Rating: ©©©-3/4 chips (notable)
Chips provided to Chip Review by Neal Brothers for review
Neal Brothers Foods Official Website
Chip Ratings Scale:
(1/4 increments)
© – return to sender
©© – tolerable
©©© – notable
©©©© – lip-smacking
©©©©© – “A” list
Rating: ©©©© chips (lip-smacking)
We spotted these intriguingly flavored ‘Smoky Maple’ rice chips just the other day while perusing the new Whole Foods in the neighborhood.
As soon as we tasted these thoughts of Kettle Brand’s Maple Bacon Potato Chips came flooding in, and come to think of it, ‘Smoky Maple’ would have been a much more appropriate flavor name for their chips as well!
Not sure if Lundberg’s Smoky Maple seasoning was simply better than Kettle Brand’s, or if this seasoning just worked better with the rice chips? The kicker was probably the fact that these chips weren’t trying to proclaim bacon flavor, but rather just let us know that they had been kissed with a hint of smoke. Combine that with a good splash of sweetness, and yep, smoky maple is what we tasted.
Overall, pretty darn tasty chips. They had that usual grainy rice texture and consistency. More body and chew then your typical tortilla chip.
As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think. Agree or disagree, let us know.
Chips discovered at Whole Foods; Elmhurst, Illinois
Lundberg Family Farms Official Website
Chip Ratings Scale:
(1/4 increments)
© – return to sender
©© – tolerable
©©© – notable
©©©© – lip-smacking
©©©©© – “A” list
Rating: ©©©-1/4 chips (notable)
Chip Ratings Scale:
(1/4 increments)
© – return to sender
©© – tolerable
©©© – notable
©©©© – lip-smacking
©©©©© – “A” list
Rating: ©©©-1/2 chips (notable)
All new Snyder’s of Hanover Pretzel Pieces alert! Should we also mention Maple Bacon?!
If the sound of that doesn’t peak your interest, then we’re not sure if you are in the right place, nor if your taste buds are actually working! May we suggest you have those checked out right away!!
As many of you are probably already aware Snyder’s of Hanover (SOH), are (in our humble opinion) the “classic masters of hard sour dough pretzel snacks”. We have touted their pretzel making merits countless times around these parts. That being said, we’ve reviewed both the Salted Caramel and Cinnamon Sugar flavors from SOH’s newer-ish ‘Sweet and Salty’ line, and in our humble opinion they have not been quite as successful as their traditional Pretzel Pieces line. If we had a choice of sticking with one or the other, we would be choosing their ‘salty and savory’ traditional line of Pretzel Pieces every time!
For those of you somehow still unfamiliar with SOHs Pretzel Pieces, let us explain to you our optimistically proposed beliefs regarding the creation of these deliciously crunchy pretzel pieces. In a perfect world, SOH would resourcefully use their leftover pretzel pieces, broken during the manufacturing process, to creatively provide us with these tasty bites (unlikely, we know)! The most ingenious part of the “broken” pretzel pieces, is that they generously expose their very porous, bread-y insides, and willfully absorb a more than ample amount of whatever flavoring SOH is applying.
Everyone seems to love the sound of bacon flavored snacks (most likely due to the fact that real bacon is awesome!!). However, we have noticed over our many years of reviewing bacon flavored crunchy snacks that the majority of them are actually not really good. All too often the bacon flavored snack has been coated with such an obscene amount of salt, along with an off-putting unnatural smoke layer, that we are repulsed from the get go. Of course there are some really great bacon snacks out there, but the key seems to be that they either use real pork, or combine a subtle bacon flavor, with a really great complimentary flavor, ie. sour cream, or cheddar. From what we have tried thus far, that complimentary flavor does not seem to be MAPLE!
Luckily for all of us, SOH’s Maple Bacon Pretzel Pieces are the best of any maple bacon flavored snacks that we have reviewed thus far, but given its competition, that really isn’t saying very much! In fact, and in all honesty, SOH’s maple bacon seasoning is straddling a very fine line between tasty and completely off-putting. One step in either direction and you could have yourself a delicious snack, or a quick gag reflex! Which way you step depends upon whether you find the smoky bacon, sweet maple and bread-y pretzel combo to really meld together, or you find it to be just too much. Same with the other two Sweet and Salty flavors we could have used a bit more salt; but we did really appreciate all of the smoky and savory notes. In the end, if there is one thing that can be said about the maple bacon seasoning it is that it is not subtle. In fact, we could not eat too many of them in one sitting, and would suggest that they be enjoyed in moderation – for fear of crossing that fine line in the wrong direction!
