Nestle Japan is justifiably famous for the endless flavors of KitKat that they foist upon the market. The well seems to be endless for the whacky food technologists that they hire. Kudos must be given to the corporate giant for at very least, hiring some creatively insane people. Forget about the sins of their tireless marketing of infant formula in the third world at the expense of undermining traditional nursing (we're talking breastfeeding here) and possible and probable contamination from unsafe water sources and unsanitary preparation conditions. Forget about melamine in your milk, slave labor harvested chocolate and frankenfoods. We're talking pure mindless celebration of consumer culture and nutty capitalism.So, of course, tempted by constant novelty and having 100 yen sitting in my pocket, I had to buy the KitKat Ginger Ale Flavor (KitKat ジンジャーエール味). Can anyone resist? Cracking open the foil-wrapped inner package, an unmistakable whiff of ginger ale filled my nose. Wow! The scent soon dissipated. First bit revealed a lemony white chocolate amidst the familiar crunchy wafer. The ginger itself was overwhelmed. Though they use real ginger in the product, they also use real lemon powder. And as for ginger ale - as suspect as contemporary Canada Dry and Schweppes may be - you really don't need lemon. However as a lemony white chocolate concoction it ain't too bad.
A quick perusal of the Nestle Japan revealed that apart from the strawberry and blueberry cheesecake and apple flavors, hitting the market are some traditional Japanese flavored KitKats - wasabi, kinako (toasted soybean flour), and sweet potato. Plus shoyu, miso and wasabi! I can hardly wait!
Check out the new flavors here - http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/e-nestle/kitkat.html
