Tyrrell's Potato Crisps
Address: Tyrrells Court, Stretford Bridge, Leominster, Herefordshire, HR6 9DQ
Telephone: 01568 720244
Fax: 01568 720455
Email: Website Contact Form
Website: www.tyrrellscrisps.co.uk
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Tyrrells

We’re Tyrrells and we spend our days making fine English crisps here on our farm in the delightful Herefordshire countryside. We like to do things a bit differently to most, here’s how...
We’re proud Herefordshirians (is that a word?), so we only use potatoes from local farmers, our favourites being Lady Rosetta and Lady Claire. They’re the names of the potatoes, not the farmers. Just to be clear.
Peeled potatoes are fine for mash, but for making crisps? A thousand times “No”. Well, that’s where the flavour and goodness is!
Nothing satisfies the soul quite like the colossal crunch of a proper thick-cut crisp. Scientific fact!
In our book there’s only one way to cook crisps, and that’s by hand. If you need convincing, pick up a bag of Tyrrells and a bag of super-cheap crisps and have yourself a blind tasting.
MSG, disodium 5: we wouldn’t dream of using any of them. We’re not really sure what they are, for a start. Happily, all our seasonings are completely and utterly natural.
The moment they leave the fryer our crisps go into our Big Spinny Thing™. ​It’s basically like a huge tumble drier that drives off any extra oil, and it makes our crisps even crunchier.
Like all the finest whiskies, our crisps are made the old fashioned way: in small batches. It’s the best way to make sure every bag tastes as splendid as the last.
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Tyrrell's Sweet Chilli & Red Pepper Crisps 
A Nose Plunge Test revealed a similar aroma to the Kettle Brand Sweet Chilli flavour. There was certainly a hint of sweetness that mixed in well with a regular sweet chilli style dip flavoured crisp. And like most sweet chilli sauces there was a spicy hit that did not feature hot sauce heat. It was a pleasant and enjoyable variation on a familiar variety.   
(19)
Tyrrell's Sunday Best Roast Chicken Crisps 
It’s hard to know where to start. Does the bag description imply the chicken is specifically the type that appears on a good old British Sunday roast? As opposed to a rotisserie chicken, for example, which tastes the same. As does a barbecued chicken. Or any other chicken. Or, should it include the taste of cabbage and Yorkshire pudding? I was left with no choice but to close my eyes and dip in. There was a somewhat muted chicken mixed with a similarly muted garlic and herb taste, which could easily be considered to be stuffing. There also seemed to be a touch of aniseed. They were not an unenjoyable variety, but I couldn't find any stand-out elements that made the exciting bag claim.   
(15)
Tyrrell's Lightly Sea Salted Crisps 
Fortunately, I do not need to repeat the write up of the No Salt variety because although these were rather limited in flavour, the addition of salt, however little (and there was little), brought the flavour of the oily potato to the fore. It was all still a bit too greasy and oil-saturated for my liking, but at least the flavour was as described on the front of the bag.   
(15)
Tyrrell's Furrows Cheese & Pickled Onion 
A Nose Plunge Test provided little evidence of anything fancy inside the packet. As for the actual flavour, well, there was certainly a cheesy undercurrent to the crisps, but I was more interested in the pickle aspect. As the nation's two biggest sellers are Ploughman’s and Branston, I was hoping for the sweet of the former or the tangy of the latter. Sadly, although there was a slight background hint of chutney it was neither dominant nor particularly pleasant as an accompanying partner.   
(14)
Tyrrell's Plane Crisps Review
I don’t know whether it was because I was in the sky when I tasted these, and scientists claim tastebuds alter, but these crisps included more salt that their ground-based version. They were small and curly and unique to their equally small packaging.   
(14)
Tyrrell’s English Smoky Barbecue Crisps
Most of the crisps appeared to be small, many scrunched up, and all well-folded and very crunchy. The dark seasoning augured well, and this followed through with the flavour. The taste was certainly smoky, somewhat like a pre-sauce rub. There was a hint of spicy sweetness, but it was a controlled and evenly paced flavour that leaned towards tomato and paprika.
​(23)
Tyrrell’s Black Truffle & Sea Salt Crisps 
A Nose Plunge Test revealed a rather pungent truffle aroma. This was a very good start. It would be disrespectful of the flavour to claim they tasted mushroomy, but if that’s the most substantial aspect, I am happy to concede a general fungal description. They provided a familiar crisp paradox – They did not taste very nice (the flavour really doesn’t add anything to a burgeoning range of options), but they were faithful to their flavour description. So, as always, I will grade on the latter rather than the former because taste is in the mouth of the eater.   
(19)
Tyrrell's Sea Salt & Cider Vinegar Crisps
A Nose Plunge Test revealed a mild vinegar scent. The taste was distinct because although they were salt and vinegar crisps, the twist of cider vinegar did make a difference. There was a sweetness to the vinegar that took all the tartness out of the flavouring. The salt was a little muted in the partnership arrangement, but it was a pleasing, if an untraditional variation on one of the world's most popular themes.   
(17)
Tyrrell's Mature Cheddar Cheese & Chive 
A Nose Plunge Test revealed a similar aroma to a new pleather sofa. Unfortunately, the taste was a little like a game of hunt the cheese. There was little more than a fried potato flavour to what were very bland crisps. I sadly did not find chive flavouring.   
(12)
Tyrrell's Sea Salt & Black Pepper Crisps 
A Nose Plunge Test revealed air. There was no smell. After emptying the bag into a bowl I saw there were lots of greasy areas with black pepper stuck to them within the empty bag. In theory, this is a pretty easy flavour to get right. The combination should provide an equal measure of potato, salt, and pepper. Some fail miserably, but these did not. They hit the mark in all three departments superbly.   
(20)
Tyrrell's Naked (No Salt) Crisps 
I do not consider myself particularly adept at rating flavourless crisps. I prefer a mountain of flavour to replace the monotony of oily potato. These tasted very much like oily potato.   
(13)
Tyrrell's Smoked Paprika Crisps 
It is with great regret that I was unable to taste Test this variety alongside the version mentioned above in this list (which has now sadly been deleted from the Tyrrell's range). The website write-up mentioned the Spanish influence, but the bag itself did not mention Tapas in the flavour description. This is a good thing because if I was a little negative about the Tapas influence, it was because I could not fully identify what it meant. This version may or may not have been the same with a re-branding, but I will nevertheless rate this variety on its own flavour description. There was a meaty, certainly smoky pepper, that leaned towards spicy red paprika seasoning.   
(18)
Tyrrell's Furrows Sea Salt & Vinegar Crisps
I had to check the packet to see what sort of vinegar was used in this flavouring. I presumed there would be malt vinegar powder included, and there was, but the odd taste I encountered was confirmed to be cider vinegar, which made a very welcome change to what is a fairly standard variety. It was a pleasant taste, but I am a stickler for correct labelling and this bag said sea salt and vinegar and I could not taste any salt.   
(17)
Tyrrell’s Posh Prawn Cocktail Crisps
As these were British-based crisps, I was expecting a sweet and creamy prawn cocktail sauce, but there was no creaminess. Instead, there was a harsh, possibly even slightly sour vinegary tomato that was a little too salty. There was also a reasonable spicy backdrop, but I couldn’t identify the origin - It wasn’t a Worcester sauce style addition. I have no idea what was posh about it, but I liked the bag design.   
(14)

Withdrawn