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Wells & Young Banana Bread Beer Another grown-up afternoon snack — a Friday afternoon snack. I’m hesitant to include an alcoholic beverage on a snack blog, but the banana bread microbrew is an anomaly: a dessert beer. Like flavored coffee, which you wouldn’t consume every morning (ditto those severe International Delight creamers) a sweet beer hits the spot on occasion. As a casual beer drinker I gravitate toward something sweet and rich: cider, oatmeal stout, Guinness. The Banana Bread is not too sweet or too rich; it’s dessert first. Just like mom used to make. A

Malt-O-Meal Marshmallow Mateys In a pinch cereal is the best snack. Plus the bag is more convenient than a box. And the marshmallows are psychedelic swirls. Even Lucky couldn’t tell the difference. A

Nilla wafer cookies will forever remind me of snack time circa. second grade, with a personal carton of milk and story to go with them. I wish I could say the same for the Nilla Cakester, but I’m afraid it will remind me of a 15-minute break in my cubicle. Oh, adulthood. The Nilla Cakester doesn’t quite compare to its Oreo brethren; maybe it’s the filling, which is a little marshmallow-y. The Oreo cake gets the vanilla flavor just right, as well as the peanut butter — a box of which currently resides in my freezer. The perfect after-school, I mean after-work, snack. Nilla Cakesters: B, Oreo Cakesters: A-

Utz Pork Rinds You can put them in a bowl, you can pair them with a nice ale (in my case a Bavarian), but I’m sorry folks, it’s pretty much impossible to eat pork rinds and not feel like a sloth. I don’t care if it’s protein-rich and carbohydrate-free, it’s still fried, puffed pig fat. Wait a minute, that sounds delicious! I’d never tried one before; always thought they were gross. But patrolling the snack aisle and in need of an after-work snack I pulled out a small dollar-bag of Utz. Not as greasy as a potato chip and harder to chew in one bite. Not bad. B-

Three Musketeers Mint Try one before Hershey Co. files a patent suit. (As you can see, it’s a York Peppermint Patty with slimmer silhouette.) keep a stack in the freezer just in case. A-

Diet Dr Pepper Tastes just like Regular Dr Pepper. But what does Regular Dr Pepper taste like? A-

Starbucks Apple Bran Muffin My first choice of Starbucks snack is the Top Pot doughnut, which is chased by some diatribe about how a Top Pot doughnut at Starbucks doesn’t compare to a fresh one in Seattle. But what can you do? Feeling health conscious this morning, I went for the apple-bran, part of Bucks’ new line of (somewhat organic) pastries. It’s soft, moist, not too sweet: unexpectedly delicious. A

Bahlsen Hit Cookies The other night I dreamt that someone put chocolate on a Ritz cracker. And it wasn’t bad. B-

Luscombe Wild Elderflower Bubbly Set loose in a gourmet general store, I couldn’t resist a sweet, drinkable snack. Set back in the wine cooler, Luscombe looks like a chic pocket champy, or, a semisweet lemonade perfect for picnicking. The Elderflower is refreshing in any language. A

Toggi Chocolate Wafer The Kit-Kat that’s too good for your office vending machine. I’m intrigued by any sort of imported chocolate; anything with foreign lettering on the wrapper and, in the case of Toggi, a name that’s fun to say. but fun to eat? B+

Golden Oreo Since the Oreo is the quintessential snack cookie, it might seem like a shoo-in (chew-in?) for a top mark, but not so fast. One thing I love about the Golden is it doesn’t rub off on your fingers like its choclatey brother. The cream tastes different to me, too, like a buttercream. And best of all, the snack pack in your office vending machine boasts six cookies, which seems like a bargain. got milk? A-

Chuckles Fail.

Popchips Sea Salt and Vinegar I dunno, I still feel like a potato chip should be crunchy, but whatever, give me sea salt and I’ll eat the whole bag. B

GIANNI Broadway Birthday Cake ice cream Maybe I’m jumping the gun on my own birthday plans, though missing the cake (haven’t had one, at least not the traditional sheet cake with frosting a-color-blue-not-found-in-nature for some time. So I gravitated toward Gianni Birthday Cake in the freezer. It did not disappoint — though I could use a little more cake in my ice cream. B+