A review and taste ranking of CLIF Builders Protein Bars. These flavors include Chocolatey Mint, Vanilla Almond, Cookies ‘N Cream, Chocolatey Peanut Butter, and Oreo.
Overall Review & Verdict
When I first glance, I notice these protein bars look slightly larger than average and feel very hefty! However, the calorie-to-protein ratio isn’t great. The ingredients consist mostly of soy protein isolate, cane sugar, and other ingredients. Lastly, as a side note, the Oreo flavor is newer, released in May 2025.
They’re made up primarily of crispy pieces on the inside, with a softer, thinner layer alongside them. These layers do provide a satisfying, nuanced mouthfeel, though to note, I wouldn’t say they are as extraordinary as some other popular protein bars. In fact, that soft inside layer was on the thinner side and could have done much more.
Overall, I’m not crazy about them; they feel just mediocre, especially with what flavor you pick. They’re decent enough bars, although they feel generic despite their few layers. In terms of sweetness, they’re right around the middle in terms of your standard bar, maybe a little less. Basically, just nothing to write home about these protein bars.
Taste Ranking
1. Chocolatey Peanut Butter
A fairly sweet peanutty and milk chocolatey bar. It almost reminds me of a Reese’s, but maybe just a tad less sweet overall and more authetic tasting. With that, I get no protein bar taste or weird flavors — this tastes like an authentic sweet peanut milk chocolate bar with both the chocolate and peanut butter balancing each other out nicely. I also think the crispy pieces on the inside add a nice touch to what this bar is trying to convey: peanuts (and chocolate, of course).
2. Vanilla Almond
Wow, this looks like a cinnamon roll with its white glaze on a white shell, but it’s anything but. Its flavor is not explicitly nutty or super almondy; instead, it combines a lighter, mild vanilla with an equal part almond. It’s very smooth and enjoyable, providing a good balance of flavors; neither comes out too strong, and the bar as a whole is perfectly sweet, representing a smoother-based combo of almond and vanilla–you don’t need a sweet-tasting protein bar here (in my opinion, at least!).
3. Chocolate
When I first bit in, I thought this tasted like a milk chocolate with a protein bar aftertaste. A few munches later, it quickly subsided, leaving me with a mild to moderately sweet, almost chocolate-milk-like flavor. Essentially, this is a typical chocolate-flavored protein bar, and despite its initial slight protein bar taste, it’s decent enough. My biggest gripe is that, well, it’s just a generic chocolate, nothing else. Notably, this is similar to the Oreo flavor, but this was a tad sweeter and less dark.
4. Cookies ‘N Cream
When I bit in, I noticed there were chocolate and white, crispy bits combined with an orange filling. Unfortunately, its flavor isn’t cookies-and-cream. It’s a combination of semi-dark chocolate with a background of a protein-esque-like taste. Really, I don’t get any cookie taste, let alone creaminess. It really feels like I ate a generic chocolate protein bar. It wouldn’t hurt to add a little more sweetness, either, especially since cookies-and-cream flavors are usually pretty sweet.
5. Oreo
I like the white swirl on its dark chocolate shell, which makes it look more unique than the other bars.
In terms of flavor, it’s a generic, semi-dark, mildly sweet bar. Oreo? Definitely not as dark, and it certainly doesn’t have that darker cookie flavor nor any creme. This bar just contains a regular-tasting, mildly sweet, non-bitter chocolate flavor — no artificialness to note of either. Compared to the Chocolate flavor, this is a tad less sweet and has a darker chocolate note. Overall, a uniformly plain dark chocolate bar.
6. Chocolatey Mint
I love mint, so I was surprised that on my first bite, I got toothpaste vibes. It almost tasted… refreshing? Weird, and maybe I got used to it, because after several bites it seemed to switch to a more traditional candy-like flavor and became more tolerable. Alongside this flavor was an equal part dark chocolate, which, coupled with the moderate sweetness, was decent enough. Still, I can’t shake that initial toothpaste flavor, and honestly, I’ve had much better mint-based protein bars.