When I saw this package, I was pretty convinced that it was going to be a licorice overdose. I was ready to explain, once again, that I don't really like licorice but I really want to like it. Although I was ready to explain this, I really don't have to because this bar is surprising tasty.
This isn't the first time I've tried licorice and chocolate together, so I knew what I was getting into. The difference is, with the other licorice chocolate bar I tasted the licorice was made up of little crunchy candies distributed throughout. The licorice in the other bar I tried was also far less salty. In the case of the Salmiakki bar you have a chocolate cube that is filled with an extremely salty licorice goo.
The thing that made this bar really work for me is the strength of the licorice flavour. The licorice was really tame, in fact it was so tame I could hardly taste it at all, that or I'm getting used the flavour of licorice. The flavour that really punches through in this bar is the salt, it hits you like a truck. Fortunately, this super salty flavour works so well with the smooth, sweet chocolate. I'm a big fan of the salty/sweet combination and I don't think I've ever tried anything that was just so salty with a bit of sweet.
This was truly a great surprise for me and I'm really glad to have tried it. If you're a fan of really strong licorice you might be disappointed. The thing is if you want to try something really uniquely salty and sweet, you'll be much happier.