Archer Farms Spicy Korean BBQ Chips - Target : Cherry Hill, NJ
This might be a bit of a stretch, but BBQs are a summer thing, right?
After the sriracha chips were defeated in the Lay’s Choose Your Flavor campaign I have been looking for a replacement.
The sriracha chips released by Lay’s admittedly did NOT taste like sriracha, but they reminded me of the honey hot wings I order from a local pizza place. I absolutely loved them and I was really sad to see them go. (For the record Cheesy Garlic Bread won the contest, although I haven’t seen them available anywhere yet.)
There isn’t much design to critique, because this bag follows the basic Archer Farms formula. Dark green top with some diamond crosshatching, a nice photo of the product, and crisp white text. I like the look, it’s consistent, and it serves it’s purpose. For a no frills brand, Archer Farms is pretty frilly. It has a zip-loc style resealable top! Other brands really need to start doing this. (It’s very handy.)
Once opened, I can smell sweet BBQ sauce, vinegar, onion, and a hint of liquid smoke. Basically these smell exactly like any other BBQ chip on the market. Don’t get me wrong, they smell delicious, but there is nothing about the aroma that specifically hints at Korean BBQ.
After my first bite I was really wowed by the texture. These are some really crunchy kettle chips. If you have ever had the little bags of chips that accompany food at Panera Bread, which in my opinion are much harder than the traditional kettle chip, these are very similar. After my initial reaction to the texture I focused on the flavor.
These are pretty sweet, but I can’t detect anything “Korean” about this BBQ flavor. After a few chips some heat starts to build, but these are no where near flaming hot Doritos or Cheetos. These aren’t even as hot as the sriracha chips I mentioned earlier. (Which were not very hot at all.)
I loved the crunchy texture, but I couldn’t find any hint of Korean BBQ spices in this flavor. If you like BBQ chips, these are just like any other kettle-style brand on the market, just with a more satisfying crunch.
I really liked them, and I would buy more in the future, but the branding might want to rethink the “Spicy Korean-Style BBQ” name. (I think I might grab another bag to serve at my memorial day BBQ.)
© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net
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