Blair's Death Rain! - Buffalo Wings Chips.

Haven't had the chance to post over the last week, but I return with more spicy, savory snacking goodness in the form of Blair's Buffalo Wing chips!

Remember how I was saying that the Ruffles: Hot Wings are my favorite chips? Well, they've just been replaced. These things are incredible! Blair's is a well-known American company loved by fans of Spicy food all over the western world. They specialize in hot sauces, and unlike a lot of other companies, their sauces are genuinely HOT as well as flavorful. Although these chips are considered to be 'medium heat' by Blair's standards; those not used to spicy food will probably have a tough time with these as they contain real habaneros in the seasoning; hardcore spice monsters will find them pleasantly tingly but not challenging. The seasoning is delicious, slightly sweet at first, then it gives way to a delicious spicy heat that doesn't linger too long on the tongue. The actual chips are also top quality They're thick, crunchy, kettle-cooked chips with a great texture, superior even to the North American Kettle-Chips brand and on par with the European ones.

There are no negative aspects to this product whatsoever, however, they're not widely available here in Canada. So far, the only place I've been able to find them is at 7/11 and unfortunately they're quite expensive, I think around 4 dollars for a 160gram bag, probably due to them being imported from the States. If you find yourself in Canada and in need of some American chips/candy, head for 7/11, just make sure you have plenty of cash, although you will still pay less than in a specialist store.

Oh, and these aren't the only chips available from Blair's, there's an even tastier and spicier Habanero flavor which I plan on reviewing sometime in the near future! The Habanero ones are probably the second-spiciest chips in the world, next to the Ghost Pepper flavor Blair's which are currently unavailable in Canada and therefore out of my reach. (unless somebody wants to send me some)

Stay tuned for some upcoming specials, including a review of some wacky new Irish chocolate bars and reviews of the new limited edition Doritos flavors.

Ruffles Hot Wings flavor

Despite the really ugly packaging, these chips are absolutely incredible. It should be noted that they don't really taste like chicken wings, more like delicious Cajun wing sauce. They're slightly sweet at first but soon give way to a delicious spicy heat which is similar to Louisiana Hotsauce. When I checked the ingredients, I was surprised to see some high-quality stuff in there like aged cayenne peppers and garlic. There is no chicken of any kind in the ingredients, which, to me, is a good thing but that might annoy some people. Unfortunately there is one ingredient keeping these from being vegan and that's buttermilk powder.  Asides from that, these are probably the perfect chip.  They're thick and crunchy but not hard, the texture is perfect, they're also quite generous with the seasoning, if you're not used to spicy food, you may be overwhelmed from eating too many of these amazing chips in one go.

Of all the chip flavors I've tried here in Canada, nothing even comes close to Hot Wings Ruffles. Although not extremely hot, fans of spicy food will adore these chips, and non-fans could well be converted by their delicious spicy seasoning and amazing texture. I hear there is an American variety called Molten Hot Wings but apparently they pale in comparison to their Canadian cousins. Give these a try, they're delicious.

Zesty Cheese Doritos

Another uniquely Canadian flavor. It's a bit hard to write much about these chips, they're not bad by any means, but not particularly good either. Next to Lightly Salted, these are the most bland Doritos in existence. Unlike the superior Nacho Cheese flavor, these ones are devoid of any kind of spiciness. They taste like regular tortillas with some cheesy dusting which seems to be made up of parmesan and cheddar cheese with a hint of onion. They're very edible but also rather boring and perhaps a little too salty, I think I'd probably prefer to just eat regular salted tortilla chips. The seasoning is by no means offensive but it leaves a lot to be desired. The flavor certainly isn't Zesty despite the name, maybe a hint of lemon juice flavoring would give these chips a much-needed kick, they're essentially the Cheeto of the Dorito family, I'd rather eat a bag of Cheetos any day. I guess people who don't like spiciness and really love cheese will enjoy these chips, I'd personally rather the Jalapeno and Cheddar, Inferno, or Spicy Nacho flavor for a cheesy treat that isn't as boring as a Walking Dead marathon.

Another massive downside to these chips is that the flavor really lingers, don't eat them when you're out and about unless you want to smell like an old sock, I ate this bag about an hour ago and I can still taste them, I'm going to go scrub my teeth now. Remember when I said they're not bad? I take it back, they suck. Eugh.

Chunks Ahoy! Triple Chocolate

I was scouring the cookie isle in Sobey's last week in search of something interesting for the blog and came across these delicious looking things.Chunks Ahoy! Triple Chocolate contain white, milk, and dark chocolate chunks. They seemed really promising so I decided to buy them and find out. Upon opening them, I was a little disappointed by the lack of chunks compared to what's shown on the packaging.

Despite the seeming lack of chunks, I was consoled by the thought that these cookies would be really exceptional, perhaps even coming close to the glory of President's Choice Peanut butter cookies (see earlier entry), but I was wrong!

