Lay's Beer n' Brats Potato Chips

Beer n’ Brats Potato Bring Life to the Party

Name: Lay's Beer 'n Brats Potato Chips
Category: Potato Chip, Snack
Ethnicity: American
Brand: Lay's (Frito-Lay, Inc.) 

Here is another funky flavor from Frito-Lay’s “Do Us a Flavor Contest”. The flavor? Beer n’ Brats Potato Chips. Now this is a smart idea, people. Meat and potatoes are two complimentary flavors inseparable since the dawn of time. It’s clear a potato chip that tastes like meat would be a natural conclusion. In this case the chip is replicating both the juicy, salty, meaty bite of a freshly grilled bratwurst and the crispy earthiness of a fried roasted potato. But then Lay’s throws a curveball by introducing “beer” into the occasion. Now we are getting somewhere. See Bratwursts are German by descent and are always consumed with delicious German beer. Just as in Germany, Americans love this combination just as much as Germans, hence the need for a very American potato chip deprived from the flavor. I am very excited to eat such a funky flavored chip. Upon first bite, I taste very little. You’d think the flavor would immediately be explosive and intense because the proposed flavor is so strange. But then it develops into something special. Like Violet in the chocolate factory, I taste as if I am eating a classic German dish. I am tasting big notes of schnitzel (no joke) and creamy and buttery mashed potatoes. The flavors start to come alive. The seasoned pork and the crunch of the chip go so well together. Each bite of another brings memories of my juicy grilled sausage and hearty roasted potatoes, in chip form! Yet as I continue to eat, I am searching far and wide for the beer flavor; it simply isn’t there. Shouldn’t this chip have some sort of light beer faint happiness or malt notes? Well man, it’s a chip! I didn’t notice the beer flavor. Yet, as I wind down my taste test, I notice that there is a texture that I have not noticed before. A slightly carbonated sensation is noticed on my tongue. Is this what they were going for? Maybe I’m just dreaming because that would be too insane. Or would it? Regardless of the possibility of Lay’s making a beer chip feel like beer on your tongue or not, this chip is insanely good. It is, in fact, one of the best lay’s chips I have ever consumed, period. All chips should have or start with this flavor. Start with this as a base and move upwards. They’re savory, deeply satisfying, salty, and for once, real tasting! The poor bugger who invented this flavor won’t the props they deserve. However, I think it’s kick-ass and proves that creativity in a boring snack world could bring some miraculous results. 

Rating: A- (Mostly all Potato Chips Should Start Here)

Lay's Southwestern Queso Potato Chips

The Tex-Mex Crunch that Needs No Dip

Name: Lay's Southwestern Queso Potato Chips
Category: Potato Chip
Ethnicity: USA
Brand: Lay's (Frito-Lay, Inc.)

Americans know it all too well: the cheese dip. Its a thick, golden yellow sauce that has graced hundreds of millions of party tables and Tex-Mex dishes throughout this fine country and Mexico for decades. The cheese dip is creamy, fatty, salty, and processed to the point that it almost doesn't even look like cheese, which I am pretty sure is the point. In an American get-together, friends and family would take their salty carb snack of tortilla chips, potato chips, or pretzels and scoop up the yellow liquid for their mouths to feast on. The cheesy crunch sustains us as a party crew and entices our appetite for the lovely meal to come. But the cheese dip in its original state is quite different from what is commercially sold and consumed in America currently. The original cheese dip is of course MEXICAN, hailing from Mexico and then traveling through the US states that boarder it (Texas, New Mexico and Arizona). Called "Queso", after the Mexican word for Cheese (Hello!), this dip or sauce includes flavors indigenous to the origin area. This dip begins with the base of mild to sharp cheeses like Pepperjack, Monterey, Velveeta, or other processed cheese blended together over heat. Milk or cream cheese can be added for extra creaminess (potential stomach ache alert). To achieve the classic Queso flavors, fresh chopped tomatoes, jalapeños and bell peppers are finely chopped up and incorporated into the hot cheesy sauce until ready. 

Now, was that too much? Perhaps. But our snack of the hour is an experimental one that cleverly plays with this important dip to both Mexico and America. As a part of the long running fan-flavor contest, Lay's has invented possibly their best and most "normal" experimental chip flavors. First these chips are excellent because they provide a clean canvas for weird funky junk food flavors. I must say, the flavor of this chip is right on the money. As soon as I take my first bite, I get a rush of salty, peppery creamy cheese flavor just like scooping up some killer queso. Then I get delicious and requisite tomato and bell pepper flavor followed by the deeper sophisticated Southwestern cumin flavor. I just think that this chip hits the classic dip flavors so well. I love that the cumin flavor isn't overpowering as it often is, if improperly used. The balance of pepper and spiciness has been met perfectly. And though Queso features a classic artificial flavor, this chip tastes truly natural to me. Slightly spicy, cheesy, salty, peppery: these representative Queso flavors brightly shine through on this chip. It is the perfect party chip, with the dip built right in. Party On, America and eat this chip!

