If McCoy doesn't want them, I'll have them! (McCoys Salt & Malt Vinegar)

Member Name: davidbuttery

Product:	McCoys Salt & Malt Vinegar
Date:	27/10/09 (61 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Strong flavour, nice crunch, large portion

Disadvantages: rather fragile, bag cannot be recycled

Ah, the Real McCoy's, ambiguous apostrophe and all: The Real McCoy's what? Is the plural "Real McCoy'ss"? Or, if you're a greengrocer, "Real McCoy's's"? Ahem... I think I'd better move on before I lose the thread completely. So, here we have a packet of salt'n'vinegar flavour crisps - except that we don't, because McCoy's (or rather, KP, who make the things) call them chips. For a long time I assumed that this was simply a deliberate Americanism, but quite recently I discovered that it isn't: in fact, the word "crisps" can only be used for foods that are literally a thin slice of potato. If anything else is done to them, then another word (such as "chips" or "snacks") must be used.

Even so, I'm going to be naughty and stick to "crisps" in this review for the sake of clarity. McCoy's Salt & Malt Vinegar (this, not the mangled phrasing Dooyoo give, is the correct title!) flavour crisps come in a slightly bigger bag than most standard crisps. The packaging certainly doesn't give any impression of a shy and retiring nature, with the brand name plastered across the front in enormous letters, together with the (much smaller) strapline "Accept no imitations". Being salt'n'vinegar flavour, it's unsurprising to see a good deal of blue, which has a quite attractive design giving the impression of ridges.

A word now about ingredients and nutrition. As mentioned above, the bag is quite substantial, weighing in at 32g. However, McCoy's seek to reassure the eater that their indulgence isn't as bad as all that with a note that the crisps have 30% less saturated fat than in 2008, following a previous cut of the same amount from 2006 to 2007. (Those of us who ate the things several years ago may now be feeling a little bit queasy!) These crisps are suitable for vegetarians, but not for coeliacs as they do contain gluten. One bag provides 164 kcal, which for this type of food doesn't seem too bad.

At this point I want to complain briefly about the foil bags which McCoy's, like virtually all crisps, now come packed in. They may very well be better for sealing in freshness, though I can't say I thought the older plastic bags were unacceptably bad, but just about nobody seems to have worked out how to recycle them. This is really not acceptable: I have a very hard time believing that the multi-milion pound snack industry can't do better than this. McCoy's are made in the UK (which is a good thing in itself, of course) so perhaps some pressure could be put on KP by government and various environmental bodies.

As for the contents of the bag, I think there'd be a fair case for calling these crisps "vinegar'n'salt", as it's certainly the vinegar that is both the stronger smell and the stronger flavour. That's no problem for me, as I love vinegar (you should see how much I put on my fish'n'chips!) but if you're hoping for a distinctly salty taste then you're likely to be disappointed, and should be looking for the simple "Salted" flavour instead. The crisps are a good size ("Man Crisps", the idiotic TV advert calls them) and give a nice, solid, satisfying crunch - but they do seem to break easily, so are rarely in one piece by the time the packet is opened! Still, they don't seem to get *too* broken, so the bottom of the bag isn't covered in tiny crisp particles as happens with some other brands.

I am very fond of Salt & Malt Vinegar McCoy's, and it's been no hardship at all to eat another packet so as to get a good background knowledge for this review. It really does come down to whether you like the vinegar taste, though: if you're after a subtle snack, then McCoy's are unlikely to be the crisps you're looking for, but if you're like me and want something to fill you up that has a strong flavour, then I can recommend these.

A brief explanation of the rating to end with. I've given these crisps four stars: they lose half a star for being slightly expensive (currently £1.51 for a six pack at Sainsbury's) and another half for the lack of progress on the recycling issue. However, on taste grounds *alone* they would rate five, and are a sure-fire winner with me.

Summary: You do need to like vinegar - but if you do, you'll love them!