Three Peat Flavor

I remember a time when I really liked Pringles.  This is back in the day when MTV Reality Shows were a good part of my life and my complete food obsession/issues/Foodie behavior had not yet begun.  Back in those days, I could eat Pringles every day of the week.  I liked a variety of flavors and really dug their crunch.  Now, my feelings of Pringles are anything but.  Even the smell of Sour Cream & Onion Pringles makes me cringe.  However, every so often, I feel the need to have one or two.  So, that’s exactly what I do.  I eat two and totally get over it.  This summer, Pringles introduced a limited edition, Three Peat Flavor of none other than Barbeque.  Over the course of the summer, I purchased all 3 flavors and tried them all.  In the end, these were nothing that great.

First up, was Carolina BBQ.  This was by far my least favorite of the batch.  While the basic chip was a Pringle, the flavor was somewhat confusing.  On my first chip, I felt like this was a Pringle with salt – I really didn’t taste any bbq flavors.  Then, on my next 2 chips, I was able to taste a faint bbq taste.  But, the taste was just that – faint.  I would have had a hard time realizing this was a bbq chip if I had my eyes closed.  I was expecting something more tangy with a bit of sweetness and this chip certainly did not do that.  No thank you…no reason to ever had this again.

Next up was Memphis BBQ.  This was my second favorite of the Three Peat.  I found this chip to be far more similar to your traditional bbq flavored chip.  And this is where the problem laid.  If this is to be a Memphis BBQ chip, then I want to taste Memphis and not just BBQ.  Even though this chip had a bit of sweetness to it, it was far too much like any other bbq chip.  I found this to be the case in all 3 of the chips that I tried.  I could eat this again but, why bother?

For me, my favorite, and final chip in this Three Peat, was the Texas BBQ.  By far, this chip had the most dominating flavor of the three.  I felt as if this chip spent some time in the smoker – when I squinted real hard, I could see the smoke rings.  And, I really liked this.  Not only did this chip kick you with smokiness, it also carried the traditional sweetness of bbq sauce and the spiciness of Texas BBQ.  Of the three chips I tried from this batch, every single one was great.  Not only could I tell this was a bbq chip, I could also tell this was no typical bbq chip.  This should be added into the Pringle normal rotation and I would certainly have it again.

In the past few years, I have pretty much avoiding Pringles.  Their overpowering, fake tastes have just turned me off.  I am glad that I decided to give them another go in the form of these bbq chips.  While each flavor should be able to stand on their own, they simply do not – Texas BBQ is the only one worthy of being brought around year round.  If they do bring these flavors back, I will probably not go out of my way to have them.  But, if these are on sale, I may pick up a tube and have me a few handfuls.  In the end, the Three Peat of Flavor made way to the one and only winner…Texas, these Pringles would do you Proud.