When I first bit into one, the immediate flavor was not of chocolate, or cookie dough, instead they just taste like cheap, desiccated coconut, what a let down. Back home in Ireland, and in the UK, cheap biscuits usually taste of coconut, not in a delicious way, just the dull favor of desiccated coconut, I assume it's a byproduct that they use to bulk up their ingredients, I'm not averse to coconut at all, I just hate when it's used as filler. The texture of these cookies was a major let-down too, they're sort of brittle and dry, there is no hint of chewiness to them, they come apart in the mouth like powdery sugar. So yeah, I was basically duped by the nice packaging and the well-known brand name. The packaging and name are decadent and promising but the actual product doesn't live up to the expectations they set. It sounds like I'm judging these really harshly, but they aren't horrible by any means, they're adequate I suppose, other people might enjoy them more than I do, I guess I've just set my cookie standards pretty high.

So in conclusion, I don't recommend these, get President's Choice instead!

Peanut Butter Snickers

I was excited at the sight of these things when I happened upon them at the local Russian-owned dollar store. I love the occasional snickers even though they're a bit too heavy to eat on a regular basis; I also love peanut butter so it seemed like a win-win situation.

 

Alas, my enthusiasm was premature though, I was pretty disappointed with these things. They're smaller and flatter than a snickers, have very bland chocolate that just tastes like a sugary coating; the type of nougat they use is also the cheap kind, it's very white and has nuts inside it and takes up the majority of the bar; the caramel also sucks, it's stodgy and devoid of any real taste. At first I thought it was because the bar was quite warm, so I left the other one (it's a double pack) in the fridge over night and tried it the next day. It tasted a little better but it still sucked. There is a large layer of peanut butter which is good, but the other ingredients just drown out the taste.

So as you may have guessed, I don't recommend these things, it feels like a pound of sugar dyed and shaped to look like different things, it has almost no flavor and the texture is like an old leather boot dipped in chocolate, avoid at all costs.

Ruffles: All Dressed. A uniquely Canadian flavor.

So here we are at the vague and mysterious Canada-exclusive flavor that is 'All Dressed'.

As you can see, the packaging depicts a salt shaker, a red pepper and an onion, but there is no official description available as to what exactly these chips are supposed to taste like. To me, the taste suggests sour cream, salt, possibly vinegar, possibly pepper, tomato and some other stuff. At first, both the name of the flavor and the actual taste weirded me out a bit, it's just do damned vague! But they're actually delicious, it just takes a while to come round to the strange, nondescript idea of these enigmatic Canadian snacks.

                                       

As you can see, they look like regular ruffles, there's a slight bit of reddish dusting in the form of seasoning but it's barely noticeable to the naked eye without the aid of a zoom lens. The texture is also identical to regular Ruffles, for those who haven't tried Ruffles chips, they're thick, crinkle-cut chips that are very popular here in North America and will probably break the European market soon, I noticed before moving here that they'd started selling Paprika, Sour Cream, and Original flavors in Irish and English shops like Tesco and Dunnes. I doubt Europe will ever see All-Dressed though, or the incredible Hot Wings flavor which will be reviewed here soon.

So as a conclusion, these are good chips, but are they great? Nope. They're very flavorful which is a good thing, but they aren't incredible by any means. I'd still recommend trying them if you love crisps/chips, they are kind of delicious in their own way, just slightly strange. Ruffles are so good in general and I think their delicious texture and size helps boost the rating of the All-Dressed flavor slightly. Give them a try, and hopefully you won't be sorry!


Thanks for reading. My next review will be for Peanut Butter Snickers.

Banana Nut Cheerios

I love sweet breakfast cereal, always have, the stuff is amazing, although, I've never been a huge fan of Cheerios, the Honey Nut ones were OK but nothing spectacular. Well, my opinion on Cheerios has drastically changed having experienced the wonder that is Banana Nut Cheerios. They seem to be made of corn and brown sugar, but they also include real banana and nut flavors  The best thing however, is that they turn the milk into banana milkshake! Friends on  the other side of the Atlantic might remember a Kellogg's cereal called 'Banana Bubbles' which was essentially banana flavored Rice Krispies, they were a bit horrible, but worth getting through a bowl of them just to drink the milk afterwards. The beauty of BNC's is that they taste amazing, they're really crunchy and sweet and they also have the benefit of delicious flavored milk.

For an even tastier treat, I recommend using Almond Milk, almond milk is great in general, it's tasty and nutritious and doesn't come from a factory-farmed animal. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not preaching, if you like regular milk that's fine, I just find the idea of my delicious Banana Nut Cheerios more appealing without cow milk all over them, the blend of almond and banana in the milk is to die for. I eat these as a snack, as well as for breakfast. Damn fine cereal as Agent Cooper might say. They may even be replacing Weetos as my all-time faves. Also try Apple and Cinnamon Cheerios, not as good as Banana Nut but still delicious. I've also mixed the Apple and Cinnamon ones with Banana Nut in the same bowl, and it works, surprisingly.

Stay tuned for the next update, probably on Hot Wings flavored Ruffles!