Monday, February 23, 2009

The 'Do us a Flavour' Taste Test

Simon, a very nice guy from the UK wrote to me after seeing my post on the Walkers Crisps 'Do us a Flavour, Pick us a winner' contest, and asked if I would like some of those crazy flavored chips to try out. Well, Simon came through and mailed me a big box of chips from the U.K. Thanks so much Simon, it really was very, very generous of you.

As a reminder, the potato chip flavors that are up for votes in the contest are:

* Builder's Breakfast - Egg, bacon, sausage and beans
* Cajun Squirrel
* Chilli & Chocolate
* Onion Bhaji
* Crispy Duck & Hoisin
* Fish & Chips

My boyfriend and I did a taste test together and we really didn't agree on any of the flavors. I loved the Builder's Breakfast, which really did taste like cheesy scrambled eggs, and the Chilli & Chocolate, which stared out with a nice choco flavor and had some delayed heat at the end. His favorite was the Fish & Chips. The Cajun Squirrel wasn't bad, but I can't really compare it to squirrel so I would put it close to a roasted chicken flavor. The Onion Bhaji was ok if you like curry. I absolutely hated the Crispy Duck though.

I had some bags left over and a 2 hour lunch meeting today at work, so I brought the chips in for everyone to try. Here's a cell pic of the unsuspecting co-workers:



There was no consensus - some hated the Builder's Breakfast and some liked it. The Cajun Squirrel seemed to be a hit. I'm sending an email to my co-workers to see if I can get them to comment here and let us know what they think.

Either way, it was a lot of fun. If I saw these flavors at the store here in the U.S. I would have to try them at least once, but I'm not sure that I would go back for more. One thing I can say though, is that the chips really do taste like what they are supposed to taste like (the snozzberries taste like snozzberries). The Walkers Smokey Bacon chips though, they are aces. We need some good bacon potato chips in the States, you hear that Lays?

6 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. As a man who has eaten alligator jerky, if it says "Cajun Squirrel" on it, then I'm buying it. I do like the Loaded Baked Potato Chips , but an all out bacon flavor would be greasy sweet!

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  3. "violet! yr turning violet, violet!"

    walker's beats lays anyday of the week

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  4. Have to say, I didn't mind the Crispy Duck. As I ate, I just kept reminding myself that there wasn't any actual cooked duck involved, just the conglomeration of measured chemical reactions that, maybe, resulted in the taste of something like a Crispy Duck. That being said, I'm not entirely positive I'd be against eating an actual crispy duck anyway. Hm.

    - Dave

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  5. I loved the bag of Chocolate Chili you gave me, though my wife found it too spicy (she's a serious capsaicin light weight).

    I expected them to be sweet, but they weren't. Regardless, the cocoa flavor came out well and, after a few chews, morphed into a pancake flavor. I approve.

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