow banana ones. Is my memory playing tricks on me? I really could have sworn there was a banana flavor that I LOVED.
Although banana soda doesn’t sound right; maybe it was a cream soda or something that I mistook.
Good memories, regardless!
There are several Japanese candies with Cola flavour. The next time you go to Mitsuwa you should keep your eyes open.
I remember Bottle Caps myself, and used to like them a lot. Now...I don’t know. My memory and your description of them makes me think of Ramune candy (a Japanese confection) though perhaps a bit harder.
Lesley, I don’t think your memory is playing tricks. If not Bottle Caps, then some other, similar candy had a banana flavour once upon a time.
Lesley - I too remember some sort of chalky candy disk that was banana flavor, though I can’t figure if it was a bottlecap or some other candy (I know they are part of the Runts family and shaped like bananas).
Bruce - I have tried the Shigekix cola hard gummi. It was okay, the sour part kinda threw me. But I’ll keep looking, I know the Japanese use cola flavor a lot.
Tricia - I seem to recall lemon-lime too!
I’ll have to poke around in some candy archives to see what I can come up with about the history of the bottlecaps flavors and other similar candies.
My favorite cola flavored candy besides Haribo’s sour cola bottles are cola-flavored Chupa Chups. Besides regular cola, they also have lemon cola and cherry cola. Mmm..
yeah, i just tried them for the first time in 15+ years too and they were more sugar-y than i remembered and cola was definitely still the best flavor. not sure i’d buy more now either.
Bottlecaps are like crack to me! I love them, and I’ll eat several rolls at a time. It’s fun to separate all the colors in their own stacks. One interesting thing I’ve noticed about them is that the candy texture and quality can vary depending on the packaging. I’ve gotten them in a movie theater style box before and the bottle caps were smaller than normal, harder and actually had rock-like granules in them (eeks). The best are the ones that come in the rolls. Great review!
You hit the nail right on the head. I can’t tell you how many times I ransacked a package of bottle caps and ate all of the cola and root beer, and then pawned the rest off on my younger siblings. As far as cola flavored candies go, the cola bottle caps are #3 on my list. I really like gummy cola bottles (not sure if multiple companies make them), and cola flavored nerds are the king in my book. What the heck happened to nerds? They used to have awesome flavors like the cola (and cherry cola, which was pretty good), cinnamon, wintergreen, banana. Why have you forsaken me, Willy Wonka?
The banana flavored wafers are, alas, no more. I believe you are thinking of Wacky Wafers. A delicious little treat similar in texture to Bottle Caps but with much more zing.
I am SO loving this site (I have a link to it on my message board signature and I’m hoping it’s okay with the author here). If you all want a kick, run to the bookstore (or Amazon.com) and buy “Candy and Me (A Love Story)” I now feel uncompelled to write an autobiography- she’s done it for me.
Doh! Wacky Wafers! That’s what I’m thinking of Angela!
I did read Hilary Liftin’s book last summer - she REALLY likes bottle caps.
You should also pick up Candy Freak by Steve Almond ... an excellent read.
I love the Root Beer ones, they make me remember my childhood.
I always got these in packets, because they were given me, either as Halloween trick or treat candy or other prizes. They were either the two cap packets or the six cap packets. I love all thingfs sweettart. They were my earliest remembered candy passion before I got into gummies.
oh dear i love these things yumm yummm
BOTTLE CAPS R GOD OF EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love bottle caps!! I’m almost 32 years old, and when I get ahold of a box of bottle caps, I just can’t put them down. My favorites are also the rootbeer and cola flavors. I wish Walgreens carried bottle caps, but they don’t. So instead, I have to go to Blockbuster to get them.
i love them but can never tell root beer from cola
I’m having some right now actually. The cola and grape are the best...dont care for the orange and root beer. Someone at work told me they had lemon lime which was replaced by cherry.
bottle caps are disgusting to me other than the root beer ones
I would love to find a place that would sell the root beer and cola bottlecaps in bulk. I don’t really care at all for the other flavors
Hi,
Has anyone else found the taste drastically changed recently? I bought 2 boxes at Walmart and threw them out because I thought htre was something worng with them. them my daughters gor some of the tiny packs at Halloween and I tried those: again an almost soapy flavor that doesn’t taste like soda at all. How long ago did they start making these in Mexico and does that have anything to do with it (ie, changed the “formula” or outsourced)? Yuk.
Bottlecaps are my all-time favorite candy! I liked to get the boxes instead of the rolls. Wal-Mart sells the boxes for $0.89 and Target has double boxes for $1.49. I love when Blockbuster has them on sale. I never eat the cherries. I usually do not eat the grape either. My favorites are the rootbeer and cola.
Everyone on here who doesn’t like the cherry Bottlecaps, please I implore you give them all to me!!
I just went through 4 rolls of bottlecaps to find my beloved cherry and there were only 7 total:( out of 4 rolls! mm sweet bottlecaps..everytime I make a trip to Cracker Barrel I know I’ll be bringing a few rolls home…
I would love to find a place that would sell the root beer and cola bottlecaps in bulk. I don’t really care at all for the other flavors
Comment by mchrzanowski
Hah! I totally Agree with you! That was actually what I was looking for when I found this site.. I have an obsession with the Root Beer ones, actually pretty much anything root beer flavored lol
Has anyone else found the taste drastically changed recently? I bought 2 boxes at Walmart and threw them out because I thought htre was something worng with them. them my daughters gor some of the tiny packs at Halloween and I tried those: again an almost soapy flavor that doesn’t taste like soda at all. How long ago did they start making these in Mexico and does that have anything to do with it (ie, changed the “formula” or outsourced)? Yuk.
Comment by zmster
And Ya, I noticed that to, All I had to do was shop at a different store, apparently it’s like different stores buy from different countries or something. If you buy them at Cvs they have the exact flavor they are supposed to.
Lesley, there WERE Banana bottle caps. Back when I was a kid in the 70’s, Bottle caps were different than they are now. They werent made by Wonka, and they were bigger, the size of a quarter. There were 6 or 8 to a pack......AND THERE WAS BANANA! They were so much better than they are now. They actually fizzed like soda. Does anyone remember the original “Fizzies” the soda shope drink tablets of the 60’s and 70’s? Talk about an addiction! Well, anyone lucky enough to live here in the Sacramento, CA. area.....there is a candy shop in Old Sac (Rainbow Heaven Candy shop) that sells them! They are just like the old ones from my childhood. NOT the Nutra-Sweet ones that tried to make a come back in the 80’s. The bad thing.....candy is 6.00 a lb. which makes the Fizzies like $4 for a box of 8 tablets. Yikes!!!!!! But I love them so that is what I have to pay. The best thing about them.....DONT put them in water like it says.....just drop them on your tongue and let them FIZZ away.....Yummmmy!
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