Beer flavoured chips... I could not believe it. I was confused, amazed, excited, a whole range of emotions rushed over me. I would have bought these chips if they had cost $20 a bag. I have always been a person to purchase the most unusual chip flavours I can find, just to see how repulsive they are.
There was no way these chips could disappoint me. If they were tasty, that would be great, but I would be equally pleased if they were the most revolting taste ever. I like to have extremes in my life, if something cannot be incredible, it better be soul-destroyingly bad. There is nothing worse than the bland, forgettable middle ground. I want chips that I will tell my grand children about.
Anyway, here they are. BEER FLAVOURED CHIPS! produced only for a limited time for the European Football championships.
Also, a close up of the beer-y goodness.
What hidden mysteries could be contained in the delightful foil packet. I saved these for days until the moment was right to begin the great test. I was thoughtful and a little nervous about these. It is hard to say what the last food item to so impact my life would have been...
I opened the bag and had good look inside. They seemed ok, no strange colours, the beer flavouring seemed to be completely camouflaged by the chips, or it was colourless. Anyway, I could not see any difference between these and unflavoured chips. The smell was nothing too crazy either, a bit malty, not too strong. Phase one of the beer chips seemed to be quite OK.
After the visual inspection and smell test, I went ahead and made the plunge. I tried a chip.
First taste was ok, no retching or gagging. It actually did not taste like too much. I was a little disappointed by the mildness of it. After a couple more single chips, I could detect a definite beer flavour. I would say that it was a sharpish, pilsner sort of flavour. It did not leave any aftertaste and the saltiness of the chips was probably stronger than the beeriness.I made a second test, to try eating a few chips at once. This was a world of difference. With a few chips shoved in there, they tasted pretty strongly of beer right away. This was more along the lines of what I was expecting. At this point I was thinking they are actually pretty good.
I thought I needed another opinion though. An opinion of a chip connoisseur that had no preconceptions or expectations about chips. Someone with a pallet that was pure and fresh. A person who would freely give an opinion on the quality of a food without a second thought.I am lucky enough to know just such a person.... Liam... professional chip hound. I think he may be one of the few people walking the earth who has an even greater love of chips than I do, joined to a pickyness with food that makes him a tremendous pain in the butt.
I just lay a few chips out on the counter top as bait for the chip hound. Then I made the call "LIAM CHIPS!" and he came strolling in to the kitchen. Here is what happened next:
He gave a few munches, looked up at me and then gave an enthusiastic call of "MORE CHIPS" success! The chip hound has spoken and deemed them to be good.I thought of one final test to put these chips through. The ultimate test of a chip, one that all good snacks should go through. How do they go with beer and sports on TV? These chips were specially introduced for the European Football championships, so I thought that was the obvious choice of what to watch. It was also the night of Germany vs Poland, which I had planned to watch anyway.
Here you can see my test environment.
I settled down in the scientifically proven optimal posture for enjoying beer, sports and snacks.
I was drinking dark beer as I usually do, and I can fairly say that the pilsner flavouring on the chips in no way impacted my enjoyment of the beer. They went very well together and I would have to say that overall, these chips are a winner in my opinion. I think that they have no chance of taking the crown from my beloved Salt and Vinegar, and I would likely even still go for plain salted more often than not... but beer flavour would certainly enter the arsenal of snacks in my chips armoury.Experiment complete, Beer Chips = good.
