I was approached by a homey straight outta Germany: Alex, who runs meanblackfox.com. They’re a licorice store specializing in boutique varieties- sweet, salty, crazy salty, and just plain nuts. He sent me two candy-coated varieties to try.

Love the packaging. And Ilove that the company name is clever and actually applicable. Mean black fox. Strong licorice. It makes sense, and I’m a logical guy, so points on that one.

Candy coated licorice. Think Good & Plenty, but gooder. It’s a classic style of licorice because it introduces crunch to a candy that already has a few other flavor profiles covered: chewy, sweet, salty, etc.

First up? Mini licorice comfits.

Very good. The comparison between these and Good & Plenty is obvious, with these being the slightly elevated version. Snappier, colorful, good. But honestly, I wasn’t blown away by these- they weren’t so different from varieties us Americans can get at the ready.

Not so with item #2: Dutch Mix Licorice Draghees

Holy shit. HOLY SHIT. These are different. Yes, the site says these are a mild licorice and I’m sure they are, but my eating experience with these is anything but. First, the candy coating is thick- it makes you think it’s a hard candy at first. Then you bite into it, and this wonderful licorice taste combines with the crunchy candy. I definitely got a very nice dash of salt as well-but make no mistake, this isn’t a “what the hell is wrong with you guys salty licorice”. It just happens to have those notes, which pushes this over the edge of excellence into super mega excellence.

Truly, I would have a jar of these (yes, I have candy jars in my home office-shouldn’t I?) on hand at all times if I had my druthers. And I’m pretty sure….I have my druthers, so there ya go.

If if you like slightly salty licorice at all, then this is an excellent option for you. Check out Alex’s site and support them, why don’t ya?