Butterfinger Buzz: The Caffeinated Candy Bar [taste tests]
To kick off the limited-edition candy bar Butterfinger Buzz ("with as much caffeine as the leading energy drink"!), the folks at Nestle are hosting a free event TONIGHT at Chicago Buzz barbershop (124 S. Franklin Street) from 7-10pm. Barbers will be giving "Butterfinger Buzz Cuts" complete with a (wash-out-able) orange spray-on Butterfinger logo. If you're one of the first 25 people to buzz your hair in the name of caffeinated candy, you'll get a $100 gift card. Also we will be really impressed by your cojones for, like, forever.
Earlier this week we found ourselves in possession of a handful of Butterfinger Buzzes, which we decided to consume in the name of science. We live-Twittered our eating experience — we forewent our coffee that day in exchange for half of one of the king-size bars, which packed a walloping 40mg of caffeine. We also handed out bars to anyone who came near us, on the condition that they report back after consumption.
Maybe it's that we're not used to taking our morning stimulant in solid form, maybe it was the double-whammy of all that sugar (our half-bar had 24 grams, which is half a day's FDA allotment), but oh my god we were flat-out tweaking. Fluttery blinking, difficulty typing, a complete inability to focus on whatever was in front of us. We weren't the only ones — Elsa of MP:Philly, who ate only half of a half, reported "I did not feel as alert as I do from a cup of coffee, but I did feel like a moth was trapped in the chambers of my heart."
Interestingly, the results of our informal experiment were clearly divided along gender lines. While we and Elsa were jittering around MPHQ, MP:SF editor Adam and IT Guy Sean were almost frustratingly blasé. IT Guy Sean consumed an entire bar and experienced absolutely no ill effects, but noted that he drinks 8 cups of coffee a day, so it was entirely possible that "this would give normal people a stroke."
Flavor-wise, it tastes like a Butterfinger — plus a little metallic aftertaste that we might, admittedly, have hallucinated. On the whole, while we never ever want to eat one again, the experience was not an unpleasant one.

By E L on 02/12/2009 at 2:38 PM