P.S. Drunk college students salute you.

Rating: B+ (The Dip Everyone Gushes Over, in Chip Form. Thanks Lay's!)

Walker's Cheese, Cucumber & Salad Cream Potato Crisps

Finger Sandwich Potato Crisp Psychedelia

Name: Walker's Cheese, Cucumber & Salad Cream Potato Crisps
Category: Potato Chip (Crisp, Dude)
Ethnicity: English (Leister, UK)
Brand: Walker's Snack Foods

England is obviously known for their Crisps and for good reason: They're usually fried right, seasoned well, and are typically addictive. Walker's Snack Foods is the brand that brings English chips to the masses and have been for almost 70 years. It doesn't hurt that their parent company is PepsiCo either. Walkers have dozens of flavors from famous to foreign but what stopped me in my tracks was last year's new line of "Sandwich-Flavored" chips. Though I haven't tried too many of these flavors, I was able to get my hands on what I consider their funkiest new flavor: Walker's Cheese, Cucumber & Salad Cream Potato Crisps. To many Americans, would be a strange-ass flavor. Even though I traveled to London last year, I did not encounter this sandwich anywhere. It is however, very cool that there is a potato chip that tastes like one. Regardless of whether I am an English sandwich connoisseur , it is obvious that this chip tastes like this sandwich. Put frankly, it is a cheesy pickle potato chip made to emulate this rather strange English finger sandwich. The first flavor is a mild cheddar cheese taste that pairs well with the second flavor of veggies. I don't really get the flavor of cucumber but for the purposes of this chip, no one really cares. The last flavor is Heinz Original Salad Cream, which oddly enough ties this chip together beautifully. But let's just try to understand this strange English condiment. I mean, what the hell is it? Is it mayo? Well they have mayo too in England. Is it for salads? Of course! This dressing is a go-to pre-made cold salad ingredient meant to make your salads instantly creamy and vinegary. Just add veggies and/or protein and you have a convenient cold salad to go with your lovely sandwich. Whatever this creamy liquid is, I have to say, is really good with these chips. The salad cream brings a tart, creamy and slightly yogurt flavor that I did not expect. So was this a good flavor experiment? Absolutely.  The flavor combination is strange but just works right. It is basically a cheesy, mayo, pickle sandwich rolled into a potato chip and if that doesn't get your drunken taste buds going, I don't know what will! 

Rating: A- (Funky, English, Creative, Oddly Addicting, Baby!)

Spicy Korean Crab Stew (Kkotgetang) Flavored Chips

A Boldly Spicy Korean Soup Gets its First Potato Chip

Name: Spicy Korean Crab Stew (Kkotgetang) Flavored Chips
Category: Potato Chips
Ethnicity: Korean
Brand: Bing

Sour cream and onion, barbecue,  jalapeño, spicy crab stew: one of these flavors are not associate with potato chips? Oh, what's that you say? Not a fan of seafood flavored chippie crisps? Try telling that to Asia. Every country in Asia has at least 5 seafood inspired potato chip snacks! The flavor of this chip has been developed straight from a classic Korean Cookbook. Kkotegtang is the Romaja spelling of Spicy Korean Crab Stew, a soup that has sustained South Korea for hundreds of years. Now this stew features complex flavors of fresh crab, doenjang, gochugang, fresh herbs, sea kelp, Korean chiliesgarlic, scallions, radish and sesame oil. Distilling that deep profile into a potato chip is a difficult task but Korean brand Bing seems to nail it as best as they can. Upon first observation, these chips are shaped like crab already making them cute as hell. First bite, the flavor is intense, peppery, and smokey. The flavor then turns into a sweet seafood flavor, reminiscent of crab, clam and shrimp. These chips contain soybean, milk, and shellfish extracts. Seriously, it's like the chips are alive. Lastly, there is a slowly rolling spiciness that permeates through your mouth. I dig how the spice lingered and developed from the chip. Texture wise, the chip was crispy but then airy on the inside; it almost melts effortlessly in your mouth after chewing. So what's verdict? Well, to be truthful, they're excellent. I've never tasted a chip that has such a sophisticated and refined seafood flavor. It's sweet, smokey, and spicy and seriously delicious. If you don't trust me, why don't you ask the chef on the package? He's happy. He's wok-tossing the chips. Just like Grandma!

Rating: A- (sophisticated seafood flavors infused into a delicate chip)