My first Clif Bar was on a beautiful summer day in Hatcher Pass. Ever since my teeth first sank into the warm, chewy goodness, the wholesome ingredients and dense energy content have brought me back repeatedly. Over the years, they’ve added many flavors — some of these have been good, others not so much.

Inspired by Juliana Hatfield’s ascetic rock-star diet, Clif Bars have seemed like a great way to have breakfast, along with a cup of stout Irish breakfast tea.  So I remember which ones are worth buying in bulk, I’ve posted taste-test reviews complete with the obligatory Netflix-style rating system.

1st Review:  Banana Nut Bread

The overripe bananas come through, but somehow the nuttiness is overshadowed by the everpresent Organic Brown Rice Syrup/ClifPro mixture.  There are chocolate chips in the mix, too, but like the nuts, they are all but lost in a sea of syrup.  Not distasteful at all, but definitely not the best Clif Bar out there.  Pleasing the customer is all about expectations, and when you’re setting the bar at a venerable favorite like banana bread, you’re just about doomed to failure.  Maybe if they had called it, “Soggy Tasty Banana Chips and Nut Pieces,” I wouldn’t have bothered.  I even went as far as to try this with the ultimate banana bread companion:  a glass of cold milk.  It didn’t change the outcome of this review.