REVIEW: Blair’s Death Rain Buffalo Wing Kettle Cooked Potato Chips

Ingredients: Select potatoes, sunflower oil and/or high oleic monosaturated sunflower oil and/or corn oil and/or soybean oil, vinegar powder, natural chicken flavor, spices, sugar (dextrose), sugar, maltodextrin, salt, hydrolyzed corn protein, autolyzed yeast, natural flavor (corn syrup solids, autolyzed yeast extract, natural flavors, sugar, onion, salt, carrots, butter, garlic, spice), paprika, natural flavors, garlic powder, malic acid, natural smoke flavor.

I’m a huge fan of Blair’s sauce and rub products and was excited to receive my first bag of his Death Rain chips.

The packaging is attractive and has gone through some revisions. It was probably a good idea to remove the skull from the front of the bag.

Some people may get the wrong idea about eating potato chips with a skull on the bag, so removing it in favor of a larger Blair’s logo was a great idea.

Kind of like these Black Death brand cigarettes compared to a pack of Marlboro. Well, not quite…

I received the smallest produced package, and though the bag looks as small as Lay’s or Doritos snack packs, it contains 2 oz. to their 1 oz. The nutrition facts on the back state the 2 oz. serving has 280 calories with 160 of those from fat. The calories from fat are high; so these shouldn’t be your diet snack.

Doing a little online research, I found these priced between .89 to $1.95 per 2 oz. bag. If you go wholesale and buy three 28 bag cases, the cost is around .68 per bag. They also come in 5 oz. bags.

I appreciated the expiration date on the bag. Mine was dated 6/27/06.

Upon opening the bag and taking my first sniff, I was bombarded with the smell of spicy vinegar. I dumped the chips into a bowl and went to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. When I returned, the chip’s aroma filled the room. It’s appetizing.

These are kettle-cooked chips, and as you know kettle-cooked are much thicker and cruncher than your average chip. These were even thicker and cruncher than every other kettle chip I’ve eaten. Each crisp chip was about the size of a Franklin half dollar coin. Most were curved, but a few were stuck together which provided a mammoth crunch. My favorite chips are the ones that curled over upon themselves when they were cooking because some extra seasoning found their way into the folds. I found myself picking through and finding those curled chips just like I search to the bottom of a bowl of popcorn to find those half popped kernels.

Initially, you don’t get that buffalo wing taste or aroma. It’s only after about 5 or so chips in until you take your next bite and realize there’s a chicken flavor in there. And what happened to that vinegar smell, because it doesn’t come across in the taste gratifying. Not salty either!

I think I’ll go grab a beer.

This is honestly a chicken tasting chip with a pleasurably twang spice. They are medium in heat, just as advertised. The after-taste begs for another bite.

These aren’t your “take a hand full and stuff into your mouth” potato chips. These should be eaten one at a time while savoring the flavor with a cold beverage! It’s great party chip to get the beer flowing and some fiery conversation started.

-thakswet

Written by thakswet

Nick Lindauer founded Hot Sauce Blog in 2004, making it one of the internet's very first hot sauce review sites. After 20+ years of tasting, reviewing, and attending every major fiery foods event in the country, he's back behind the keyboard covering the hot sauce world he helped build.

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