Blair's Death Rain Buffalo Wing Kettle Cooked Potato ChipsReview
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Nutrition
Bag Calories Fat Saturated Salt Sugars
28g 143 9.1g 0.98g 332mg 0.7g
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Verdict
Bag
There are some great positives about Blair's Death Rain designs, but also some weirdly easily overcome design flaws. Firstly, is the brand called, 'Feel Alive!' The strip down the side is brilliant, but what is wrong with a bold black bar with Blair's logo and a smaller 'Feel Alive!' The flavors are color coded, which is good, but they are not necessarily the right colors for the flavors. The heatometer graphic is quite simply excellent, although the whole bag could be a heatometer. The Chips background is a little bland.
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Crunch
These Chips came in two parts (not, literally). There was the superior crispy, crunch of a thick well cooked Kettle Chip. And then there was the spicy rub textured surface that damped down that crunch and turned it into a food rather than a snack.
Texture
The additional thickness of the Kettle Chips style, allied to the medium sized Chips, made for a good start. There were random oil bubbles, but not so many that the potato slices looked like they died screaming. There were the usual curly Chips that you will always find with Kettle Cooking, but there were not as many irregularly shaped or folded Chips as usual. The surface texture was like a desert landscape; a moody dark orange, with no stability. A Fore-Thumb Test saw a load of seasoning stay of fingers.
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Taste
A Nose Plunge Test revealed a little smoky Barbecue sort of aroma, but there was certainly an early hit of pepper. This does not auger well for spice scaredies - Blair's describe this as medium! Fortunately for all, there is a level of sanity to these Chips. There was a vinegary Barbecue flavoring, although it is often difficult to pin down Wing from Ribs, or even from any lump of meat that has spices, rubs or sauces added to the flavor before grilling. Mostly, there is a mildly sweet and mildly smoky hot flavor that was really well balanced.