Sweet and Salty Snack Mix

It's quite sweet, not very salty.  Regular Cheez-Its, sugary pretzels, sweet chex corn squares, caramel popcorn (a la cracker jack), and M&M's.  Everything is sweetened in here except for the Cheez-Its.  Perhaps it would be a better balance if the pretzels were salty instead of sweet.  After finishing a box I came to the conclusion that I simply don't want sweet Cheez-Its.

Hot & Spicy Cheddar Grooves

Neither hot nor spicy, but you get a nice paprika/pepper flavor punch.  These and the White Cheddar are the best of the Grooves.

Sriracha Snack Mix

Sriracha is everywhere these days, and now it's a snack mix flavor.    This mix has cheese crackers, corn squares, bread slices, pretzels, and crunchy curls.  You're jumping on the sriracha bandwagon, Cheez It, and for that you get a heartfelt meh. The new snack mixes
just can't come close to the magic of "Double Cheese".

Original Cheddar Grooves

I've been buying a lot of the White Cheddar Grooves lately, and now comes the third installment, the O.C.  I have really grown to like the crispy cracker.  Original Cheddar is good, but I think White Cheddar is better.

Asiago

Tangy!  Nice job with this one.  This has a real stinky-cheese-in-a-good-way flavor.  After a while I was wondering if perhaps this was just the Four Cheese re-branded.  But the ingredient list has these cheeses: white cheddar, cheddar, parmesan, and asiago.  So definitely a different cheese mix.

My vision of the Cheeze-It factory now looks like this.  There are eight different cheese guns on the line.  Someone walks up, changes the settings on a few, and bam!  New flavor!  Bring back the taco!

Will definitely buy this again.  Might be better than the Four Cheese, will have to buy a box of those to compare.  Near, if not at, the top of the white cheese flavors.  8 out of 10?

Grooves - Zesty Cheddar Ranch and Sharp White Cheddar

So I bought the Zesty Cheddar Ranch Grooves first.  When I initially opened the box I was greeted with an almost chemical-y smell.  The crackers were not to my liking.  There was something off, I couldn't figure out if it was the cracker (made partially with rice flour), or the seasoning.  So I went out and got a box of the Sharp White Cheddar.  These were much better.  It was obvious that the Cheddar Ranch seasoning is what I didn't like.  The crackers are lighter, crispier, and crunchier than the regular Cheez-Its.  Since the Sharp White Cheddar flavoring is much lighter than the Cheddar Ranch, you can taste the cracker more fully.  I like these crispy crackers.  It's too bad the Cheddar Ranch isn't better; I won't buy that again.  But I suppose the White Cheddar will do well as a stand-in to one of the many white-cheese Cheez-Its.

Snack Mix Cheddar & BBQ

Oooh, a new snack mix!  Can it dare to compare with Double Cheese?  Unfortunately, no. Cheese Crackers, Mini Pretzels, Bread Slices, Wheat Squares, and Pretzel Sticks.  So let me see if I understand this correctly.  Take the Snack Mix, get rid of the rice balls, add some barbecue seasoning and you're done?  Seems pretty lame.  Sure it tastes ok, but there's nothing in here that makes me want to buy it. Instead of removing snacks, why don't you add a new one specifically for the BBQ flavor?  C'mon Cheez-It, we all know you can put together a good snack mix.  So why don't you go out and try to best yourself, instead of making a lame attempt to merely monetize your existing snack offerings?  I'll give it a 6 for taste, but a D for effort.