Limited Edition Foods

In the past few days I noticed a few different articles about limited edition crisps (what we call chips in the United States) being released in the United Kingdom. One brand with two limited edition flavor releases is McCoy’s. The other brand I have found with limited edition releases is Walkers, which I think is the equivalent of the Lay’s brand in the United States and is at least for sure owned by Pepsi.

The McCoy’s crisp releases are a set classified as Winter Warmers. While I never thought of chips as a snack to warm you up, I can see them as being a comfort food. The two limited edition flavors they are releasing are Steak & Ale and Lamb & Mint. Personally both flavors sound bad and since I am a vegetarian I highly doubt these would qualify as something I could eat anyways. The Steak & Ale one might not be too bad, but I really cannot imagine Lamb & Mint being any good. It is not that I think Lamb is a bad crisp flavor, but the mint really seems like a bad crisp flavor.

The Walkers crisp limited edition release for the winter season includes Turkey and Stuffing, Ham and Mustard, and Cheese and Pickle. Honestly, none of these ones stand out as got to try flavors, either. They just all seem too wacky for crisp flavors. The cheese and pickle one is the closest to seeming like a crisp flavor. These are mostly being released as mix packs of small bags, but the Turkey and Stuffing one is also packaged in a big bag.

I do not know about you, but I often wish I could suggest a limited edition for a company to make. Sure there is nothing stopping me from contacting them and telling them my idea, but seriously I doubt most manufacturers would read it or like the ideas if they did. Well, now there is a chance to actually choose a limited edition food item. I first read about this opportunity here.

The contest being sponsored by Smuckers is called Cover Up! Your Vanilla is Showing! They have three different options that you can vote for. Two are standard jar topping flavors and one is a magic shell flavor. The jar flavors are apple cinnamon and black cherry. The magic shell flavor is cupcake. You can vote here until the end of December 2008 and the winning topping is expected to be released in January 2009.

The apple cinnamon sounds good, but personally I think that it is not a good candidate. I really see apple cinnamon as a fall flavor and would not want it as a January release.

Black Cherry also sounds good, but again January seems the wrong season for it. I tend to think of black cherries as a summery thing. A bit of a summer reminder in the winter may be nice, though, so I think this one is a little better candidate than apple cinnamon.

The Cupcake magic shell flavor gets my vote, though. For one, I think the Magic Shell toppings are the most fun to use and eat. Secondly, the cupcake flavor is something that is seasonal all year round because every day is someone’s birthday, which is what I associate cupcake flavor with.

By the way Smuckers currently has Limited Edition Pumpkin Spice and Cherry Magic Shell toppings. I personally have not seen them in stores and seriously do look at the ice cream topping section every time I go grocery shopping. Now my dad can stop thinking it is weird because I now know there are limited edition ice cream topping releases.

The other day I found an interesting write up about limited edition election themed cocktails and restaurant menus in our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. Below is a brief wrap up of the different menu items. I will posted about the cocktails here.

Inauguration Fare - The Palette restaurant at Loews Madison Hotel is having a special Inauguration menu from January 10-25, 2009. There is a dish to represent each President and the year they were inaugurated. This limited edition menu sounds pretty cool to me, as it is more of a historical thing than a political thing.

At The Source by Wolfgang Puck - This restaurant’s menu is very political themed and limited, i.e. they only represent Obama and McCain. There is a Chicago-style half smoke to represent Obama’s home state of Illinois. McCain’s is an Arizona-inspired baby back ribs. The Arizona choice just makes me feel they are even further limited in that in all my years in Arizona I have never gotten the idea as ribs being an Arizona thing. If I had to associate a state with ribs it would be Texas. I guess Mexican dishes are not upscale enough for Wolfgang Puck or they are playing on the whole McCain is just a new Bush.

Asia Nine’s Sushi - This restaurant is limited in only representing Obama and McCain, but there attempt at regional things is at least better. For Obama there is “the Obama Roll is a lean and green offering of mixed green veggies - asparagus, cucumber, avocado, radish sprout and basil leaves dusted with sesame seeds.” For McCain there is “the McCain Roll is a nod toward the west with a mix of lobster guacamole and tortilla chips” and “the Palin Roll, including what else but smoked Alaskan salmon with spicy mayo.”

The other day I found an interesting write up about limited edition election themed cocktails and restaurant menus in our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. Below is a brief wrap up of the different cocktails. I will post about the menu items in a separate post.

Pick the POTUS (President of the United States) at Lotus - These cocktails are being offered at the Lotus Lounge. They have different cocktails with names for the candidates. For example, there is the Obama-rama made from Grey Goose orange-flavored vodka, Malibu rum and orange, cranberry and pineapple juices.

