Top 13+ Hershey's Kisses flavors, ranked worst to best

Special Dark

Although some chocolate connoisseurs may view dark chocolate as superior to milk chocolate, we prefer most of Hershey's milk chocolate-based Kisses over the Special Dark variety. While this came as somewhat of a surprise, it doesn't mean we don't like Special Dark Kisses — because, overall, we do. This flavor is dark, rich, and sweet, so what's not to like?

The thing we struggle with on this one involves texture. When it comes to Kisses, we definitely prefer a softer, creamier texture than Special Dark possesses. This allows for a more melty, mouthy, chocolatey extravaganza, which is something we highly value. Note that other dark chocolate-based Kisses, including Lava Cake and Mint Truffle, performed higher than Special Dark in our product rankings. This may be because, in part, the soft centers of those flavors help to balance out a harder dark chocolate shell.

At any rate, if you're the kind of person who selects the Special Dark pieces first from a Hershey's miniature assortment, then you're going to like these Kisses. But if you tend to eat the Krackel, Mr. Goodbar, and Milk Chocolate miniatures before Special Dark, this one may not be for you.

Hugs

Okay, so technically, Hershey's Hugs are not actually Kisses — but if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, we'll go ahead and leave it there. Hugs are essentially a multi-layer version of Kisses; in this case, an outer shell of milk chocolate-striped white creme hugs a milk chocolate center. This multi-layer approach is similar to what we've seen before in some seasonal varieties, except that the filled seasonal ones typically have a softer center (i.e., Vanilla Frosting, Hot Cocoa, Lava Cake).

We really like Hugs. (We also really like hugging chocolate.) Hugs are chocolatey, creamy, cute, and extremely yummy — all without being overpoweringly sweet like some of our earlier flavor rankings. If you don't want to commit to a full bag of Hugs, they can be found in Hugs & Kisses assortment packs. (Awww!) Or, you can just take the plunge and grab a whole share pack of Hugs. We don't think you'll regret it.

Milk Chocolate

As Hershey's original Kisses flavor, Milk Chocolate sets a pretty high standard. This treasured candy has been around for over 100 years, offering a classic chocolate experience all wrapped up in tiny little pieces of silver foil. Kids and adults alike love to bite into these tiny treats and let them melt in their mouths to savor for a while. You can even use them to top baked desserts, including one of our favorite cookies: peanut butter blossoms.

Along with Milk Chocolate's traditional silver wrappings, you can also find seasonal packaging options for Christmas (red and green, Grinch-themed, and Santa hats), Easter (pastel pink, green, and blue), and Valentine's Day (red, of course). Plus, Giant-sized Milk Chocolate Kisses are also available — though we prefer the mini, bite-sized versions.

So if Hershey's already had such a good thing, why did they decide to mess with it? Well, there has always been the potential to make something even greater. To our delight, we discovered three Kisses flavors (discussed below) that are even better than the original. Who knew?!

Milklicious

Anyone who appreciates a glass of chocolate milk (and perhaps many of you who don't) is going to completely fall in love with Hershey's Kisses newest flavor: Milklicious. This brand-new product is only just finding its way to stores nationwide, but rest assured that it will be around for a while as part of Hershey's permanent portfolio.

Milklicious is comprised of an outer layer of solid milk chocolate and a creamy chocolate milk-flavored filling. The soft filling element is somewhat unique because of all the Hershey's Kisses flavors we ranked; this is the only non-seasonal option containing one. And while the solid vs. creamy texture is an interesting one of intentional contrast, it also serves to enhance (and not distract from) the overall flavor combination — which is absolute perfection.

Since several of our product testers are pretty big dark chocolate snobs, we were a little surprised at how high Milklicious ranked. But when it comes to milk chocolate (and, apparently, chocolate milk), Hershey's really knows what it's doing. Nice job!