Albanese 12-Flavor Mini Gummi Worms

This was definitely a mixed bag

Albanese is a gummy company that’s known for its 12-flavor lineup: cherry, strawberry, pink grapefruit, orange, mango, lemon, pineapple, green apple, lime, watermelon, blue raspberry, and grape. Normally, the brand’s gummy bears let you appreciate these unique flavors one at a time. But the dual-colored gummy worms pair up these flavors with, err, mixed results. We tried them all — here’s what we thought!

Blue/Light Blue (blue raspberry/watermelon)

RoopNavarro says:

When I was a kid, my favorite flavor was Blue. Didn’t matter if it was blueberry, wild berry, Japanese “soda” or “yogurt” flavor, or the omnipresent Blue Raspberry. The fact that Blue Gatorade was called Glacier Freeze didn’t deter me, even though that flavor’s name is literally just a description of water in its solid state. My 90’s-ass kid brain just craved the Blue. Consume Blue.

So naturally, when I popped open the bag and saw a blue/light blue gummy worm practically begging to enter my maw, I went feral and shoved that bad boy straight into my face. Together, the flavors tasted Ambiguously Blue, kind of like those single-serve twist-off Kool Aid bottles I haven’t had in over two decades. In terms of how the flavors play together, blue raspberry definitely takes center stage. It’s a bit of an odd pairing, really. I feel like blue raspberry and watermelon got matched up like the last two kids to be chosen for a group activity.

Individually, the dark blue raspberry portion tasted unsurprisingly artificial, but in a way I found endearingly familiar, given my history. Let’s be honest, though — one taste of this would probably kill a medieval peasant or put the child of an Almond Mom in the hospital. The sky-blue watermelon side was interestingly restrained in taste, as if it had merely heard rumors of this melon of water. It’s nowhere near as aggressive as a Jolly Rancher, but identifiably watermelon. And while the aquamarine hue is quite pretty, it’s a bit weird for the flavor.

Mygodcharles says:

I LOVE BLUE, I love artificial candy flavor as teeth melting and cancer inducing it might all be, and blue is a good one. While I agree these flavors are an odd matchup I think they have more in common than we think! They’re in the same weird family of capital F flavor but in a similar tropical vein, though weirdly enough, I mostly tasted watermelon! I’m a blue chaser I really am, but this worm really just tasted like the familiar crispy watermelon taffy flavor I know and love, a good worm but not my favorite.

Red/Green (cherry/green apple)

RoopNavarro says:

Ah, the classic. Punch-you-in-the-face green apple and kick-to-the-shins cherry. Tastes like being in a kid in a dark movie theater, recklessly gobbling gummy bears with no regard to how the flavors play together. Both flavors are unapologetically fake, but let’s be real, that’s part of the charm. You’ll never mistake that green portion for a real Granny Smith apple, and there’s no pretending like the red part is a genuine imitation of a juicy black cherry. But that’s not the point. If you wanted fruit, you’d go to the produce department, not reach for a bag of sugar-laden annelids. For better or for worse, these taste like all-caps CANDY.

While I don’t think that’s bad, it’s not really to my taste. My girlfriend, Mygodcharles, is more partial to bold, fruity candy, so I can’t bring myself to call these bad, per se. They’re definitely a vibe, even if they’re not my vibe. I respect it, and I wouldn’t turn one down if it was offered to me. But I’d give my girlfriend the first pick.

Mygodcharles says:

THIS! ONE! IS! SO! YUMMY! I LOVE THIS PAIRING I LOVE THIS FLAVOR the green is the first to hit the tongue with a delicious cherry aftertaste, this is THE FIRST WORM I grab because it is without fail one of the absolute tastiest~ I will eat them all, and then some. Love green, love cherry, it smells good, smooth flavor that has more staying power than the previous worm, I cannot say enough how long this will stay in your mouth, so if you hate a lingering flavor, this is the one to avoid because it STAYS

Clear/Orange (pineapple/orange)

RoopNavarro says:

I’ll just disclose my bias right here — I’m a sucker for oranges and pineapples, whether they’re honest-to-goodness natural fruits or their ultra-processed candy-stand imitators. Something about the floral undertones and the punchy acidity just hits the spot for my palate, so it’s no surprise that this unassuming little worm rose above the rest during the course of my taste trials.

The orange side has a clean, straightforward orange flavor. Not too tart, not too bitter, not too sweet, not powdery and artificial — the platonic ideal of an orange gummy. It evokes the scent of that little mist of citrus oil that sprays out from the zest when you punch your thumb into an orange to peel it. The pineapple side is a little more abstract, straddling the line between mellow canned pineapple and the floral fruitiness of the ripe fresh fruit. Even though it’s between the two, it doesn’t fall into the uncanny valley. It’s pleasant. And it goes without saying that these two flavors complement each other fantastically, with neither hogging the spotlight. I’d pound a whole bag of these bad boys.

