Swedish Fish Oreos, Energy Drinks and the Rest of the Spinoffs
Swedish Fish Oreo, the Ghost energy drink flavour and the other licensed spinoffs, explained: who makes them, what they are, and why none of them are Swedish.
Swedish Fish is a Mondelez International brand, and Mondelez licenses the name and the flavour to other manufacturers. That is how Swedish Fish Oreo and the Ghost energy drink flavour exist. They are American licensing products, not Swedish candy, and we do not sell any of them. We import actual Swedish fish-shaped candy in bulk. We get asked about these often enough that a straight explainer seemed useful, even though none of it is our product. Here is what each spinoff actually is, who makes it, and why the "flavour" being copied has nothing to do with Sweden.
Why a candy brand ends up inside a cookie
Big confectionery groups own portfolios, and a portfolio brand with strong recognition is an asset you can rent out. The mechanics are simple: the brand owner licenses the name, the colour palette and a flavour spec to another manufacturer, who builds it into their own product and pays a royalty. The licensee gets instant shelf recognition without inventing a flavour. The brand owner gets revenue and free advertising in an aisle it does not compete in.
Swedish Fish is an unusually good licensing candidate for one reason: the flavour is famous but undefined. Nobody agrees what it tastes like. It is "red." That vagueness is a gift to a flavour house, because "red" can be approximated in a cookie creme, a drink, a protein powder or a lip balm without anyone being able to say it is wrong. We wrote about that flavour question in what flavor are Swedish fish.
Note the direction of travel here. None of this is Swedish candy culture escaping into new categories. It is a North American brand extending into North American categories.
The spinoffs, and what each one is
There are two different things going on, and they get mixed up constantly. Line extensions are still candy, still made under the same brand owner. Licensed crossovers are made by a different company entirely.
Product: Type: Made by: What it actually is
Swedish Fish Oreo: Licensed crossover: Oreo, a Mondelez brand: Golden wafers with a red, fish-flavoured creme. Ran as a limited edition in 2016, sold through Kroger stores in the US
Ghost Energy Swedish Fish: Licensed crossover: Ghost, under licence from Mondelez: A canned energy drink in an officially licensed Swedish Fish flavour, part of a wider Ghost partnership that also produced Sour Patch Kids flavours
Swedish Fish Tails: Line extension: Mondelez: Two-flavour fish, split down the body
Swedish Fish Mini: Line extension: Mondelez: The same shape at a smaller piece size, aimed at sharing bags and theatre boxes
Tropical and other colour packs: Line extension: Mondelez: Multi-colour and multi-flavour assortments beyond the standard red
Seasonal novelties (candy canes and similar): Licensed crossover: Third-party seasonal manufacturers under licence: Holiday formats carrying the brand and the flavour, produced for a single season
Two caveats we would rather state than gloss over. Limited editions come and go, so anything above may or may not be on a shelf near you right now. And we are describing other companies' products from the outside, not from a spec sheet, so treat the detail as a guide and the pack as the authority.
The one that people actually remember
Swedish Fish Oreo is the spinoff with a life of its own, and it is worth understanding why. It landed in 2016 as a limited run through a single grocery chain, which is the textbook way to test a strange flavour without risking national distribution. Scarcity plus strangeness plus a red creme that photographed well did the rest. People bought it to react to it.
Whether it was good is a matter of taste, and the internet was fairly clear at the time that opinions were divided. What is not a matter of taste is that it was a cookie flavoured to imitate a candy that is itself flavoured to imitate nothing in particular.
The energy drink is a different kind of borrowing
Sports nutrition and energy brands lean hard on candy flavours because their core problem is palatability. Ghost built a whole identity around officially licensed flavour partnerships rather than "fruit punch," and Swedish Fish sits in that programme alongside other Mondelez candy brands.
For the drinker, the appeal is nostalgia in a can. For us, the interesting part is that the flavour has now travelled two steps away from any actual confectionery: a candy flavour, licensed into a beverage, replicated by a flavour house. It is a long way from a bin of fish on a Swedish pick-and-mix wall.
Are any of them Swedish?
No. Not the cookie, not the drink, not the candy canes.
The parent brand's Swedish origin story is real and we take it seriously enough to have written it up properly in are Swedish fish actually Swedish and why are they called Swedish fish. But a licensing deal signed in the 2010s or 2020s between two American companies does not inherit that heritage. It inherits a trademark.
Where we fit, which is nowhere in that list
To be completely unambiguous: Swedish Fish is a registered trademark of Mondelez International. We do not sell Swedish Fish, Swedish Fish Oreo, Ghost Energy, or any licensed spinoff, and we are not affiliated with any of them.
What we do is import genuine Swedish fish-shaped candy, the loose kind sold by weight in Sweden, in bulk cases for US and Canadian retailers and event buyers. That is a different product with a different texture and a different flavour spread, and we compare the two directly in Swedish Fish vs real Swedish fiskar.
The actual Swedish fish-shaped candy we import
What a retailer can do with this
If you sell candy, the spinoff cycle is genuinely useful to you even though you cannot stock most of it. Every limited edition drives a wave of curiosity about the original, and a share of those people go looking for what the original is supposed to be. That is a customer walking toward a Swedish candy wall with a question already in their head.
The cheap play is a small sign on the fish bin that answers it: what this is, how it differs from the American piece, and where it actually comes from. Signage that answers a question converts better than signage that shouts, which is the whole argument in our guide to candy merchandising.
Frequently asked questions
Are Swedish Fish Oreos still available?+
They ran as a limited edition in 2016 through Kroger stores in the US. Limited runs are not usually repeated on a schedule, so availability now is down to whether Mondelez chooses to bring it back. We do not stock it.
Who makes the Swedish Fish energy drink?+
Ghost produces it under an official flavour licence from Mondelez, the owner of the Swedish Fish brand. It is a Ghost product, not a candy product, and it is not something we sell.
Is the Swedish Fish energy drink Swedish?+
No. It is an American energy drink using a licensed American candy brand's flavour. Nothing about the drink is made in or sourced from Sweden.
Do the spinoffs taste like real Swedish candy?+
They taste like an approximation of the American brand, which itself does not taste like the pastel or sour fish Swedes buy loose. So no, not really. The texture, which is most of the experience, does not transfer to a cookie or a drink at all.
Do you sell Swedish Fish or any of the spinoffs?+
No. We import genuine Swedish fish-shaped candy in bulk cases. Swedish Fish and its spinoffs are Mondelez brands and licensed products, and we have no affiliation with them.
What is the closest thing you carry to a Swedish Fish?+
Nothing is a direct substitute, because the dense chew is unique to that product. Our sour fish case is the closest in intensity and our pastel case is the closest in shape and everyday Swedish authenticity.
Gustav Lindqvist · Candy Master
Gustav grew up in Sweden on a strict Saturday-candy schedule, mixing his lördagsgodis bag at the lösgodis wall before he could spell salmiak. He has spent years tasting his way across Scandinavian candy, and now curates the range at TheSweetsTruck, from BUBS sour skulls to the saltiest licorice most people cannot finish.
Last updated 8/23/2026