REVIEW: Kettle Brand – Moscow Mule Potato Chips

Rating: ©©©©-1/2 chips  (lip-smacking)

We finally found you!  That’s right, you thought you could hide from us by completely selling out of the entire Chicago area, but NO! we have Chip Review friends everywhere, and with their help you have shown up at our front doorstep, ready to be reviewed just like all the others!

First of all, we’re going to assume that most of you out there know what a Moscow Mule is.  If you do not, a quick Google search will solve that, and we would also recommend finding your local watering hole and procuring one.

Next, let’s take note of the gorgeous copper colored packaging that Kettle Brand has chosen for these chips (sorry our pic is not as nice as it could be – here are some more examples).  There’s no doubt that the shiny metallic top-half of the bag is meant to represent the classic copper mug that a proper Moscow Mule cocktail is traditionally served in.  We are very impressed with the amount of creativity and consideration put into this packaging.  In fact, we’ve quite liked the packaging for all three of the newer Kettle Brand chips.

As far as the Moscow Mule flavor itself goes, well, it is another delicious home run from Kettle Brand.  For what it is worth, it has become very apparent to us here that Kettle Brand has either gone GINGER CRAZY – because all three new flavors that we have tried of theirs, have all been very ginger focused; or, perhaps Kettle Brand just came across a free supply of ginger and thought that they would make the best out of it?!  Either way, it has worked out in our favor, because these are really delicious.

These chips may not be for everyone as they do definitely lean towards the sweeter end of the flavor spectrum, but there’s just something about that unique sweet-sour-pungent combination of ginger and lime that we really enjoy.  The chips are just so aromatic, and refreshing, and tropical, that we felt like they perfectly compliment Kettle Brand’s always fantastic, medium-thick, slightly greasy, potato-ful kettle cooked potato chips.

Don’t quote us but as far as we know it, both these Moscow Mule, along with the new Korean Barbeque, can only be acquired at World Markets. That’s all we know, and we’re sticking to it!

As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think.  Agree or disagree, let us know.

Chips provided to Chip Review by LRH & RLH for review (thanks you two)

Kettle Brand Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

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©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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REVIEW: Kettle Brand – Hawaiian Barbeque with ginger infused sea salt Potato Chips cooked in 100% Avocado Oil

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

Kettle Brand Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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REVIEW: Deep River Snacks Limited Edition – Ninja Ginger Kettle Cooked Potato Chips

Rating: ©©©©-1/2 chips (lip-smacking)

Finally, the infamous Limited Edition NINJA GINGER is here!!!

Not to be confused with the Ginger Ninja Trickster, (although we’re betting that these are in fact, his most favorite chips of all-time!).  No, we are talking about Deep River Snack’s Limited Edition Ninja Ginger Kettle Cooked Potato Chips with a KICK!

We learned of these uniquely flavored limited edition potato chips approximately half a year ago via a MICRO-REVIEW posted by Junk Food Guy.  Before even reading a single word from JFG’s glowing review, we knew that these were something that we could, and hopefully eventually would, LOVE!  Time passed, and yet we still could not find this flavor included anywhere Deep River Snacks were sold….
Luckily for us, and for you, if in fact you are reading this, some generous person over at Deep River Snacks recently heard our pleas (okay our whining….begging….call it what you will), and sent a few samples of that sweet golden-yellow beauty above recently to our headquarters.

We have delayed the actual review long enough, lets get into it.  First of all, despite our own personal feelings towards these Ninja Gingers, we do see how they may not be for everyone.  They are flavorful, they are assertive, and they do deliver a ginger-FULL “kick”!  So, like we said, they may not be for everyone, but they are MOST CERTAINLY FOR US!!

It is always a relief, or let’s call it a pleasant surprise, when we crunch upon a new chip that causes our taste bud engines to start firing at full throttle, and question what we are fueling them with!!  Perplexed?  Yes.  Excited?  Certainly.  Impressed?  Without a doubt!!  These Ninja Ginger chips are delicious!  First and foremost, let’s get that straight, these chips are capital D-lishish!  But, you know what, they also really, really remind us of two other chips.

First, would be Kettle Brand’s Spicy Thai (which just so happens to be one of our favorite chips of all-time).  Both Deep River’s and Kettle Brand’s chips utilize the typical utility ingredients of onion and garlic, and both also reference cilantro – we’re guessing more so for color than actual flavor.  Both brands also list the addition of a chili pepper, but while Kettle Brand calls out the jalapeño, Deep River remains illusive with the always generic “chili pepper”.  All that being said, the real, major, synonymous ingredient that both delicious chips share is…. bet you can’t guess it …..yep, that’s right – GINGER!  We cracked the tasty code.

