Source Protein bars by SourceWell Nutrition are the latest protein bar that I’m reviewing here on the blog, and the first protein bar review in I don’t know how long. I’m pretty excited to tell you all about these new bars, because I’ve actually had an enjoyable experience trying them. I feel like my last handful of reviews, such as yesterday’s BPI Best Pre Workout review, have been for the most part negative. So I’m excited to actually spread some positivity around these Source Bars! In this review I’ll tell you what the best flavor of Source Nutrition Bars is, what the ingredients look like, and of course if the packaging is on point. So if you’re ready for one amazing Source Bar review, than I am too, so let’s begin, boo!
Sourcewell Nutrition Bars seem to be coming out of their shell only very recently. I followed them on Instagram and it looks like they had a bit of a coming out party at last weekend’s Fit Expo in Los Angeles. I bet they enjoyed some very positive feedback on their bars, since, let’s face it EVERYONE loves a new protein snack. Especially when it tastes good. And Source Bars actually do just that. Well. Some flavors do. Let me explain.
What is the Best Source Bar Flavor?
Great question, and also a rather easy one for me to answer. My friend actually had a box of cookie dough, birthday cake, and also a single bar of the peanut butter Source Bar that we split up and shared. Now. Here’s the thing. The Cookie Dough, and Peanut Butter flavors were part of the all-naturally sweetened line- meaning they contained no sucralose. The Birthday Cake flavor was part of the original, or normal line, which means it contains all sorts of fun artificial stuff to make it taste so good. But want to know the crazy thing? I actually found that the natural ones taste BETTER than the original/regular ones. In fact, my rankings go like this :
- Best: Cookie Dough (natural)
- 2nd: Birthday Cake (unnatural)
- 3rd: Peanut Butter (natural)
So that’s pretty wild, right? The natural cookie dough beat out the other flavors of Source Protein Bars that should, by any logical guess, be tastier because there is no restriction on the flavoring ingredients. But the natural cookie dough was absolutely delicious. In fact, I’d even go so far as to say it was right on level par with the legendary Quest Bar. I know, right?
The texture of these Sourcewell Nutrition bars is interesting. They are not coated with that yogurt-y stuff, so in that sense they are more like Quest, like one big long slab of compressed gunk. But Source Bars have some texture inside of them that give them a bit of a dynamic taste that is enjoyable.
What I like BEST about these bars though, is the level of salt. Most bars are sweet, but don’t have a saltiness to round them out and make them more balanced and crave-able. These do. Source bars are actually the saltiest protein bars I’ve ever had, but that’s a good thing because you’ll see they just taste fantastic. Overall, I’m going to give Source Bars a 9.3/10 on flavor, which puts them above the Fitjoy bar– which has been the popular one lately. So now let’s look at the nutrition and see how good (or bad) these Source Bars are for your health.
Are Source Bars Healthy? What’s in Them?
Source Bars have an interesting mixture of most traditional protein bar ingredients that you are used to seeing. The base of these bars is dairy-based protein, coming from grass-fed whey, whey isolate, milk protein isolate, and then dairy protein crisps (which give them that nice taste). The interesting thing about Sourcewell bars is that they then use almond butter, various rice flours, various palm oils and glycerine, and of course all sorts of natural flavors, sugars, and interestingly enough, a combination of stevia and sucralose to sweeten (in the regular/unnatural versions). All together, your Source bar macros look like this:
Calories: 240
Fat Cal: 80
Sat Fat: 1.5g
Sodium: 190mg
Total Carb: 27g
Fiber: 12g
Sugar: 4g
Sugar Alcohol: 4g
Protein: 20g
Looking at those stats, a few things jump out at me. The first is the fiber. 12 grams of fiber is a pretty good slug of fiber. You probably aren’t going to be hungry for a little while after eating a Source Bar. I certainly wasn’t. The other thing to note is the sugar alcohol, which, at 4 grams, runs the risk of sitting sort of, well, not well in your stomach. I always feel a little bit queasy after eating something with a bunch of sugar alcohol in it, and you might too. So. Just know that Source Bars do have a good hit of sugar alcohol in them.
The last thing to note would be that salt factor that I think gives Source Bars such a nice taste, does contribute almost 10% of your daily allotment of salt right there. It’s not a huge deal to me, but for those of you who really try and limit your salt, the Source Bar might not be your best bet.
Overall though, I’m pretty excited about this formula. It’s not super super clean like an Oatmega bar or something like that, but it’s far less of a ‘science-project’ than a Quest Bar in my opinion. Well done, Sourcewell!
Source Bar Packaging is Pretty Not-Pretty.
I know I know. I’m hard to please when it comes to guys. I mean protein bar packaging. Lol. Oops. Did that slip out? Jk jk. But not really.
Source Bars though…ugh. They don’t look good guys. They just don’t. The black and white theme is an interesting enough attempt, but they have not done a good job of executing. And you know what? Black and white isn’t a good color scheme for a food bar. Look at Soylent. It looks like a medical device. It’s just atrocious. Hipster and ‘cool’, but it sure doesn’t make you want to eat it. And you SHOULD want to eat a protein bar- right?
I’d say if I’m giving out the pros as well though, the name SOURCE Bar is lovely. It invokes a certain cleanliness and confidence that you are buying something wholesome and healthy. So I do like the name very much.
The big, prominent images of the flavors/foods themselves are also quite helpful, even though I can tell you, looking at the Snickerdoodle packaging on the Source Bar Instagram, it looks like a big Ritz cracker. LOl. Now that would be something. Ritz cracker flavored protein bars! Woo!
I’ll give Source bar an 8/10 on packaging just because I do like several things about the packaging, it’s just that it lacks that sort of colorful ‘eat me’ vibe that would really put them over the top.
Sourcewell Nutrition Bar Review Summary:
- Flavor: 9.3
- Formula: 9.0
- Packaging: 8
- Value: 8
Final Score: 9.0
It’s all about the taste. And since the formula is pretty sound as well, I have to give Source Bars an A. These are the best protein new protein bars I’ve tried this year.*
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