Utz Smokin' Sweet BBQ Chips

Damn. 

I wouldn't exactly call Utz a premiere potato chip company, but sweet lord have they managed to make some glorious honey BBQ chips. These chips are flat out fantastic. They're kettle cooked (wait, HAND COOKED?) in peanut oil, which means they are perfectly crispy and incredibly greasy- you'll need to wash your hands extensively after eating them. They have a great honey BBQ taste, and they have a certain special something that makes them freak-out worthy: sugar. 

If you look closely at this beautiful, BEAUTIFUL picture, you can see what my fat eyes can only describe as small molecules of delicious sugar scattered sporadically across the chip-scape like a freshly fallen snow. 

This sugar brings these chips from good to fantastic very fast and makes these some of the best BBQ chips I've ever had. They remind me a little of how I remember Maine Coast BBQ chips tasting (I swear they changed the flavor a few years back).

These are much more sweet though, with an odd spice that works against the sugar, while somehow being perfectly in synch with it.

"Spicy Heat with a Kiss of Sweet" says the bag, but I disagree- these are more honey sweet with a unique, almost jalapeno-ish spice that hits you right when you need it and keeps you coming back for more. These chips are hard to stop eating. 

Seek these out- I've found them at Market Basket and not usually anywhere else. Give them a shot- you will be impressed. 

A.

-mike