PHILLIPS PUMPKIN PIE LIQUEUR

Today I'm going to review something that isn't a book. I know, insanity, right? Don't worry, there is another book review coming on Thursday. Order will be restored, rest assured.

Anyway.

Booze!

So I recently bought some Phillips Pumpkin Pie Liqueur. Strangely, the product doesn't seem to exist on Phillips' website, so here is a link to the product page on the NSLC.

I'd walked by it several times. I'd considered buying it, but passed. Eventually, I could resist no longer - I had to try it.

Now, I like pumpkin pie as much as the next girl, but it's not my favorite pie ever. That would be pecan. And blueberry. But pumpkin pie is pretty awesome. And I like pumpkin flavoured things - pumpkin beer, pumpkin spice lattes....etc. So yeah, I needed to try it.

This is the product description from the bottle: Fresh from the oven pumpkin pie taste with layers of pumpkin spice, cinnamon and a hint of light pastry crust. Just the way Grandma used to make it. Add to your favorite coffee drink or enjoy over ice. 

...that's a pretty tall order. You're telling me I'm going to taste a hint of pie crust? I was pretty doubtful. My assumptions were as follows - it will be sweet and tasty, and reminiscent of pumpkin pie, but there is no way it will taste like pie.

My husband tasted it first. "Does it taste like pumpkin pie?" I asked.
"It tastes like cinnamon hearts..." he replied, but moments later says, "No, wait, I guess it taste like pumpkin pie."

I took a sip of mine, and he was right - at first it tastes like very mild cinnamon hearts, but as it sits with you, it absolutely tastes very much like pumpkin pie. It even has that hint of crust that was promised. I am not joking. Also, have you ever heard someone talk about a drink's mouthfeel? It's usually from someone who takes wine tasting a little too seriously. If that's your experience, please don't roll your eyes. Mouthfeel of drinks is a real thing. Also, wine tasting should never be too serious. Anyway, the mouthfeel of this liqueur is...custard-y. Like pumpkin pie.

...in short, it was weird.

A good weird though. Not a bad weird like Jelly Belly Buttered Popcorn Jelly Beans. The jelly beans taste exactly like popcorn. Exactly. But, obviously, the texture is so wrong it makes them bad weird. This liqueur has a definite pumpkin pie like taste, but is different enough that it's not wrong that it's a liquid rather than, you know, a pie.

So yeah. Good, but pretty weird.

Would I buy it again? Probably not, unless I had a specific cocktail that required it . But I was not disappointed and would recommend you give it a try if you like pumpkin pie and weird food products. And booze.

President's Choice Loads of Smokin Habanero Tortilla Chips

I have this thing for trying strange flavours of chips. Not like, I only eat strange flavoured chips. I completely enjoy many regular flavoured chips (favourite chip flavor: Sour Cream and Bacon. What's yours?), but if I see a strange new kind on the shelf, I am drawn to it. Even if it sounds terrible.

Sometimes this works out well (see PC World of Flavours Sweet Chili Thai Flavour Rippled Potato Chips - that's an excellent chip. Then again, I've never met something Sweet Chili Thai flavoured that I didn't like), other times...less so (see Doritos all nighter Cheeseburger - I'm mostly opposed to these because they taste too much like a cheeseburger - seriously, it reminds me of Dairy Queen - but the texture is wrong and that's weird. It's the same reason I don't like buttered popcorn Jelly Bellys).

On a recent trip to the grocery store, some chips caught The Husband's eye - President's Choice Loads of Smokin' Habanero Tortilla Chips (which oddly I can't find on the President's Choice website, but you can but them here*). They sounded interesting and snackable, so we bought them.

Now, I like spicy food, but not overly spicy. I don't want to be uncomfortable and I want to actually taste the food, not just feel the heat. The Husband likes spicy more then I do, but I would say not in any kind of extreme way. I wasn't home when he tried them, but he told me he stopped after five chips and that they "might be a little much."

This made me a somewhat scared to try them.

In this review, I'm not going to talk about appearance and texture - they're chips. If you've ever eaten any kind of tortilla style chips (like Doritos), you know what they're like.

I was quite surprised when I ate my first chip. It really wasn't that spicy. In fact, I didn't feel any burn. They had a smoky, salty, slightly tangy taste. All around quite pleasant. I couldn't really understand what The Husband was talking about, too much.

...then I ate two more.

These chips have a slow burn. It sneaks up on you. After three chips, I could totally get why you would want to stop at five. It wasn't uncomfortably hot at three, but the heat builds pretty quickly. Which is good for portion control, I supposed. I couldn't imagine sitting down and mindlessly eating a whole 250 g bag of them, that's for sure.

Later on I tried eating one chip and waiting to see if the same slow burn effect happened, and surprisingly it didn't. It must have something to do with, like, residual flavour particles layering in your mouth. Or something. I don't know. I do know that if you don't like spicy foods, you probably would enjoy eating one of these chips, but likely not two.

Overall, Loads of Smokin Habanero Tortilla Chips were tasty, but I probably wouldn't buy them again. They were, indeed, a little too much.

*this is just some random website I found. I have no idea if they are trustworthy. Buy at your own risk.