BeerDorks.com: Reviews, Commentary and Opinions on Midwest Craft Beer and Microbreweries

 
May 6, 2006

The Culture of Beer:

Chips and Beer, Together At Last

Taking some whack-job's beer-and-potato fusion for a drunken test drive.
by Baby-Boy Jackson

Baby-Boy Jackson is just here for the beer.
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Beer and potato chips may go together, but you rarely see even the drunkest of drunkards dipping his chips in his beer.

Still, I suspect that is how Beer Chips were born. Some wag out in Portland, Ore., decided that beer and chips should be slammed together at high sppeds to create Beer Chips. They are, as the bag helpfully points out, potato chips made with beer.

Along with the beer is lots of sweet stuff: sugar, honey, and cane syrup are all listed as ingredients on the bag. There is also beer, but that comes below sugar. (The government's rule on food labeling is that ingredients must be listed descending order based on weight. Thus, potatoes come first here, then oil, then sugar, then beer.)

The bag is helpful in other ways too, such as telling you how to eat the Beer Chips (1. open mouth, 2. insert beer chips, 3. swallow (don't forget to chew), 4. repeat.). It also informs you that "Beer Chips won't make you drunk, but they might make you more interesting."

So, you may ask, why am I talking so much about the bag?

Because what's in it is not something you want to eat while drinking your beer. It's not that they were terrible, it is just that they were too sweet to be a bar snack. They certainly didn't get me drunk, and only made me more mildly interesting to the people I offered them to, since who wouldn't want free chips? But over all, my recommendation is to stick to regular chips with your beer.

Besides, you don't really want to emulate the guy who has been drinking so long he's dunking his chips in his beer.



Drinkin’ And Thinkin’

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