New Kettle Chips — Moscow Mule and Korean Barbecue
When Kettle Chips sent me samples of their latest flavors — Moscow Mule and Korean Barbecue — I needed help in taste-testing the Moscow Mule flavor.
I’ve never sipped a Moscow Mule cocktail. which contains ginger beer, vodka and lime. I’ve not even tasted vodka, at least that I know of.
I had no problem judging the Korean Barbecue flavor (my husband loved helping out, too — more about that).
But I needed some folks with actual Moscow Mule experience to see if the chips tasted anything like the drink. I remembered that one of my tennis friends ordered a Moscow Mule during a post-match lunch at the Twigs Bistro, because I’d been intrigued by the copper cup they were served in. Apparently that’s tradition, supposedly the copper makes the lime taste more crisp.
So I asked Dianne Nelson and her husband Jim to help taste-test.
In keeping with the copper theme, the Moscow Mule Kettle Chips came in a shiny copper-colored bag.
Like all Kettle Brand Chips, both of the new chips are intensely flavored. You’re not going to bite in and say, “Gee, I can’t taste anything.” I suspect these are designed to leave your craving more.
Here’s what Dianne had to say:
“Jim could taste ginger and lime. However I could taste ginger, lime and lemon. They are extremely salty and do not taste like the Moscow Mule drink at all!”
Here’s my impression: When I bit into a few chips, I tasted lots of ginger with a hint of lemon-lime, and with a hit of both sweet and salt. It was an unusual flavor combo for a chip, and one that I could just keep eating.
My husband described the Korean Barbecue as “A little like American barbecue, but with an Asian spicy-hot twist. And a hint of sweetness.”
On a scale of 1-10, he rated it a 9, pretty high.
I tasted sweet, smoke, garlic, heat, and maybe a little soy sauce and molasses. It’s definitely in the “Bet you can’t eat one” category.
The new flavors were inspired by popular “happy hour” bar foods. It seems like Korean Barbecue is pretty trendy these days. The Moscow Mule was invented in 1941, but apparently it’s been making a comeback since the Smirnoff vodka folks have been promoting it heavily since 2016 is the 75th year of its invention.
“Kettle has a team of what we call flavor architects, who tracks culinary trends across the country and globe,” said a rep from Kettle Brands, when I asked how the flavors come about. “They read magazines, check-out grocery stores and visit restaurants, always keeping an eye out for the next best thing that could play well on potato chips. For example, Kettle launched its Krinkle Cut Dill Pickle Chips and Pepperoncini Chips in 2015, because the innovation team noticed a couple years prior that pickled flavors were starting to become popular on the foodie scene.”
My personal request from Kettle Chips isn’t for a specific flavor; but rather, to restore its Kettle Baked Chips to the shelves of my Smith’s supermarket. They are the best low-fat potato chips out there. They’re not as boldly flavored as Kettle’s regular chips. But you can taste real potato, with a nice crunch, and a lot less fat and calories. Smith’s, (owned by Kroger) stopped carrying them about six months ago, and my complaints and requests up the customer service chain have been met with disappointment. Every so often I drive a few more miles to Harmons, where I can stock up Kettle Baked Chips — they carry barbecue is my favorite, bu they’re all good. And every time, I end up buying more of my groceries from Harmons while I’m there. Kroger and Smith’s, are you listening? You’re losing some shopping dollars!
Some history on the Moscow Mule, according to Wikipedia: The cocktail was invented in 1941 by John G. Martin of G.F. Heublein Brothers, Inc., an American East Coast spirits and food distributor based in Hartford, Connecticut, and “Jack” Morgan, President of Cock ‘n’ Bull Products (which produced ginger beer) and proprietor of the The Cock and Bull restaurant on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, which was popular with celebrities.
The Moscow mule is almost always served in a copper mug. The popularity of this drinking vessel is attributable to Martin, who went around the country to sell Smirnoff vodka and popularize the Moscow mule. Martin asked bartenders to pose with a specialty copper mug and a bottle of Smirnoff vodka, and photographed a Polaroid picture of them. He took two photos, leaving one with the bartender for display. The other photo would be put into a collection and used as proof to the next bar Martin visited of the popularity of the Moscow mule.