Bi-Partisan Tuesdays - This event is every Tuesday at JW Marriott’s 1331 Lounge with Election Day being the final day. They have three different cocktails. One for Democrats (Grand Old Potable made with Absolut Citron, Pama Pomegranate liqueur and sour mix), one for Republicans (Left of the Isle made with Absolut Citron, Blue Curacao and sour mix), and one for so-called “on the fence” people (Navan vanilla-infused cognac, cream, Crème de Cacao and Amaretto).

Votes ’08 Campaign Cocktail Menu - This is the Topaz Bar’s election themed menu. This one gets my vote, as it clearly tries to appeal to all sides and not just the standard two candidate myth. For Democrat supporters there is the “Double-Down Donkey, made with citrus vodka, Blue Curacao, a splash of sour and topped with champagne.” For Republicans there is the “All-In Elephant, a mix of Malibu Rum, Bacardi Orange, amaretto, grenadine, lime juice and a splash of cranberry and orange juice.” For Independents there is the “Independent Player, which blends Stoli and aloe vera juice.” They also have “The Undecided, a mini-flight of all three campaign cocktails.”

Degrees Bar & Lounge at The Ritz-Carlton Georgetown - This place has a “Jager Bama, a fun take on the popular Jager Bomb, with a mixture of Red Bull and Jagermeister,” “McHito is a delicious blend of 10 Cane Rum, fresh mint, sugar and lime juice,” and “non-partisan, Cosmopolitician, a new version of the classic Cosmo, with perfect parts of vodka, triple sec, lime and cranberry juice.”

Today I noticed an article about Kellogg’s Limited Edition Vending Products in the list of articles in my limited edition news alert. At first I thought it was referring to cereal boxes and then I could not think of ever seeing a vending machine with cereal boxes. It ended up being about Pop Tarts. I still do not think I have ever seen Pop tarts in a vending machine, but it is a much easier idea to imagine. I did later discover/was reminded that Kellogg’s definitely owns things I recognize as vending machine products, such as Cheez-its.

Anyways on to what this post is really about. The limited edition item I read about was Pop Tarts. It is not that they are making special flavors of them, although it would be cool if they gave the flavors racing themed names at least. Instead the limited edition aspect is what is on the Pop Tarts. The limited edition designs on the Pop Tarts are on top of the frosting. The designs are Nascar themed and also feature Nascar trivia.

In a weird sort of collect them all sort of way there is a large amount of different designs to find. There is a total of 50 different designs. Each pouch of the vending machine Pop Tarts includes 2 Pop Tarts. The only flavor with the Nascar designs is Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon, which is Pop Tarts best selling flavor. Personally, though, I think they would look too cool to each. Of course, I guess if I ever saw them to get I would take a photo and still eat it.

LaMar’s Donuts & Coffee have two limited edition donuts as part of their 2008 Presidential Donut Poll promotion. The have made a donut themed for Democrats and Barack Obama supporters and a donut for Republican and John McCain supporters. Now what about us independents who are not supporting either and instead are voting third-party??? Anyways the donuts are cute and the poll is currently at 52% Obama and 48% McCain. It should be interesting to see if the donut poll has any reflection on the actual Presidential poll results.

The doughnut for Barack Obama is a glazed donut shaped like what is supposed to be a donkey, however, it is a pretty pathetic looking donkey in my opinion. It kind of looks like the Democrat Donkey logo, but not quite. It has a blue eye and blue sprinkles on the bottom half. This one for Democrats is being called The Doughbama. The website describes this donut candidate as “Urbane and sophisticated, with a savory sense that yearns to blend with a variety of beverages.”

The doughnut for John McCain is a glazed donut shaped like an elephant and it actually does look like the Republican elephant logo. It has a red eye and red sprinkles on the bottom half. This one for Republicans is being caled The McCandyCain. The website describes this donut candidate as “Succulent and sugary, though with a touch of tartness so as to stand apart from the crowd.”

Want a seasonal donut on Election Day (November 4, 2008) and do not have a LaMar’s nearby, then maybe you have a Krispy Kreme nearby. They are offering free limited edition Patriotic Star doughnuts to those who come in with an “I Voted” sticker on Dlection Day.

There is no longer a Krispy Kreme in Tucson, so I am kind of late at noticing the fact that they have limited edition/seasonal doughnuts for the Halloween and autumn season in general. They have a Jack-o’-Lantern one and a Pumpkin Spice one.

The Jack-o’-Lantern doughnut is a pumpkin shaped doughnut. It has orange icing on it and a black icing friendly Jack-o’-Lantern design on it. These Halloween themed doughnuts will only be available through this Friday, October 31, 2008 at participating locations.

