This isn't the first time in my life eating Red Vines. A while back I was sent a box of them and was given the option of what flavour I'd most like to sample for the review. I chose Red Cherry Twists because I thought that the regular red licorice ones would just be... well regular. I did it because I didn't want to compare Red Vines to the fine folks at Twizzler. Red Licorice is not very exciting and to be honest I wasn't really sure who came up with red liquorice first, so I thought it would be hard to judge. Well I just got another box full of liquorice cheer from the folks at Red Vines, and I was stuck with the same problem. I decided this time, since they're so tenacious, that I'd give their "Original Red Twists" a try.
I have to say that I'm pretty amazed by these Red Vines. I was expecting a battle between them and Twizzlers, but I did not get it. I say this in the best way possible way. These "Original" flavoured twists are pretty good, but nothing like Twizzlers at all. It's got almost a cinnamon flavour, maybe with a hint of the classic red liquorice flavour. I also find that these aren't as oily as liquorice can be (not that I mind the oily liquorice, in fact I kind of like it). I'll also say that unlike last time, it would appear that my packages of Red Vines are a little softer too. This is a good thing since the Red Cherry Twists were a little bit too hard.
I'd say if faced with the choices of Red Vines liquorice flavours, go for the Original Red, they're not what you might expect.