Help me settle an argument re: Christmas chocolates

[Puppymonkeybaby1]

We're going to my parents for Christmas and splitting the food shop between us (4 people plus baby) I've been tasked with getting puddings and sweets.

I said, in passing, something about a tub of Quality Street and DH has kicked up a fuss because 'they're rank'. They're not, he just doesn't like them.

AIBU to say that the only true Christmas sweets are either Roses or Quality Street and these new kids on the block (Heroes & Celebrations) are just pretenders to the throne??

Nothing below 85% cocoa here.

I took back a box of shreddies DH bought because they were —fucking— Nestle.

YABVU; Quality Street and Roses are awful - there's not a single chocolate in either of them that I would deign to eat.

Orange matchmakers.

QS and Roses both now rank, and in plastic tubs designed to give you less sweets. Stupid con trick.

The M&S big tin of toffees is much nicer.

Celebrations are also much nicer than QS or (especially) Roses ever were.

Lindt
Bendicks Bittermints

Much nicer.

We used to like both qs and roses but the last three years they've been awful.

So if we get a tub it heroes or celebrations

There are of course other nice chocs too.

Thorntons: disgusting.

Droste pastilles - excellent. Especially the half milk / half white, and half milk / half dark ones.

Heroes or celebrations here.

Too much caramel and toffee in roses and quality street. But indo like green triangles, fudge, coconut, strawberry and orange ones.

Can I come to your house Jolly? The toffees are the best ones!!

We have quality st for my husband and Toffifee, after 8s and a big toblerone. I agree roses and quality street have changed and aren't as nice as they used to be.

Lemony you are more than welcome (as long as I can have your purple ones)

Ooh- division - where do you get droste's from, please? I haven't seen them in years, at least a decade.

We all love celebrations, and after that roses. QS are the granny teeth yankers

cELEBRATIONS ALL THE WAY, i'M AFRAID. qs AND rOSES ARE NASTYPASRTY

Love droste- used to get them on the ferry as a kid

Roses really are vile now.

I don't know what they did to them, but they all just taste of blearggh!

I can't go on a ferry, muddling!

Quality street - rank.
Roses - rank
Thorntons - rank

Just don't bother with a tin of chocolates. They're all rank.

Ferrero Rocher own Thornton's now.

And apparently the Cadbury heir has started up his own chocolate firm, using the old traditional chocolate recipe. I've tried searching for him online but can't find him. If anyone does -PLEASE let me know.

I liked famous names liquors when the chocolates were shaped like little bottles, and there was an 1/8 layer of solid crystallised sugar inside them.

They were much nicer.

None of our chocolate tastes the same since America interfered and made us eat their crappy stuff.

Even chocolate oranges and creme eggs are muck these days.

Totally agree - you've got to have at least 1 tub of Quality Street or Roses!!

I used to love the smallish tins (about 1lb/450 gr?) of Cadbury chocolate-coated whole nuts -- brazils, hazelnuts and almonds coated in really thick chocolate.
But I haven't seen them for a few years now.
And AFAICR in the 80s or thereabouts the Daily Fail regularly used to try to whip up anti EU sentiment by claiming the EU was trying to interfere with our Great British Traditions and was going to force us to rename British produced chocolate as 'vegelate' because it contained vegetable fats instead of just cocoa butter like yucky foreign (Eg Belgian! ) choc. So we've been putting el cheapo palmoil into our mass produced chocolate for many years.
(But we're probably putting even more of it in these days since esp since Cadburys is U.S.owned. And as we all kno American chocolate is Not Very Nice. )
Hotel Chocolat all the way for me these days, especially their giant slabs.

Oddly, I have seen Droste in various small village shops.

But Google suggests they are available on Amazon!

And any M&S own brand chocolates are the work of the devil.

M&S can't do high fashion nor own brand chocolate.

Aren't M&S Swiss chocolate discs like Droste? They're nice anyway.
Many Christmases ago BIL was complaining that there were only toffees left in the QS tin so me and my Dsis thought it would be a lark to put some joke garlic ones in. He picked one out and started chewing but said nothing so we had to tell him he was eating a garlic sweet and he said "well at least it ain't a fucking toffee"!!

"Totally agree - you've got to have at least 1 tub of Quality Street or Roses!!"

No, no, NO!

They have contaminated our Christmas. Removed all the good ones, replaced mediocre chocolate with some vile cheap concoction, turned the tins into tubs that aren't even round / straight sided, Roses are now in truly crap sealed packets instead of properly wrapped, so none of that shiny foil / jewel like cellophane.

How is it the same product? How can they expect our loyalty when the product we were loyal to is now so grim and unglamorous?