The other chips that we feel like these Ninja Ginger chips remind us of, also happen to be from Deep River Snacks, however they have long been discontinued. Deep River Snack’s Asian Sweet Spicy kettle chips, were some delicious sweet and spicy kettle chips, but that is really all we remember of them.

In the end, all we really want to say is that we love’em.  Medium thick, slightly greasy, perfectly crunchy, kettle cooked potato chips coated with a complex, ginger heavy, sweet, salty and slightly spicy seasoning.  Delicious!!  Easily some of the best chips we have tried this year, and another lip-smacking hit from Deep River Snacks!  If you can find them, you should do yourself a treat and buy them.

As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think. Agree or disagree, let us know.

Chips provided to Chip Review by Deep River Snacks for review

Deep River Snacks Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

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©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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25 Chips to Christmas….

#23

Crave Canyon – Wasabi Ginger Kettle Corn

Original Review Here

All we can say about this delicious east meets west flavor combination is that Chef G (the man behind Crave Canyon’s unique variety of flavors), could certainly teach Lay’s – Do Us a Flavor potato chips a thing or two on how to really capture wasabi and ginger in salty snack form!

REVIEW: Lay’s Kettle Cooked – Do Us a Flavor Finalist – Wasabi Ginger Potato Chips

Rating: ©©©-1/2 chips (notable)

By now we’re sure that most of you, if not all of you, are well aware of Lay’s all new 2014 ‘Do Us A Flavor’ contest.  Just about every one and their mother has chimed in with their own thoughts or reviews on these unique flavors.  Similar to last year’s wildly popular flavor contest, Lay’s is once again offering up the chance for one lucky individual to win a million dollars for creating an all new potato chip flavor, and for the general population deeming it the best!  This year Lay’s has offered up four flavor finalists instead of three, and you can stay tuned for our future reviews of: Cappuccino – yep, that’s right Cappuccino, Bacon Mac & Cheese, and Mango Salsa!  Also, this time Lay’s has allowed the flavor creators the liberty of choosing what style of Lay’s potato chips they would like to use as their delivery medium.

As humungous chip fanatics and consumers and reviewers, we cannot begin to tell you how giddy we get each time a contest such as this is released.  We love this stuff!!  And usually, as soon as we hear about this sort of thing we run out to as many different stores as it takes, and we hunt those new chips down!  Unfortunately, this time around Lay’s forgot to check our schedule and released their new chips just as we left the country for two weeks!!  So, in other words, we had to idly sit back and watch as review after review hit the web for the past two weeks.  Well, we are now back stateside, we have the four flavors in our possession, and we are ready to toss in our two cents!

First up: Kettle Cooked Wasabi Ginger

Submitted by: Meneko Spigner McBeth

Chip Review’s flavor creativity rating (scale: 1 – 10): 7

Chip Review’s excitement level (scale: 1 – 10): 6

Initial reaction, these have no scent to them at all.  Seriously, we had to do a double take to make sure that there really were even any chips in the bag.  In our opinion, the wasabi ginger flavor seems like a perfect fit for the kettle cooked variation of Lay’s potato chips.  Bold flavors, paired with robust, thick and crunchy kettle cooked chips.  We really like the idea of the wasabi ginger combination too.  It is a classic flavor pairing and yet one that we have not seen combined with chips.  We have tried plenty of wasabi flavored chips, and a few ginger flavored chips, but never the two together…. Wait!!  Hold on here! We stand corrected, our records do show that we have actually tried the combination before a couple of times.  In fact, even on a kettle cooked potato chip once before – go figure!

Right off the bat we do taste the distinct wasabi flavor, but it certainly did not encompass the level of spicy, nasal heat that we are used to with wasabi.  For those of you out there familiar with wasabi, you know what we mean.  That practically unbearable wasabi nasal burn that despite only lasting for a short passing moment, can bring the toughest person to tears.  Yep, none of that hear, only a slight touch of heat.  As for the ginger half of the duo, well, there really isn’t any, or possibly the wasabi completely overwhelms it.  Either way, we couldn’t taste any.  Pity, we would have really liked to have tasted that slightly pickled, sharp, aromatic ginger flavor on these chips.  We did notice that soy sauce is included among the ingredients, and we should at least note that it added a welcomed, salty, umami depth to the chips.  It didn’t make up for the absence of ginger, but it did add something at least.

Overall the chips weren’t really bad by any means, just a little bit of a let down.  We had rather high hopes for them, and honestly thought that this flavor combo would be an easy slam dunk for Lay’s to execute.  Alas, it just wasn’t meant to be.  Hopefully the other three flavors impress us a bit more, because if these end up being the best of the bunch, then we wouldn’t be happy!

