Beef Flavour Potato Sticks (Morrisons) By @SpectreUK

This is one of those, "well I haven't these in years" moments. These Beef Flavour Potato Sticks I found in Morrisons were around when I was a kid, I'm sure, but I just forgot all about them as it's been so long since I've seen any. Perfect for sharing at a party or gaming with friends, these crunchy beef sticks are seriously addictive. I'm sure they must be available in other stores, probably in their own bespoke packaging too.

As you can see from the photograph these Beef Flavour Potato Sticks are much like matchsticks in shape. They are very crunchy and fun to pick in heavy finger-fulls. They taste a little like salted beef. They're very beefy and moreish, and as I say, they don't spare on the salt either. The good thing about this sharing bag is it's not very expensive. The bad thing, I suppose, is that they are not available in normal crisp packet sizes, as I'd pretty much live on them if I could.

Information on the packet; The 150g packet has 127 calories per 25g, with 7g of fat, 0.2g of sugar, and 0.28g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Maple Hazelnut Latte (Costa) By @Cinabar

Autumn is here, the heating has gone on (albeit a degree or so cooler on the thermostat to save on energy costs) and the new season of drinks is hitting the coffee shops. I love pumpkin lattes and everything about autumn, but Costa has something a little bit different. I put my order in for a Maple Hazelnut Latte with cream. I can't resist a seasonal drink. The drink came topped with cream and sprinkles, which I think included hazelnut bits but also something red and sweet.

The drink is also very sweet. It is made with a syrup, and I could pick up the hazelnut immediately. I enjoyed the nutty flavour, there is also a sweetness of maple which did taste like the syrup, sweet but wholesome like a burnt caramel. This is a soothing drink and I had mine on the way to the office. It is probably not really a breakfast drink, it feels more like an afternoon pick me up. I have a sweet tooth, so for me it didn't really matter.

Dreamworld Limited Edition Coca Cola (WH Smith) By @Cinabar

I actually feel confident about this one. We have been trying quite a few items recently with mystery flavours and I find it really hard to guess them. Sure I can categorise them into fruity etc, but actually narrowing down the taste to a precise flavour is so difficult. The guess from the Cadbury Dairy Milk bars says it all really, not many repeated ideas in the comments at all.

Anyway this particular drink didn’t offer clues from the name, Dreamworld Limited Edition Coca Cola but the minute I poured it out I could already pick up a fruity finish from the aroma. When I gave it a sip my brain narrowed this down to tropical fruit, and further still I ended up with smooth sweet mango. I think there may have been a hint of papaya too, but the mango I am sure about. I love mango, I know the flavour well so I’m happy with this. It also worked surprisingly well with cola, but the fruit flavours often do. It had such a nice tropical edge I was savouring the rest of the can. It was a delight to drink and if they made them in multipack cans I’d be buying them up.

Vadasz Raw kimchi - spicy health toppings (@NLi10)

Kimchi is one of those popular 'super-foods' that showed up for a while in recipes and restaurants and seemed to get replaced (in the UK at least) by pink 'slaw.  This is quite disappointing to me as I'd much rather have this.

Kimchi (similar to Kombucha) is a fermented mix of all kinds of things - in this case veggies.  You kind of get the effect of pickles, but with lots of friendly bugs and things.  The ingredients are listed as 

"Chinese Leaf Cabbage, Carrots, Spring Onion, Sea Salt, Chilli Powder, Ginger, Garlic"

and you can certainly taste the chilli and other exciting spices!

I've been slipping it on to the side of the plate for all kinds of meals - but it'd be especially perfect for Christmas dinner style leftover plates.  We picked this up from Marks & Spencer's but it's also available from Waitrose themselves.

I'd been a little sceptical that this would be as good as the small producer stuff you can pick up at health markets, but I'm pleasantly surprised and want to try the other things in the range such as sauerkraut. 

Maple Pancake Pale Ale (@fiercetaproom) By @SpectreUK

The temperature has dropped quite considerably here in the UK, and the weather has turned back to it's usual cold and damp. It's feeling pretty far from the Summertime now. It's definitely comfort food and drink weather, so what better brew than a Maple Pancake Pale Ale from the Fierce Brewery? I guess there's only one way I'll find out.

This 6.5% in volume Maple Pancake Pale Ale was brewed with Vegan pancakes and Canadian Maple Syrup,. The can recommended having a Vegan breakfast with this beer, or even a little bacon. Tonight we have a Dominoes takeaway, so I shall try the Meatilicious (I hope I spelt that right), which happens to have bacon on it. Part of the reason I picked this beer in the first place, I couldn't be bothered with a pizza that doesn't have bacon on it.

On opening the can there was there was a sweet maple syrup aroma with a touch of pale malt underneath. Famous for my sweet tooth, I can't imagine many better ingredients to sweeten a beer than maple syrup. Oh, I do really love honey beer and also chocolate beer too though.

This Maple Pancake Pale Ale was a deep misty brown in colour. It looked more like a brown ale, rather than a pale ale. However the flavour railed against the look quite considerably. There was quite a bitter sharp edge to this pale ale on first taste. A biting herbal hop bitterness almost cut straight through my tongue. This hoppy bitterness was quickly followed by sweet Canadian Maple Syrup. The syrupy sweetness coaxed out the pale malt to join in a merry dance into the aftertaste in an attempt to cheer up my severed tongue. No wonder they call it the Fierce Brewery.