As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think. Agree or disagree, let us know.
Discovered at Jewel Osco; Westmont, Illinois
Snyder’s of Hanover Official Website
Chip Ratings Scale:
(1/4 increments)
© – return to sender
©© – tolerable
©©© – notable
©©©© – lip-smacking
©©©©© – “A” list
Rating: ©-1/2 chips (return to sender)
Maple!
Bacon!
Maple Bacon!!
How can these chips possibly be bad?!?
Plain and simple, because they really are. The only reason they even garner an additional half chip rating is for their respectably crunchy kettle cooked potato chips, their overly generous seasoning level, and for sort of tasting like maple bacon. Beyond that, they are an abomination!
Have you ever heard the saying “too much of a good thing…”? Well, too much of a bad thing, IS EVEN WORSE! Too sticky, fake, maple sweet. Too much unnatural smoke. Too much salty, fatty, fake, whey, bacon flavor! Too much, too much, too much!!
This is a textbook example of the difference between being letdown, and being really turned off! Although, we did not love Kettle Brand’s Maple Bacon flavored potato chips, it was more due to their flavor execution actually tasting like maple bacon than it was the chips not tasting very good. In this case, we simply cannot eat these chips. They make us cringe just thinking about the overload of salt, and sugar, and whey tingling our tongues.
As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think. Agree or disagree, let us know.
Discovered at 7-Eleven, Burr Ridge, Illinois
Chip Ratings Scale:
(1/4 increments)
© – return to sender
©© – tolerable
©©© – notable
©©©© – lip-smacking
©©©©© – “A” list
Rating: ©©-3/4 chips (tolerable)
Comments:
Initial thoughts……
1 – sweet and smoky scents….
2 – we have no doubt that these are really just bbq potato chips disguised as maple bacon chips.
3 – because of numbers 1, and 2, we are disappointed.
4 – Maple & Bacon……? Nope! Not to us!
We had very high hopes for these chips. We are lovers, and connoisseurs, of the sweet and salty combo. We love our breakfast for dinner. We love our Yin with our Yang. And we recently fell head-over-heels in love with Lay’s maple-y-sweet-savory Do Us a Flavor – Chicken & Waffle Potato Chips! So, needless to say, our hopes were high for Kettle Chips answer to Lay’s amazing new venture.
Kettle Brand’s Maple Bacon Potato Chips taste exactly like they smell. And, they smell like sweet and smoky bbq potato chips. With the simple (and, in our opinions, incorrect) addition of chile pepper and paprika, we’re pretty sure the entire stereotypical barbeque recipe is present. To be completely honest, we don’t really taste any notes of maple. None. There is plenty of sweet, sweet cane sugar, but no maple.
It is probably only fair that we mention, as we’ve done numerous times before, that for the most part we are not huge fans of really sweet bbq flavored chips. So, maybe we didn’t think these new chips through far enough, because when we first heard that Kettle Brand had created a flavor called Maple Bacon, we had visions of potato chips studded with nibbles of porky bacon, and drizzled with rich maple syrup. Instead, what we are given is nothing more than another simple variation on the standard sweet and smoky bbq chip. You can understand our disappointment.
And for the bacon aspect of the equation – of course the exuberant amounts of smoke flavoring conjures immediate thoughts of bacon (smoked meats in general), but when you sit back and further examine the actual bacon execution, do you really taste bacon?? Or, is it just a bunch of smoke? Is there any fatty richness?? They are fried potato chips, of course there is a certain level of yummy, fatty richness, but not in the porky-meaty-bacon sense.
The only thing saving these chips from dropping down to that level of complete loathing is the fact that in the end, they are still Kettle Brand potato chips. Medium to medium-thick, kettle cooked, potato chips. That perfect level of seasoning, which always melds flawlessly with their potato chips. Loads of real potato flavor exude from each crunchy chip.
