Review: Blair’s Death Rain Habanero Parmesan Chips

I opened the bag with hesitation. My mind played out the words, “Oh God, Oh God, Please let me live.” I knew the bag said “medium,” but I wasn’t going to let that fool me in a false sense of security. This is after all, Blair’s, the company that makes the hottest product on the planet. But, they’re just chips, right? Just chips.

Placing the open bag to my nose, I inhaled. It was pleasant, chippy aroma. The smell had nothing to indicate a bane to my taste buds lurking inside. I fished one out, said a Hail Mary, and popped it into my mouth.

The taste was nothing but chip with a slight hint of what might be described as Parmesan, but tasted more like a diluted sour cream and onion flavor. At that moment, I detected only a slight hint of spice, so I proceeded to devour the bag.

I like these kinds of chips … these kettle style chips. The crunch and flavor are very similar the old Kettle brand chips you used to find in the stores.

Blair’s Death Rain chips are the exact opposite of what you might find in a yellow bag of Lay’s. These have a palatable substance; they have crunch and bite, the kind of crunch where you can’t hear anyone talking in the room. And let’s not forget the flavor, well more flavor than just salt and peanut oil.

Not until the end of the bag, did TheWife and I start to feel any sort of heat coming from the chips. Of course, the bag did say Medium, so I can’t really fault Blair for not bringing the pain. But let’s be real here. The title has the word Habanero in it. One would expect the have one’s tongue scorching red-hot by the end of the bag. But no. Heck, even jelly did more damage to my alimentary canal than these chips.

It would seem that Blair wants to draw in the less hardcore crowd by marketing certain chips as being medium, and I could respect that notion if the bag didn’t say Death Rain and Habanero on it. Ah well, I just chalk the whole thing to Blair’s wicked sense of humor. Mostly dead is slightly alive – right?

In the end, I would say that Blair has a good all-around chip on his hands with the Death Rain brand. They’re tasty and crunchy, and I would really like to see if hot truly is hot.

Written by Adam

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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