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

Triple Double Oreo

Note: This is an Presumptive Ephemeral Nom.

As I've said before, Oreo isn't known to issue many new flavors.  Besides chocolate and vanilla, and the occasional mint and peanut butter, Oreo generally sticks to its small stable of flavor varieties.

What Oreo has no problem with, however, is changing the morphology of their products.  They've been known to change the color of their vanilla creme for almost every holiday or seasonal occasion, but they've also been known get a little crazy with their cookie-to-creme ratios and combinations.

Well, Oreo is beginning to explore the extremes of this doctrine with Triple Double Oreo, an unholy combination of 3 Oreo cookies sandwiching 2 layers of both vanilla and chocolate creme.

My opinion is that this variety is more geared for novelty or shock value.  It's hard for me to believe that any Oreo fan would reach for these more than once instead of their favorite variety.

The glut of chocolate cookie in every bite drowns out whatever flavor the cremes would offer, especially the chocolate creme.  In the end, these taste like eating 2 original Oreos at one time.

Admittedly, I prefer balance in my Oreo snacks; too much creme or cookie (or both) can really throw me off.  I would rather have an single Oreo or a Chocolate Creme Oreo than this muddled monstrosity.

Triple Double Oreo: (Good)

Original Oreo(for comparison): (Great)

Acquired: supermarket

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

Doritos Jacked Enchilada Supreme

Note: This is a Presumptive Ephemeral Nom.

New Doritos flavors tend to be among the most exciting snacks, and so I nabbed this bag greedily when I saw it.

I was taken aback by their texture, and then I was informed by the back of the bag that this new line, Doritos Jacked, contains new extra thick chips to go along with the new flavors.  I'm not sure how I feel about this.  Back near the turn of the millennium Tostitos had their thicker Tostitos Gold variety, which I loved, but these Doritos Jacked are even thicker and crunchier.

The flavor of Enchilada Supreme Doritos seems like a redundant and half-hearted attempt.  The base of the seasoning feels like a duller version of the company's Nacho Cheese flavor.  On top of this base I can detect a few additions - chiles, bell pepper, a bit of cumin.  The flavor is overall enjoyable but not assertive enough, almost like the dull lovechild of Doritos Nacho Cheese and Doritos Taco.

As for the Jacked line's textural signature, I don't feel like it adds anything.  Then again, I always tend to enjoy more tender snacks like Tostitos Multigrain over normal tortilla chips and regular potato chips over their kettle-cooked counterparts.


Doritos Jacked Enchilada Supreme: (Good)

Doritos Nacho Cheese(for comparison): (Great)

Acquired: supermarket

Pop-Tarts Festival Fun Frosted Vanilla I-Scream Cone

Pop-Tarts has rolled out their Ice Cream Shoppe flavors, if I'm being honest, so far so good!

I'm filled with delight as I pull the pastries out of the wrapper and am greeted with sprinkles on the Pop-Tart's frosting!  Yay!  This vanilla ice cream-flavored treat is topped with chocolate frosting, which is an interesting choice.

The smell of them instantly bring me back to when I was a kid, because these smell just like the Pop-Tarts S'mores flavor, which I ate every morning for years.

On the first taste, it's quite sweet.  I then detect a doughy note, almost like a cake flavor.  I'm not sure why it's there (perhaps to mimic the flavor of the cone?), but it's definitely welcome.  The next flavor is an easy vanilla that borders on a marshmallow-like sweetness, with perhaps even a bit of coconut in there!  Last is chocolate-- this might be the first time I've ever detected the flavor of the frosting on a Pop-Tart.  It works amazingly well.  Everything works together here.

When toasted, I find that this product doesn't taste quite as good.  The flavor is deadened a bit, and I daresay that the texture is less satisfyingly chewy.

However, notice that the front of this Pop-Tarts' box says loudly "TRY 'EM FROZEN".  Well ok, then!  I put one in the freezer and came back to it the next morning.  While I see what they're doing there with the frozen "ice cream" motif, I think the strategy is misplaced.  The texture took on a even-more-pleasant chewiness, but the flavor of the pastry was almost undetectable, and the frozen frosting snapped unsettlingly when bitten.  No thanks.

In all, the snack was best at room temperature, but make no mistake, this is one of the best Pop-Tarts flavors I've ever had.

Pop-Tarts Festival Fun Frosted Vanilla I-Scream Cone: (Great)

Original Pop-Tarts(Strawberry, for comparison): (Good)

Acquired: supermarket

Corporations!

This is a neat image I found on the internets. (Click it to make it larger.)

It is a clever collage that shows which conglomerates own our favorite brands.  While I was familiar with soft drink brand ownership, I learned quite a bit from the snack quadrant of this image.

You'll notice that quite a few brands which compete with each other on store shelves are ultimately owned by the same corporation.  My understanding is that despite this, each brand markets independently in an intense competition for market share, shelf space, etc., and the mother company ultimately benefits from all this.

This is all the result of companies buying out each other for centuries along with a relentless hunger for market share.  I guess the ultimate take-away here is that it'd be really hard to boycott any of these companies, but until then, I fully plan to support them by buying their delicious products!


Source: reddit

Lay's Classic BLT

 Note: This is Presumptive Ephemeral Nom.

Lay's has recently come out with a line of new flavors (which I don't think will last), among them is Classic BLT.  As we know, BLT stands for the bacon, lettuce, tomato sandwich.

I set my hopes too high.  In practice, these chips taste like a vague combination of the Lay's Sour Cream and Cheddar chips along with a hefty shake of bacon flavor.  Despite the fact that the ingredients list has tomato and lettuce flavors in it, they're barely detectable.  I imagine that their "sour cream" powder/flavor might be in there because of how BLTs are often served with mayonnaise.

I'll tell you why this is not ok.

I'm finally given a chance to rave about what perhaps might be in my top 3 favorite ephemeral noms of all time: Doritos(a Lay's company) Late Night All Nighter Cheeseburger, released around 2010.  The complexity of this snack rivaled single malt Scotch.  With a single bite, I could taste beef(smoky and char-grilled), mustard, lettuce, cheese, onions, and more.  It was like a symphony of flavors, and all given to me via a snack chip.  If Doritos can nail a fresh lettuce flavor among myriad other stronger ones, then why can't Lay's?

Speaking of Lay's, I've had the pleasure to try their Lays Ketchup chips, which are shining example of a nice spicy tomato flavor note.  And yet they can't relay a bit of that into their Classic BLT?  Why do their Classic BLT chips only taste like bacon?

We here at Ephemeral Noms not only judge a product on its objective flavor, but also on how accurately it achieves to be what it purports.  These chips are quite good, though they do not taste anything like a BLT.  If they had boasted to be "Loaded Potato Skins" chips, they may have gotten a higher rating.

Lays Classic BLT: (Good)

Lays Classic(for comparison): (Good)

Acquired: supermarket