Maybe our rating is a bit lower than it should be. We are not denying that this was a very emotional rating, and review, for us. We had also high expectations for these chips, maybe too high in fact. We love Kettle Brand. We love, and have loved, so many of their products, but this is simply one of them that we are not going to be able to rally behind.
As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think. Agree or disagree, let us know.
Chip Ratings Scale:
(1/4 increments)
© – return to sender
©© – tolerable
©©© – notable
©©©© – lip-smacking
©©©©© – “A” list
* Updated: 05/05/2013
Rating: ©©©©© chips (“A” list)
Comments:
At long last, the finalists for Lay’s ‘Do Us a Flavor’ contest have finally arrived!!! To chip fanatics such as us it seems like forever ago that Lay’s first announced the chance at a million dollars for creating a new potato chip flavor for them. We know that you are probably wondering if we submitted any flavor ideas to Lay’s, and the answer to that is, “of course!” Exactly how Lay’s had the nerve to pass on our ideas for Anchovy-Garlic, or Black Truffle & Manchego potato chips, we’re not sure…
Actually, we do know how, and it’s because Lay’s opted for a trio of more main stream, or at least u(sa)niversally palatable, flavors; albeit, relatively creative ones, that if executed effectively, could result in some genre stretching surprises, and highlights, within the industry!!
For the record, we here at Chip Review have been huge fans of the wonderful combination of fried chicken and waffles for many years now, and we’ve tried numerous versions of the dish. However, when we asked around, we were surprised at how many people had never actually tasted the soul food staple before. We were even more surprised by people’s reactions, and assessments so far, to Lay’s Chicken & Waffle Potato Chips.
So, in our humble opinion, how well has Lay’s executed the sweet and savory, breakfast-dinner hybrid, flavor-finalist, chicken and waffle combination?!?! Very, very well. And, how well does the flavor concept translate onto potato chips??? We think, extremely well!! These chips definitely rank among the best chips we have tasted so far in 2013, and we wouldn’t be very surprised if they ended up on our Top 25 Chips of the year. However, we should just get it out of the way, and forewarn you – we seem to be in the minority here at Chip Review. Everywhere we looked on the internet, negative reviews for this flavor combination seemed to be popping up. None, more so than the Impulsive Buy’s take….which we can’t disagree with more (and we normally agree with their assessments).
First of all, the appearance of these chips is very appealing. The slightly thicker than normal Lay’s potato chips, are combined with a rich, caramel looking seasoning that had our mouths watering even before crunching a single chip. We thought that the bag smelled of sweet caramel corn, with notes of onion, but others (Impulsive Buy), thought these smelled of mold (to each their own)?!? The sweetness level can seem a bit abrupt, and overwhelming, at first, but once you get into the groove, and settle into what these chips are all about (sweet-salty-savory interplay), the sweetness level subdues a bit.
These chips will most likely be a flavor challenge to many. We are fairly certain that you have never tasted chips such as these before, and here at Chip Review we are so thrilled to be tasting something we honestly never could have imagined we would get to taste in chip format. We can agree slightly with many of the detractors that the chicken flavor level is a relatively minor, but when you really think about it, when chicken is combined with any more powerful flavor, in this case it would be syrup, it always plays second fiddle. To enhance the chicken flavor recognition aspect, garlic and onion seasoning have been added, and they do help with that aspect. Although others have said that there are no herbs present, a few of us at Chip Review could swear that we tasted rosemary hidden somewhere in the background (there are some very small and sparse green specs scattered throughout the chips so….who knows). Our only qualm with these chips and flavor may be their after taste, which reminded us slightly of a bouillon cube.
So, in the end, you may think we (along with Lay’s, and Christina Abu-Judom (the submitter of the flavor) are a bit crazy, and you could be right. However, in the case of these chips we’re just so elated that a unique chip such as this has been released, and stirs up such buzz, and contemplation, and conversation, that we don’t care if we are in the minority, and we are perfectly fine with having to defend our opinions….
As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think. Agree or disagree, let us know.
Chip Ratings Scale:
(1/4 increments)
© – return to sender
©© – tolerable
©©© – notable
©©©© – lip-smacking
©©©©© – “A” list
Chip Review 