 Next up in the FIRE PIT range from McCoy's and these are ones with actual heat and I just have one word for these crisps... TANG, TANG and TANG. All of the TANG. Yeah - these are great. A warm peri spice paired with a slight limey-tang reminiscent of the classic flavourings of Portugal's Peri-Peri. These are a really well rounded crisp - full on flavour that's very welcome to the pallette and perfect on the classic deep crunch of a McCoy's crisp. YES YES YES! 9.5/10  FIRE PIT - the new ridged range from McCoys. Fire makes me think spice instantly, but these are definitely not that. Not that it's a bad thing, Smokey Chorizo is definitely a good flavour. The paprika sings through them, giving us a sweet smokiness on top of of the Chorizo tang - which after enough mouthfuls feels like a pretty intense flavour if you get enough of them that have been heavily seasoned. Pretty moreish! 8/10  My good friend Harold tried these. He is a connoisseur of the Zinger burger from KFC, and he reports that the flavour is NOT that of a genuine Zinger. Personally, I partake in KFC Zingers so rarely, that this effort does seem like the right fit to me. If they are ever so slightly off on the original taste, what they’ve created is still pretty good. I must warn you, these are HOT. So if you’re not used to your spice, keep some cool water on hand. 6/10  Walkers Max - Kentucky Fried Chicken Well this was a collaboration I never expected. KFC prides itself on its secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices, so after trying these crisps I was desperately scrutinising the ingredients list to try and discern what’s in there. These truly are KFC flavoured - there’s no denying it, they’ve perfected it - the Kernel definitely let them in on the secret. Spicy, salty peppery, with a great tang. I was not expecting these to be good - as usually Walkers roast chicken flavour is always the one from the multipack left sad and forlorn at the bottom of the bag - wholely unimpressive. These on the other hand have tang and pizazz - but they sure are intense and this big pack is probably a bit too much for one person... 8.9/10  Found on sale in the UK, but they're an Estonian brand - first time i've ever had crisps from Estonia! These certainly are a grand offering to the British Crisp universe - I would say they're definitely a fancy dinner guest snack. The shape of a cracker but definitely a crisp. You'd struggle a little to try and dip these. The crunch is sufficient mind.. The flavour is smokey & salty as you'd expect from a Bacon crisp with a slathering of sweeter onion for good measure. Personally I've eaten the whole pack and feel a little sick as a result - I reccomend having them as a party snack... when we're allowed to have Parties that is !! 8/10   A New range, from the mind of... Big Narstie! Probably the last thing you'd expect to be released from a rapper is a crisp range! Still these are made purely from HEMP and look pretty trippy.. Not much info on the front - the flavour is called KUSH and at the bottom it says " Myrcene, Cineol & Linalool" so equally zero information about what flavour they could be... The crisp itself is real thin, with little crunch as a result. The flavour if i'm not mistaken is just plain salted.. but there's an aroma to the crisps which is quite intense and I'm beginning to believe are a big part of these crisps. It's pretty unusual to have a crisp brand solely focus on smell over flavour that's for sure! The smell is unlike much i've ever smelt before.. They smell quite floral but with a chemically tinge.. like i'm in a spa.. I really don't know what to make of these?! Let's see what the rest of the range has in store... 4//10  Holy rusted metal Batman! Look at the size of these wotsits! In the wake of the massive popularity of giant hooks hoops (we’re just big children aren’t we!) Walkers have brought out a GIANT version of Wotsits, the photo doesn’t do them justice (I have abnormally sized thumbs). They’re super big, unnecessarily so. I’d say they’re about 5 times bigger than a normal wotsit. For the flavouring - I love flamin hot when it’s on monster munch. When it comes to Wotsits, which have less crunch than Monster munch - I prefer the classic cheese flavouring. But I do love flamin hot.. so I’m confused. 7/10   Another in the Walkers' TASTE ICONS range - and 1 of 2 Pizza Express flavours (the only restaurant to have 2) although we've really struggled to get hold of the Margherita version of this). The American hot is a great pizza - Spicy pepperoni with hot jalapeno peppers, a classic in most pizzerias. But how does that translate to crisps? Well it certainly doesn't have an immediate hotness, it starts with a tomatoey base, a pickled tang, turning into a smokey cheese and then eventually you start to feel the hotter side of the jalapeno. I can't seem to taste anything slightly like pepperoni in there. I have to say it makes for a very strange flavour. Having the tang of jalapeno way before the hit of it is an interesting effect. 4/10  With so many amazing Burger options available to us now, I'd almost forgotten about Gourmet Burger Kitchen. I do however remember their peanut-butter burger being pretty amazing (I am after all intensely addicted to peanut flavouring). They've gone with a classic cheeseburger for their Taste Icon flavouring with Walkers. I can't say much about there being a beef-like flavouring in there but what I feel like I can taste (but doesn't seem to be in the ingredients) is a really nice dill pickle tang - Dill pickle really is the best flavouring you can get on crisps in the US of A. Sure there's a sweet tomato flavour (pretty much prawn cocktail) and a slight tinge of cheese - but the best of the flavour is in that pickle and a little, very welcome hint of mustard. 8.5/10 |