Chip Review’s ‘Do Us A Flavor’ Rankings:

1. Cappuccino

2. Wasabi Ginger

3. Cheddar Bacon Mac & Cheese

4. Mango Salsa

As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think. Agree or disagree, let us know.

Vote for your favorite here

Chip Ratings Scale:

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REVIEW: Crave Canyon – Wasabi Ginger Kettle Corn

Rating: ©©©©-1/4 chips  (lip-smacking)

Comments:

The amazing Chef G strikes again!  This time with a delicious “east meets west” flavor combo that has our taste buds tingling, and mouths watering!  Just like with Crave Canyon’s Cane Juice & Sea Salt Kettle Corn Kissed With Anise, it is not very often that we stumble upon something completely new in the industry!!  Luckily for us, Chef G seems to be making a habit of delivering us with combinations that are not only different, but tasty!!

Now, who the heck is Chef G you ask?!?  According to Crave Canyon’s website he is:

“THE MYTH, THE LEGEND, THE MAN BEHIND THE FLAVOR

We don’t think Chef G. is an elusive man by nature, it’s that he’s just too busy to be in one place for very long. But because of this, we at Crave Canyon don’t know that much about him.

From what we can gather, he’s had a culinary passion since a young age and as an adult started to travel the world to broaden his palate. He has been moving on to the next flavor adventure ever since.

We started our partnership with Chef G. when he approached us one day, eager to try his hand at creating unique popcorn flavors. Of course we readily agreed, his reputation preceding him. What resulted were the wonderful flavors we offer today. Who knows how many more he will come up with; like the man, it still remains a mystery.”

Well, we can tell you one thing for sure about Chef G, and that is that he has a particular gift of combining sweet and salty kettle corn (a classic favorite of ours) with unique flavor combinations, that not only work, but take the kettle corn to places we never imagined possible!

The first thing our mouths noticed as we popped in a few kernels of this kettle corn was that the sweetness really stood out.  The classic crystalized coating of melted sugar was front and center.  Then the backs of our throats, all the way up into our nasal cavaties, felt the spicy shock from the pungent wasabi blast.  Once our mouths had readjusted, a light touch of some aromatic ginger notes appeared, and finally everything was rounded out with an ample dusting of salt.  Surprisingly….this complex, unorthodox, unique, combination worked, and many of us quite liked it, but we are almost certain that it may still confuse many others.

It is definitely not a “natural” or typical popcorn flavor combination in the traditional sense.  It may even be fare to say that this combo could be looked at as an acquired taste.  Did we like it?  Certainly!  Is it for everyone?  Probably not!  It doesn’t quite meld as organically as butter and popcorn, but rather it forced our mouths to think about what we were tasting, and we always appreciate a delicious new kettle corn experience!  And don’t forget, Chef G says that this kettle corn “is to be eaten gingerly, Wasabi-san.”

As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think.  Agree or disagree, let us know.

Kettle corn provided to Chip Review by Crave Canyon for review

Crave Canyon Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

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REVIEW: Angie’s – Holidrizzle Iced Gingerbread Kettle Corn

Rating: ©©©©-1/4 chips  (lip-smacking)

Comments:

Sometimes a snack will really surprise us. Many times that surprise is bad, but sometimes when we’re lucky, that surprise turns out to be good!  Well, surprise, surprise, Angie’s Iced Gingerbread Kettle Corn just happened to be one of those times when the surprise was good!  Really, really good!!

Angie’s Iced Gingerbread Kettle Corn has rolled out just in time for the 2013 holiday season.  Similar to these Popchips that we recently reviewed, the festive packaging of Angie’s tasty kettle corn screams festive, winter wonderland!

Kettle corn, by nature, is both sweet and salty, but to be honest when we saw the words iced and gingerbread in conjunction with the kettle corn we thought that there was no way the normally delicious sweet and salty interplay would be even close to  recognizable through the sugary onslaught! Oh boy how we were wrong!

The sweetness is there of course, but everyone agreed that the kettle corn was not overly sweet at all.  In fact, the word that kept getting thrown around the most regarding this kettle corn was BALANCED.  Despite a complex recipe of flavors including cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and nutmeg, the flavor was balanced.  All at once being savory, sweet, and salty; while also crispy, light and rich.  Simply lip-smackingly balanced!

One secret to the Iced Gingerbread recipe had to be the inclusion of palm oil.  You know how people say ‘everything tastes better with butter?’  Well, for any of you out there that don’t know, ‘everything tastes better with palm oil!’  The oil adds such an unctuously savory depth to the kettle corn.

We dare you to go out and try this flavor, and then tell us you weren’t impressed!  Angie should really consider keeping this flavor  as a regular player on her tasty kettle corn team,

For another perspective on Angie’s Holidrizzle, go check out Junk Food Guy’s review.

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

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