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You Make Me Feel Like a Whore

Every once in a while the "Lays do us a flavour/flavor" gimmick produces a tasty chip flavour..but in general they usually produce bland if not offensive, fit for the garbage can, duds. When I read both the Canadian and American entries for 2015 I was, well, disappointed. It read like a rundown of taint influenced salty snacks. There were some (somewhat long shot) potentially tasty flavours (mostly to the south of the 49th parallel). I only managed to procure 1 American flavour for 2015..I've had New York Reuben and Montreal Smoked Meat collecting dust in the salty cellar for a minute. I assumed that they'd taste almost exactly the same (salty faux meat) and didn't anticipate a recommendation to come out of the review (it should be noted that I entered Reuben on Kettle Cooked into the Canadian contest).

My sister in law thoughtfully picked me up a bag of New york Reuben when she was in Vegas this past summer. I was interested in trying these chips, however the more I thought of a chip companies ability to reproduce the majesty that is the Reuben, the less excited I became. I had it built up in my head that they were going to taste like roadkill..or some sort of tainted meat. When I finally got to crunching I was introduced to Cheddar and Sour Cream's homeless cousin. There's a sort of swiss cheese aftertaste. I think there's something similar to a caper taste in there [or that could be them trying to get the dark rye bread flavour in there]. The chips were better than I thought they'd be..its as if they forgot to even try to approximate the flavour of corned beef. I think they would've been better on kettle cooked chips but maybe that's just me, right Mr. Lays! I don't think it's a big deal that I got around to writing this after they're (hopefully) long gone from the shelves never to be spoken of again.

I stepped into Montreal Smoked Meat anticipating a garbage fire. I've found that in the past (as I alluded to above) that meat flavoured chips generally miss their mark. When I opened the bag and took a whiff I was oddly greeted with a smell similar to bar-b-que..bbq..however you want to spell it. I took one of the little flavoured potato slices into my fingers and threaded it between my teeth. Straight to the tongue. I was met with, well, a meat? flavoured chip. It doesn't necessarily taste like Montreal Smoked Meat..it's probably closer to Montreal Smoked Rind? There's some sweetness in the background..possibly a faint mustard sprinkling. At points during consumption I get aggressive pepper flavour. They seem somehow ultra salty. The actual chips are standard Lays so, yeah. All in all these chips aren't terrible..they're also not pleasant. Sort of a crummy version of Ruffles Flame Grilled Steak that was out this past summer. They should have come in a 30g bag, maybe that way they wouldn't have overstayed their welcome.

Everclear was one of the first bands that I fell in love with (for those [somehow] unfamiliar, 90's alt rock with (from what I've read, but [myself] never really heard much of it in them) grunge influence). I got So Much for the Afterglow in the same record club shipment as Dude Ranch and the Bosstones Let's Face It (all three of those albums hold up to this day). Everclear's mid 90's output is absolutely amazing (World of Noise was never accessible when I was younger so I don't really have an opinion good or bad). I loved and still love Sparkle and Fade and So Much for the Afterglow. Even Songs From an American Movie Vol One and Vol Two were pretty enjoyable (One more than Two [tho I haven't listened to Two in a long time {for that matter it's been years since I've listened to Vol One}]). After Vol One, for myself, there have been diminishing returns. They went down a music path that may not be bad, but Everclear is just not for me anymore.

Stay hydrated,
Marc

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