Rating: ©©©-1/4 chips (notable)
So, there’s Carolina Barbeque, and Kansas City Barbeque, there’s Texas Barbeque and Memphis Barbeque, of course there is Korean Barbeque – Kettle Brand’s most recent new chips that we reviewed – and, there’s probably even a few more regional styles that we can’t recall, but how many of you out there knew there was such a thing as Hawaiian Barbeque? Certainly not us!
We’re not going to beat around the bush here, we had some high hopes for these chips, but then again, we almost always have high hopes for new Kettle Brand chips. Unfortunately, we are here to tell you that these are just….OK. They are missing that wow, that difference maker, that….ginger infused sea salt that we were promised….
Speaking of ginger, we’re onto you Kettle Brand. You’ve released three new flavors that we are aware of – Korean Barbeque, Moscow Mule (which we still haven’t located), and of course these Hawaiian Barbeque. What is the ingredient commonality between these three new flavors – GINGER. Kettle Brand has gone ginger crazy! Which certainly isn’t a bad thing in our books. We love ginger here at Chip Review, but really we haven’t tasted all that many ginger flavored chips.
….Back to these chips being just OK. Honestly, we could not really taste any of that ginger we were promised. And for the most part, these “Hawaiian Barbeque” flavored chips taste like one hundred other BBQ flavored chips that we have reviewed. Strong tomato powder presence, the usual onion and garlic tag team, of course there is a splash of smoke, but then if these chips did actually taste any different, it would have been an underlying, tropical, sweetness. The ingredients on the back indicate that this flavor note likely comes from the inclusion of pineapple powder! That’s unique at least, but we feel like Kettle Brand should have amp’d it up a bit more to really drive home that Hawaiian Barbeque flavor.
Luckily Kettle Brand’s Avocado Oil Kettle Cooked Potato Chips are always fantastic themselves. So, in the end, we didn’t have any problem devouring these chips, we just were hoping for more.
Chips discovered at Whole Foods; Elmhurst, Illinois
Chip Ratings Scale:
(1/4 increments)
© – return to sender
©© – tolerable
©©© – notable
©©©© – lip-smacking
©©©©© – “A” list
Chip Review 
We’ve just tried the Moscow Mule, and the ginger is PRESENT. I was trying to figure out where the heat/nip factor came from, then I realized it was the ginger. The line taste recalls that of limeaid bar mix, which tbh not my favourite. Definitely an interesting choice of flavours but I probably won’t be buying it again!