Brain Licker is a novelty-candy name most people know from one specific object: a small rollerball bottle you roll across your tongue rather than eat in the usual sense. What we actually stock is a different format from the same brand, so it's worth being clear about which one you're getting.
Where the brand came from
Brain Licker launched in the early 2000s, during a period when novelty confectionery was leaning hard into interactive formats — sprays, squeezable gels, popping candy, anything that turned eating a sweet into a small performance. The original Brain Licker is a liquid sour candy in a rollerball bottle, made by Hannah's: you roll the ball across your tongue rather than drinking or chewing it, and it delivers an intense, sour, fruit-flavoured hit along with a distinct colour change. That combination of novelty mechanic and genuine sourness is what made it one of the more memorable pocket-money brands of its era, and the range has since grown to include sprays, drops, squeeze tubes and a fizzy tropical can.
What we stock: Bitz, not the rollerball
What we carry is Brain Licker Bitz, sold as a full case of 18 x 50g boxes and well stocked at the time of writing. It's a hard-candy spin-off of the original brand rather than the liquid rollerball — tiny sweets in three colours, red, blue and green, each one staining your tongue a different shade as it dissolves. If you're specifically after the classic rollerball bottle, this isn't it; if you want the same brand and the same tongue-painting gimmick in a pocket-sized hard-candy format, this is the one. It's a special-order line for us, so allow around two weeks for delivery at the usual price.
The colour change comes from the ingredients list itself: E133, E160a and E163 are the three colourings doing the work, alongside malic acid for the sourness.
Where it sits in the sour-sweets world
We've written before about what actually makes sweets sour — citric, malic and tartaric acid, and whether the sourness sits in a coating or a centre — in Sour Sweets, Ranked by How Much They Actually Hurt. Brain Licker Bitz uses malic acid, the sharper, longer-lasting of the three, which puts it closer to the "properly sour" end of that piece than the mild, fades-fast end. You'll find it alongside the rest of our sour range in Sour Sweets.
FAQ
What is Brain Licker?
Originally, a liquid sour candy in a rollerball bottle, launched in the early 2000s by Hannah's — you roll it across your tongue rather than eating it conventionally, and it changes the colour of your tongue as well as delivering a sour hit.
Do you sell the original rollerball bottle?
No — we stock Brain Licker Bitz, a hard-candy version of the brand, not the liquid rollerball. Same brand and the same tongue-colour gimmick, different format.
Why does it turn your tongue different colours?
The ingredients list names E133, E160a and E163 as the colourings — three different colours across the red, blue and green pieces, which is what stains your tongue as each one dissolves.
Is Brain Licker Bitz vegan or vegetarian?
No allergens are declared on the ingredients list and there's no gelatine in it, but always check the pack itself for the most current allergen and dietary information before relying on that.
How sour is it compared to other sour sweets?
It's built on malic acid, the sharper and longer-lasting of the main sour acids used in confectionery — closer to the "properly sour" tier than the mild, quick-fading end of the scale.