Nathan's Taste-Testing Birthday Party

Origins:

Some months back, my wife and I were talking on some subject or another, when I casually mentioned that I don't like 7-Up.  She was surprised, since I love Sprite and Sierra Mist.  Her reaction got me to thinking about whether or not this preference of mine was actually based on taste, or on some other reaction to the brand.

I decided to do a blind taste test between the three "big names" in lemon-lime soda and determine where, exactly, my preference lay.  This thought led me to think of other taste tests I ought to perform--pizza, salsa, barbecue potato chips, and so on. 

So, for my birthday this year, I invited a bunch of local friends to come to my house and sample five different products--lemon lime soda, barbecue potato chips, tortilla chips, salsa, and pizza.  Each friend was given a voting sheet to record their preferences. After the party, I tallied the results.

Results:

Lemon-Lime Soda

We had four different lemon-lime sodas--Sprite, Sierra Mist, 7-Up, and Big K.  We had a 5th entrant (Sun Drop), but it arrived late and received no votes.  It is therefore difficult to determine whether it received no votes because it didn't compare favorably, or because of its late arrival.  I have chosen to leave it out of the final results.

1. Sierra Mist (6 votes):  Jasmine, Tiffany, Lindsey, Nathan P, Blake, and Brooke
2. Sprite (5 votes):  Amber, Raymundo, Lorelai, Rich, and Brad
3. 7-Up (5 votes):  Tabatha, Christine, Shannon, Nathan B, and Adrianne
4. Big K--Kroger brand:  (3 votes):  Tawnya, Mike, and Josh

What surprised me was how subtle the differences really are.  I would be happy to drink any of them as part of a fine dining experience.  In my personal test, I narrowed my preference to two, and eventually chose my favorite:  7-Up.  My runner-up was Sierra Mist.

Some comments from taste testers follow.  Please note that taste testers did not know the brands they were commenting on.  I've inserted the brand names to clarify some of the comments.

• 7-Up is sweet but no too strong (Adrianne)
• More similar than I was expecting (Nathan B)
• Sierra Mist has a bite.  Big K tastes flat (Shannon)
• Sierra Mist is an appropriate combination of sweetness and carbonation (Blake)
• 7-Up and Sierra Mist are too similar and not very flavorful.  Big K is too carbonated, not enough syrup.  Sun Drop was too lemony.  (Amber)
• Sierra Mist did not make me sick to my stomach from tartness (Lindsey)
• Big K and Sierra Mist taste flat and have little flavor (Tabatha)
• All tasted the same but Sprite had a kick (Tiffany)

Barbecue Potato Chips

We only had three brands to choose from:  Poore Brothers, Ruffles, and Lays.

1. Ruffles Ultimate Sweet & Smokin' BBQ Chips (10 votes):  John, Adrianne, Nathan B, Shannon, Lorelai, Blake, Tabatha, Josh, Mike, and Tawnya
2. Lay's Barbecue Chips (6 votes):  Mandy, Brooke, Christine, Raymundo, Amber, and Tiffany
3. Poore Brothers Barbecue Kettle Chips (5 votes):  Brad, Rich, Nathan, Lindsey, and Jasmine.

I love Poore Brothers and was fully expecting the brand to receive my vote.  But their barbecue flavor was weak, although the texture was wonderful.  The Ruffles tasted like barbecue ribs and make my mouth water just thinking about them.  I finished them off last night, so I'm left with Poore Brothers and Lays for breakfast this morning.  I'm not complaining.

Comments:

• Ruffles have the best BBQ flavor (Adrianne)
• Choice between texture and flavor.  Flavor wins.  (Nathan B.)
• Poore Brothers has a more subtle flavor.  (Rich)
• Poore Brothers tasted greasy.  (Shannon)
• Ruffles is a party in my mouth!  (Blake)
• Lays not too crunchy, good flavor.  (Amber)
• Not a BBQ potato chip fan.  Poore Brothers was the least repulsive.  (Nathan P)
• I don't really like the oddly flavored chips, but Poore Brothers was the best of the choices because it wasn't too overpowering (Lindsey)
• Poore Brothers was a close second for me.  I think Ruffles had slightly more BBQ flavor.  (Tabatha)
• Poore Brothers looks the worst but tastes the best. (Brad)

Tortilla Chips

 We had four tortilla chips to choose from.  Fry's, Mission, Tostito's Scoops, and Costco/Kirkland Organic.

1. Tostito's Scoops (14 votes):  Tawnya, Mike, Tiffany, Tabatha, Lindsey, Amber, Raymundo, Christine, Lorelai, Brooke, Shannon, Rich, John, and Mandy
2. Costco/Kirkland Signature Organic Chips (6 votes):  Jasmine, Josh, Nathan P, Nathan B, Adrianne, and Brad
3. Fry's Tortilla Chips (1 vote):  Blake
4. Mission White Tortilla Strips (0 votes)

I really like the Fry's brand; they are thick chips at such a reasonable price.  I was hoping to surprise people with an off-brand that was actually pretty good.  And then someone went and brought the Costco chips, which were fantastic.