Mygodcharles says:

This one hits weird for me. The pineapple and orange don’t blend into one flavor as much as I want them to, if it was hitting me as friends holding hands rather than one coming in the door after the other I might have ranked it higher, but admittedly I can’t say I’ve run across a pineapple candy I’ve liked, I like real pineapple so the pineapple flavored candy has never been much my thing, which is a shame because orange is amazing and this orange is juicy in a great way! But this is not the worm for me, thankfully this is one the love of my life enjoys!

Pink/Clear (pink grapefruit/mango)

RoopNavarro says:

With pink grapefruit and mango united into a single worm, we’re really looking at a union of oddballs. Neither flavor is traditionally found in gummies, but they’re part of Albanese’s lineup of 12 flavors. I suppose they found themselves awkwardly mingling in these dual-flavored worms, like a couple of lonely, ignored co-workers with nothing in common at a holiday office party.

I may be in the minority in this, but I like the pink grapefruit side in isolation. It’s got that faintly bitter undertone you’d expect from the rind on a segment of real grapefruit, along with that a bit of that grapefruit peel stank. I find it appealing, but I wouldn’t blame anyone who thought it was off-putting. The mango side falls prey to the common downfall of artificial mango flavor — you know, that aftertaste. The one that tastes the way cat piss smells.

Taken together, the cat piss flavor definitely makes its presence known, along with those more complex notes of the pink grapefruit side. And like those awkward co-workings forced together by circumstance, no one’s having a great time.

Mygodcharles says:

I don’t like this worm : ( I don’t like grapefruit and I am diabetic so I’m not allowed to really have it, which is a great excuse even though I love grapefruit soda, and I don’t like mangos. I don’t get the mango hype, I don’t get excited to see it, and the hairy center makes me feel weird. This worm is two things I do not like, and while I will eat it, I will swallow it whole to avoid the food waste, I don’t like this. Wet fart in a dry bowl so to speak I do not like this worm and falls flat on its ass in the weird combination, though you can’t win with me when it comes to these flavors

Red/Yellow (strawberry/lemon)

RoopNavarro says:
Strawberry and lemon was a truly inspired choice among these dual-flavored worms. After all, strawberry lemonade is a summer classic for a reason. And while I love the idea, the execution falls a bit flat here.

How come? Well, Albanese’s is distinctly more herbal than its equivalents from other candy brands, which gives this worm a unique taste that’s biased in favor of the lemon side. I don’t mind — in fact, I quite like it. But as a combination, the pinkish strawberry portion is a bit meek to stand up to lemon’s spotlight-stealing presence. I’d tell strawberry to speak up, but that’d just embarrass it into further silence. Eaten individually, the strawberry side keeps its head down and gets the job done. It’s a rather one-note strawberry gummy, what more could you ask for? And taken together, I pretty much just tasted a lemon gummy that’d been waved in the general direction of a strawberry.

Ultimately, whether or not you enjoy this worm comes down to how much you like Albanese’s version of lemon. I like their lemon and its faintly grassy undertones, even if they overshadow strawberry’s performance. Overall, not a whole to complain about, but not much to write home about, either.

Mygodcharles says:

YUMYUMYUMYUMYUMYUMYUMYUMYUMYUMYUMYUM

LOVE THIS WORMMMMMMMM TASTY I LOVE LEMON CANDYYYYY I LOVE STRAWBERRYYYYY EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT WORM

Green/Purple (lime/grape)

RoopNavarro says:

Look, I get it. Artificial grape and artificial lime are both an acquired taste, like dark beer and bleu cheese. But at least I can envision a rich stout emboldening a slow-simmered beef stew or funky bleu cheese imbuing a punchy undertone in an otherwise one-note batch of wing sauce. But this worm? I wouldn’t even use it in place of an artificial lure, lest it trick the fish into believing they’ve been caught in an industrial chemical spill.

The green portion of this worm hits a note that I can only describe as “Yeah, this is fine in isolation.” It lacks the authentic flair that its lemon cousin delivers. It’s more like lime Jello than something with the acidic bite of actual limes. Which is fine, even if it’s not my preferred Lime Experience. The purple portion, which I will not deign to call “grape,” must be designed for deprived children who think Dimetapp cough syrup is a delicacy. This is like if someone made an edible of wocky slush, but cruelly left out the high. Eaten together, I just feel like I’m worsening my mental health while abusing my pancreas.

Mygodcharles says:

I am a grape fiend, I love fake grape SPECIFICALLY

I love the grape in this worm, I’d eat a whole bag of JUST these and I’m sad theres not more of them in the bag I bought, fake grape is delicious, I always went for the grape tootsie pop because it was like a punch in the face of flavor, I adore grape soda, grape candy, grape anything as long as its fake

Real grape inspired candy I feel falls flat a lot, because grapes are amazing, but whatever the hell fake grape is? Love it. I will love it forever, sticky syrup snow cone to the lowest cheapest grape lollipop I’ll eat it, the cheaper the grape the better the taste I love THIS WORMMMMMM