Let’s say it is five-ish, the game is on at half-time, and you are hungry. And thirsty. You go to the fridge, grab some beer, but it is getting on, so you have the munchies and grab some cheddar next to the beer, then some chips from the cupboard. It no longer matters if your team wins, because life is good with those kind of snacks with your beer. I try to be a practical person, therefore combining beer, cheese and potato chips is what I would call a very efficient idea. A brilliant idea, and the folks at Kettle Chips of Oregon have done it.

I guess if I was experimenting with combining a snack of all 3 items, I might start with a good ale in a glass. Then I might dump a few chunks of cheese in there, and a handful of potato chips. I imagine this would be a soggy and smelly mess, so back to the drawing board. Fortunately, our friends in Oregon, BIG BEER country as we know, did the work for us, and we can enjoy a tasty crispy chip rather than a soggy mess.

The wife works in a nifty little specialty shop called Ludgate Farms of Ithaca as a book-keeper. I saw these cheddar beer Kettle Chips there the other day and the wheels started turning. I went over to Wegmans which is huge specialty grocery store in New York state, maybe the best in the world, but they didn’t have them! Sure, lots of other Kettle Chips, but no cheddar beer (hey, try anything from Kettle Chips, you won’t go wrong) so back to Ludgate Farms. The bag is yellow and covered with names. Apparently these guys did a poll of eaters and found that this taste combo was the number one pick for a new flavor. The thousands of people who chose it are listed on the bag. The ingredients (all natural, don’t you know) really do list beer and cheese.

OK, so for the tasting. Kettle Chips are rightly famous for being EXTRA THICK and crispy. Well, if you like Welsh Rarebit, that cheddar and beer dipping sauce, then you would love these babies. Massive chips in every dimension with no shortage of seasonings all over. And yes, oh joy! They taste like good beer and cheddar.

...and YES, you can be cool and buy my pots with or without piggies (dogs, frogs etc) as pictured with these chips that you can see if you click through the image above. Just write garyrith@yahoo.com.