The other pumpkin limited edition doughnut they have is the Pumpkin Spice Cake doughnut. This doughnut is described as an old fashioned cake style doughnut. The doughnut if flavored with pumpkin and other spices (probably the same kind of spices you put in pumpkin pie). It is glazed with the traditional Krispy Kreme sugar glaze. Since pumpkin as a flavor is also commonly associated with Thanksgiving, this doughnut is available at participating Krispy Kreme locations through November 30, 2008.

Another seasonal special is a very limited edition doughnut. The Patriotic Star doughnuts will be given out next Tuesday, November 4, 2008, to anyone who comes in wearing an “I Voted” sticker. The doughnuts are in the shape of a star. They have white icing and has red, white, and blue sprinkles on it. According to their press release some stores may have them in circle shapes, but they will still have the white icing and Patriotic colored sprinkles. Either way it sure is a nice sweet free treat just for voting in this year’s election.

Last week Pepsi launched its latest limited edition product in Japan. It is a limited edition release called Pepsi White. It is classified as a cola yogurt drink. Basically that sounds downright disgusting to me, but then again so do a lot of the Japanese limited edition products. Either the Japanese like trying disgusting things or they just have very different taste buds. According to this translation of the press release, though, it sounds like the unique Pepsi flavors are being produced to get more people to drink cola. It does seem, though, that many of these weird Pepsi flavors are disliked like Blue Hawaii (this one actually sounds like it could be good, but from what I read online it was not that good) or quickly forgotten like the Ice Cucumber one, which supposedly was only available for a few weeks.

The product is described as mixing yogurt with Pepsi, however, there has to be more to it than just a simple mix because it does not look brown at all. Instead it is a foggy clear liquid. The bottle’s label is white with a bunch of little Pepsi logos on it. The label simply says Pepsi White Pepsi & Yogurt Flavor.

According to this site a consumer thinks it tastes sweeter than regular Pepsi and it has a somewhat milky taste to it. I am a little surprised that it tastes sweeter, but having a milky taste is totally expected considering yogurt is a dairy product. I kind of wonder if it really even tastes like cola.

Diageo is supposedly known for their regular release of very special limited edition whisky releases in Europe and North America. They recently announced 10 special releases for 2008. This line of limited edition whisky releases include single malts of a variety of ages from 8 to 30 years.

According to this article “the rarest and most unexpected bottlings will be three contrasting finishes of a 26 year old Linkwood.” This is from an active distillery, but they rarely make single malt whisky. The Linkwood whiskies started by being aged the same for 12 years and then were put in three different cask-woods (port, rum, and sweet red wine) for the last 14 years.

The Limited Edition releases also include single malt whiskies from distilleries that are no longer in operation. This includes 3,000 individually numbered bottles of 25 year old Coastal Highland single malt Brora. Another one of the closed distillery releases is a 29 year old Port Ellen from an Islay distillery that closed back in 1983.

Diageo’s other releases are special versions of single malt whiskies they still produce. This includes limited edition 25 year old and 30 year old versions of Talisker, the Isle of Skye single malt.

The 2008 limited edition releases also include some younger single malt varieties. This includes an 8 year old Caol Ila “distilled in the so-called Highland style in a batch made only once a year from unpeated malt.” There is also a “12 year old Lagavulin™ vatted from refill American Oak casks.”

The final one of the 10 announced is made by Glen Elgin. It is a 16 year old bottled single malt whisky. This one has a numbered bottle release of just under 10,000 bottles.

I do not live in the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic, so I do not get to pay attention to their new limited edition flavors first hand. I tried to do so by signing up for their newsletter, but after two months I still have never got even one e-mail. Today I remembered about them and went to their site to find out what their current flavors Limited Edition flavors are.

According to their calendar for Premium Ice Cream the flavor that you might still find is Baked Apple Dumpling. This flavor would go great with the frozen Baked Apple Dumplings I have tried from Safeway before. The current flavor is Vanilla Swiss Almond, which is vanilla ice cream with choco almonds. According to their blog, the limited edition Peppermint Stick flavor should be in stores in mid-November.

The frozen yogurt flavor described as you might still find is Peanut Butter Marshmallow, which sounds really good to me. The current flavor is Nutty Caramel Carabou, which is described on their site as “Toffe-flavored frozen yogurt swirled with Denali® caramel, choco peanuts, and peanut butter cups.”

The current Duetto Ice Cream flavor is Chocolate Coconut Duetto, which is chocolate soft serve with Coconut Venice Ice. Personally, this flavor does not sound all that interesting, but then again I tend not to be much into chocolate based ice creams except Phish Food.

The final current flavor is the Cherry Orchard sherbet flavor. This flavor is described as “cherry amaretto flavored sherbet with luscious black cherries scattered throughout.” This sounds interesting as a sherbet flavor, as I have only had cherry as an ice cream flavor.