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Reviews > Food > Energy Bars and Drinks > Honey Stinger Blueberry Buzz energy bar > Test Report by Ray Estrella

Honey Stinger Blueberry Buzz Energy Bars
Test Series by Raymond Estrella
LONG-TERM REPORT

INITIAL REPORT - January 08, 2013
LONG TERM REPORT - February 07, 2013

TESTER INFORMATION

NAME: Raymond Estrella
EMAIL: rayestrellaAThotmailDOTcom
AGE: 52
LOCATION: North Western Minnesota, USA
GENDER: M
HEIGHT: 6' 3" (1.91 m)
WEIGHT: 225 lb (102.00 kg)

I've been backpacking for over 30 years, all over California, Minnesota, and many western states. I hike year-round in all weather, and average 500+ miles (800+ km) per year. I make a point of using lightweight gear, and smaller volume packs. Doubting I can ever be truly ultralight, I try to be as light as I can yet still be comfortable. I start early and hike hard so as to enjoy the afternoons exploring/chilling. I usually take a freestanding tent and enjoy hot evening meals. If not hiking solo I am usually with my brother-in-law Dave or my twin children.


INITIAL REPORT

The Product

Buzz Bar
Manufacturer: Honey Stinger
Web site: www.honeystinger.com
Product: Blueberry Buzz Energy Bars
Year manufactured: 2012
MSRP: (box of 15): US $25.35
Rough Size (not uniform): 3.8 x 1.5 x 0.5 in (97 x 38 x 13 mm)
Weight listed: 1.75 oz (50 g)
Actual average weight w/wrapper: 1.87 oz (53 g)

Product Description

The Honey Stinger Blueberry Buzz Energy Bars (hereafter referred to as the bars) are the newest flavor in the company's line of energy bars.

Bunch of Buzzezzz


The rectangular bars are quite dense. They break without much in the way of crumbs. There is a white vanilla yogurt coating on the lower half of the bar. The top is a pretty strange color, kind of like an old black-top road that has not been maintained in 50 years. But I am fine with that as long as it means they did not use a bunch of artificial colors to make it look pretty.Eat me...

The texture is good, dense with crunchy notes. I can definitely taste the blueberries although they do get covered quite a bit by the yogurt coating, which is as sweet as a candy coating. The coating melts from body heat as I hold it here while writing. I don't see it being a problem in the field as we are right around 0 F (-18 C) each day right now.

I like to look at the "bang per buck" of all my bars, or actually the calorie to weight ratio, as I am always looking to get more calories in a smaller package. The Blueberry bars come in at 97 calories per ounce (or 3.4 per gram) which is a bit low for this class of bars in my experience.

One thing that I do like is the amount of vitamins found in the bars. I have some of them listed below (I got tired of writing;-) and it can be seen that if I eat four per day as I normally do (two for breakfast and two for lunch) I will meet or exceed most of the recommended daily requirements. On long trips I bring vitamins, but these levels mean I can leave them at home. Good job Honey Stinger.

Nutrition Facts

Ingredients: Honey Stinger (Honey, Sea Salt, Water), Almonds, Crisped Rice (Sugar, Salt, Malt), Blueberries (Blueberries, Apple Juice, Sunflower Oil), Yogurt Coating [Sugar, Palm Kernel Oil, Yogurt Powder (Cultured Whey Protein Concentrate, Cultured Skim Milk, Yogurt Culture), Non-Fat Dry Milk Solids, Soy Lecithin (emulsifier)], Soy Protein Isolate, Vitamins & Minerals, Rolled Oats, Natural Flavor.

Serv. Size 1 Bar
Amount Per Serving %DV
Calories: 170
Calories from Fat: 30
Total Fat: 5 g 8%
Saturated Fat: 2 g 8%
Monounsaturated Fat: 0 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 160 mg 7%
Potassium: 130 mg 4%
Total Carb: 30 g 9%
Fiber: 1 g 6%
Sugars: 20 g
Other Carb: 8 g
Protein: 5g 10%

Vitamin A 25%
Vitamin C 25%
Calcium 30%
Vitamin E 15%
Iron 15%
Vitamin D 15%
Thiamin 35%
Riboflavin 30%
Niacin 45%
Vitamin B6 25%

Well that is all I can find to write about the Blueberry Buzz Bars at this time. I take them into the field tomorrow, and am planning to be out again this weekend. Since I only got 8 bars to test, and one was used during the writing of this report I feel safe to say, come back in a couple weeks to read my Long Term Report and see how the bars did for backpacking trips.


LONG-TERM REPORT

Field Data

I took the Blueberry Buzz Bars on three backpacking trips. Two were on the Red River on private property north of Halstad, Minnesota. The first was warm for the time of year with a low of 12 F (-11 C) while the second was back to normal with a low of -10 (-23 C)

The last was on the North Country Trail by the Anoway River in Chippewa National Forest which saw a high of -6 F and an overnight low of -22 F (-21 to -30 C). The picture below is from that trip.

Grub on the North Country Trail

Observations

As I only had seven of the Blueberry Buzz Bars to test I spread them out over three 2-day trips, having one Blueberry Buzz Bar at breakfast along with another brand of trail bar, and one at lunch along with some beef jerky.

The bar I had eaten at home was quite sweet, more than I care for. But on the trail in the frigid temperatures it was actually pretty nice. And the bars handled the extreme cold quite well. My lunch bar would travel in the top lid of my backpack so it was not getting much in the way of body heat. But the bars were always easy to eat, never becoming rock hard like other bars I have used do. The texture is nice with enough crunch to keep it from being boring but not too much work to chew.

Since I have been in such cold temps I have always worn gloves when eating the bars. So I can't really say if the yogurt coating will melt onto my hands during more normal conditions.

The taste has been pretty good. I really like the amount of blueberries in the bar. If I could choose I would have them forgo the yogurt coating to cut some of the sugar but all in all I liked the Blueberry Buzz Bars and would have no hesitation to buy them in the future. I would like to thank Honey Stinger and BackpackGearTest.org for letting me try them out, and shall leave with a shot at lunch at one of the old farmsteads I hiked past.

Swinger's lunch

This report was created with the BackpackGearTest.org Report Writer Version 1.5 Copyright 2013. All rights reserved.
Read more gear reviews by Ray Estrella

Reviews > Food > Energy Bars and Drinks > Honey Stinger Blueberry Buzz energy bar > Test Report by Ray Estrella



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