Comments:

• Costco chips are light and salty without feeling insubstantial (Adrianne)
• Costco was thick and salty (Nathan B)
• Like the thickness of Tostito's, easy to bite.  (Shannon)
• Fry's has a nice thickness, not over-salted.  
• Tostito's were lighter, less grainy.  (Amber)
• I could eat the Costco chips all day.  (Nathan P)
• I like the flavor of the salt on the Tostito's.  Costco is a runner-up.  (Lindsey)
• I was between Tostito's and Costco.  I prefered the lighter taste of Tostito's.  (Tabatha)

 
Salsa

We had a lot of different salsas to choose from:  La Victoria, Tostito's, Nash Brothers, Costco Mango, Pace Picante, Great Value (Walmart), and Kroger (Fry's).

1. Nash Brothers Organic Salsa (6 votes):  Adrianne, Nathan B, Blake, Amber, Lindsey, and Tabatha.
2. La Victoria Thick'N Chunky Medium Salsa (5 votes):  Brooke, Lorelai, Christine, Raymundo, and Brad
3. Tostito's All-Natural Chunky Salsa-Medium (4 votes):  Rich, Nathan P, Tiffany, and Josh
4. Pace Picante Sauce (3 votes):  Shannon, Mike, and Jasmine
5. Kroger brand Traditional Salsa-Medium (2 votes):  John and Mandy
6. Costco Mango Salsa (1 vote):  Tawnya
7. Great Value salsa--Walmart brand (0 votes)

 
Quite the spread of opinions here.  I think a lot of people liked the mango salsa, but it's hard to compare a fruit-based salsa to a tomato-based salsa in a taste-test.   I liked the Nash Brothers best.  It had a unique texture and color and a faint smoky flavor.  La Victoria was a close second for me.


Comments:

• Nash Brothers was the most flavorful and had a nice bite.  (Adrianne)
• Loved Mango Salsa, but it was too different to really compare (Nathan B)
• I can't taste anymore.  (Rich)
• Voted for Pace, but Fry's was okay, too.  (Shannon)
• Voted for Nash Brothers.  The texture did it for me.  Mango was delicious, but not a true salsa.  (Blake)
• Nash Brothers not as tomato-y.  Fun smoky flavor.  (Amber)
• Tostito's was similar to La Victoria, but chunkier.  (Nathan P)
• Nash Brothers tastes more natural.  Pace and Great Value are runners-up.  (Lindsey)
• Great Value tasted like ketchup-ew!  La Victoria is a close second.  I love the chunkiness, but like the flavor of Pace better.  (Tabatha)
• Voted for Tostito's, but La Victoria was very similar. (Tiffany)
• La Victoria and Tostito's are almost identical.  I don't think the mango salsa is the same as the others.  (Brad)

Pizza

 We had five pizzas to sample from:  two from Papa Murphy's (thin crust and regular), Domino's, Pizza Hut, and a local joint called Two Girls Pizza.  I wanted to include Papa John's, but we have no Papa John's in Sahuarita.  For purposes of comparison, all pizzas were one-topping pepperoni. 

1. Domino's (8 votes):  Jasmine, Tawnya, Mike, Josh, Tiffany, Nathan, Amber, and Adrianne.
2. Pizza Hut (6 votes):  John, Mandy, Raymundo, Christine, Lorelai, and Rich
3. Papa Murphy's Signature Pepperoni (5 votes):  Brad, Blake, Brooke, Shannon, and Nathan B
4. Papa Murphy's Pepperoni DeLITE (2 votes):  Tabatha and Lindsey
5. Two Girls Pizzeria (0 Votes)

A couple of surprises here.  I was shocked that the local pizzeria fared so poorly.  Local joints have a reputation for being better than the chains.  It was not true in this case.  Plus, the local joint was much more expensive than any of the others.  Maybe they have other, more specialty pizzas, that are fantastic, but their basic pepperoni pizza was uninspiring.  

The other surprise was how well Domino's did on the taste test.  Not long ago, they re-tooled their recipe and launched an ad campaign about how much better they are now then they used to be.  Although I voted for Papa Murphy's, Domino's was a close second for me.  Their crust tasted better than any of the others.  I just happened to like the cheese on Papa Murphy's a little bit better.

Comments:

• Domino's, but it's a close call.  (Adrianne)
• Domino's is a close second, which had a great crust (Nathan B)
• Papa Murphy's Regular was all gone.  Eenie, meenie, minie, moe.  I liked them all.  (Rich)
• Liked the sauce on the Papa Murphy's Regular.  (Shannon)
• Papa Murphy's Regular was best all-round:  crust, sauce, amount of cheese.  (Brooke)
• Papa Murphy's Regular with Domino's a close second.  (Blake)
• Papa Murphy's Thin Crust: Yuck.  Papa Murphy's Regular:  too rubbery.  2 Girls:  too blah.  Pizza Hut:  Too sweet.  (Amber)
• Dominos had best sauce, cheese not overdone.  (Nathan P)
• I was surprised how much I liked the Papa Murphy's Thin Crust over the others.  (Lindsey)
• I'm totally biased on this.  I love the Papa Murphy's Thin Crust.  (Tabatha)

Conclusions:

I had a fantastic time with friends and food.  Several people told me they'd like to try something similar for their own birthdays, focusing on cheese, or ice cream, or some other favorite food. If you do so, rather than paying me royalties for the idea, just invite me over, and we'll call it even.