Well here we are again, right back at it with another chip review! This time, we’ll be taking a look at Private Selection’s Texas BBQ chips, one of the many regional-themed barbecue chips offered up by Kroger’s hit-or-miss private label line.

I’ve never been to Texas, so I can’t vouch for the authenticity (which, let’s be honest here, wouldn’t be best suited for a chip in the first place), but this is a pretty tasty little chip, with a strong vinegar taste giving way to some barbecue-infused sweetness. It all leads to a slight smoky finish in the back of the tongue. The more and more you eat, however, the vinegar becomes the most pronounced flavor, so unless you’re a fan of salt and vinegar chips, I would probably stay away from these. I’ve grown to like salt and vinegar as a combo (at least, in moderate amounts) so I enjoyed the taste to some degree, but it’s too sour for me to pick them up more than once in a while.

The biggest “win” for me, and this pretty much applies to all of the chips in the Private Selection line across the board, is the texture…they really nail it down. They are extra crunchy, but not so much that you feel like you’re going to chip a tooth (like some kettle chips), and super-sturdy thanks in large part to their waviness. Just the perfect combination of crunch and appearance, and each chip is generously coated with consistent flavor.

I tend to get Kroger’s cheaper store-brand chips (which are usually $1.88 a bag), but I’ve found that I have a rather heated hatred for non-wavy chips, which is what most of theirs are. So I splurged on this bag because they were on sale for $2.50 each. These are an okay value at that price (and not so much of one at all for their regular rate of $2.99), but even in the realm of “premium” chips, you can do a lot better within this price range.

Overall: 6/10. This vinegar-heavy chip starts off sour, and then blends with a sweet barbecue flavor, before winding down with a slight hickory taste in the finish. It’s not a combination I could get all the time, but quite good as an occasional change of pace. The texture, a wavy chip with just the perfect amount of crunch, is excellent, though the value isn’t too strong at $2.50 a bag (on sale; $2.99 regular price). It’s an okay option for something different, but certainly not a taste I’d like to acquire for “everyday” eating.