Walkers "Bring Me Back!" Barbecue

This is the final flavour from the Walkers "Bring Me Back!" campaign that the reluctant taste testers and I have tried.

Not liking barbecue flavour much I wasn't expecting to like this packet of crisps. But they aren't too bad. A little bit barbecue flavoured, with (I thought) a sort of tomatoey herby back taste. Despite there being no tomatoes in the list of ingredients and any possible herbiness disguised in the list as "flavourings".

I always find it a bit suspect when the ingredients list includes the words ...seasoning contains flavourings... One does rather wonder what Walkers don't want to tell us.

So the taste isn't bad, the crunch is as good as always, the crisps quite a dark golden colour, but the aroma! Do yourself a favour and don't sniff this packet of crisps before tucking in. It's just a smell of smoke and really not very alluring.

And once again the packaging is brown. Even browner than the "Bring Me Back!" Beef & Onion packaging. Is it just me or does brown packaging seem more likely to appeal to a man than a woman?

I wonder. Has any survey been carried out to see how the colour of a crisp packet might affect the way a man or woman chooses (or indeed likes) that flavour? If not I know someone who has carried out research on gender choices in pillowcase design and might be able to assist. I like plain white for myself.

Walkers "Bring Me Back!" Beef & Onion

Another "Bring Me Back" flavour from Walkers. And I don't like the look of it. Beef & Onion. Sounds a bit too meaty for me, not the sort of flavour I usually like. The packet's a bit dark brown too.

However, tech taste tester recommends them.

And how right he is. How wrong can you be? And you know I often am. Wrong, that it.

What a tasty crisp! Not especially meaty but very tasty, herby too (although the list of ingredients simply says seasoning and flavourings). As so often, slightly oddly suitable for vegetarians. But it's a much lighter taste than I was expecting. And really very good.

The reluctant taste testers all agreed this is a pretty good crisp and we could have eaten a good many more of them than you get in a 25g bag.

I think I even heard a cry of "where can I buy these?". You can't do better than that.

I would certainly vote for these crisps.

And since we are talking about a Walkers crisp, here's a link to this amazing Walkers tin I found on Etsy.

Walkers "Bring Me Back!" Toasted Cheese

So... what does toasted cheese taste of then? Do you know, I haven't had a toasted cheese sandwich, or indeed cheese on toast for ages. Even so I am fairly certain that toasted cheese doesn't taste of Quavers.

This is so weird. This little packet of crisps - proper potato crisps - tastes of nothing so much as Walkers Cheese Quavers. Quavers is a wonderful cheesy snack apparently made of nothing but bubbles and air. And what works with bubbles and air as a cheesy flavour doesn't seem to work with a potato crisp.

I'm not sure the reluctant taste testers were too struck with this flavour. Although of course the whole packet did get eaten. However I would not vote to bring back this flavour.

A good rich golden colour, nice crunch, and plenty of cheesy flavour dust. So not nasty. And I think they might be quite popular. But not for me.

Walkers "Bring Me Back!" Cheese & Chive

Another of this autumn's selection of "Bring Me Back!" flavours from Walkers.

I don't remember this flavour at all but tech taste tester (that's as in technology) says it was always one of his favourites and he's pleased to find it again.

Basically of course, this is a cheese & onion flavoured crisp under another name. Admittedly made with chives (and parsley) and not onion. But chives and onions are both members of the allium family and their uses are similar.

A nice finely cut crisp, perhaps a little pale in colour, but with a good wack of flavour. And it is a pretty good flavour.

Yes, I thought these were quite nice. And the reluctant taste testers finished off this little 25g packet pretty quickly. I don't think I would vote for them to come back though.

It's a little bit disappointing that the little guy throwing his rubbish away responsibly is a generic design that I've seen before on packets of Walkers Pops, and indeed on the Vote for  flavour competition Walkers ran in 2014.

Walkers "Bring Me Back!" Lamb & Mint

I discovered the other day that this autumn Walkers are running a competition to bring back a discontinued flavour "Bring Me Back!".

Oh yes, said tech taste tester, he'd seen them in his local Sainsbury's. Well, I definitely had not seen them in our local Waitrose (which is a bit staid in its selection of crispy snacks) so I thought I had better take a trip to a larger supermarket.

However, the very next day tech taste tester turned up at work with two multipack bags containing all six "Bring Me Back!" flavours. A very generous gesture - although he did admit that these bags of crisps were on special offer.

So quite at random we opened this little 25g packet of Lamb & Mint flavour crisps.

And what did we think? The usual Walkers thin cut crisps with a good crunch and plenty of flavour dust. But... Not a very distinguished flavour. Sort of savoury, a little bit meaty-tasting perhaps, with a hint of minty aftertaste. So not really a taste of lamb at all.

No wonder though, because these crisps are suitable for vegetarians and thus no lamb at all is involved in the manufacture.

Not bad. Quite tasty. But I'm not sure this flavour deserves to be brought back.