Rodeo Bill Kettle Style Peppercorn Ranch Potato Chips - Reviewed

Price: $1.99, 9 oz.
Compare to: Krunchers ($2.99, 9 oz.)

Potato chips, in the last few years, have fallen down the list of preferred snacks for me. Most of the time when I'm in the mood for something crunchy, I'll get some tortilla chips, or Wheat Thins, or a handful of mixed nuts. But every once in awhile I get a craving for potato chips/tater skins, and the regular "Bonanza" brand chip at Aldi didn't look terribly appealing. Aldi also offers a kettle cooked variety under the Rodeo Bill label in a bunch of flavors, but the only one in stock when I was shopping last time was the Peppercorn Ranch variety.

The chips are cooked really well. Sometimes bags of kettle chips will come out burnt and overcooked, especially the Meijer brand. This bag only had one or two small chips that seemed overcooked, which is nice.

Flavor-wise, they do have a very strong peppery start to the chip that cools a bit in your mouth as the ranch flavor starts in. Sadly, the more of the chips you eat, the flavor begins to stick to your mouth and intensify. After a few handfuls of the chips, even with a glass of water the flavor aftertaste was too strong and the chips stopped being appealing. As you get down to the bottom of the bag, the spice residue gets more concentrated and the chips become nearly inedible.

Verdict: Too much of an ok thing. Tolerable one handful at a time. I'll try to buy a pack of the standard salt-only flavor next time, because the chips themselves are fine.