Herr's Baby Back Ribs

Note: This is a Presumptive Ephemeral Nom.

Like Utz brand snacks, Herr's is also an East Coast regional brand.  Also like Utz, Herr's is known to offer tons of hard-to-come-by variations on their products that really push the envelope.  I guess these regional companies have more leeway with their R&D money/practices?

I'm continually impressed with Herr's unorthodox flavors, and this is no exception.

The bag is opened and an aroma of smoke and vinegar hit the nose.  The first taste continues with the smoke and a bit of sweetness (the ingredients list indicates that this is provided by tomato and molasses flavorings).  The flavor continues with a traditional barbecue chip seasoning, with a bit more onion and garlic poking through than you'd expect.  The finish of these things is surprising, however... you get pork.  Indeed, there is pork flavoring in these chips.  The tail end of the experience gives you a smoky pork note that really sets this snack apart from its peers.  It feels like fried pork rinds were ground into a powder and used as a seasoning.  Bravo!

Herr's deserves credit for creating such a unique product.  While I love meat-flavored snacks, from things like my aforementioned cheeseburger Doritos to Chicken in a Biskit to Asian shrimp crackers, I don't think that it's done enough.  Americans aren't used to having junk food flavored like meat (or fish), but I bet a product like Herr's Baby Back Ribs could get the process started.

Herr's Baby Back Ribs: (Outstanding)

Herr's Barbecue(for comparison): (Good) 

Acquired: Giant

Canada Dry Black Cherry Wishniak

Wishniak is a black cherry soda that is named after real wishniak, which is actually an Eastern European vodka-based black cherry liqueur. (If you like reading about liquor, check out my other site here.) Legend has it that this genre of soda was conceived and named in the Eastern European disaporae of Philadelphia.  A brand called Frank's was probably the original version, and it call still be bought today.

Some of the larger soft drink companies have issued their own versions of Wishniak, and Canada Dry is among them, which denotes it as a limited availablity(specifically, probably regional) varietal.

Full disclosure: I'm not a big fan of black cherry flavored foods.  I find that I prefer sweeter cherry flavors like found in Coca-Cola Cherry or Cheerwine.

The flavor of this stuff is pretty good.  It's a tad more bitter and sour than more traditional cherry sodas, but it maintains a sweetness that keeps it more on the crowd-pleaser side.  This may be a bit tame for true black cherry enthusiasts.  The flavor is indeed "dark" with a character that will remind you of other dark berries, such as raspberry or grape.  There's also a bit of black pepper that bites you near the end.  On the swallow, this soda manages to leave a short crisp finish with almost no aftertaste.

Canada Dry Black Cherry Wishniak: (Good)

Acquired: privately-owned convenience store

Utz Wavy Pit BBQ

 Note: This is a Presumptive Ephemeral Nom.

Utz is a regional brand, with their headquarters in Pennsylvania and their distribution network somewhat between Maine and Georgia.  You may be able to find their stuff as far south as Florida and or far west as the Mississippi River, but not much farther than that.

It's a shame, too.  Utz's snacks are top-notch and, better, they are known to offer Ephemeral Noms!

Their vintage packaging isn't flashy at all, so you have to take your time in order to catch their less common iterations.  This here is Utz Wavy Pit BBQ potato chips, which is different from various other barbecue flavors that they offer.

These are strangely pleasant.  It took me a few chips to realize what was going on here.  The barbecue flavor is quite faint, which led me to question if that is all the chips offered.  But I soon realized that perhaps even stronger than barbecue is the flavor of garlic and onion.  It's an odd combination, not really thematic, but damn if I don't enjoy the hell out of these in a strange, unsettling way.  The flavors don't harmonize at all, but it still works, as if I stirred some backyard barbecue meal items on a paper plate all together and started taking bites of the mangled goop.


Utz Wavy Pit BBQ: Good

Original Utz Bar-B-Q(for comparison): Good

Acquired: supermarket