Mikesell's are one of the world's oldest Chips companies, so they have understandably had a few branding changes over the years. This latest design features a photographic image of the flavor and contents, which works depending on the flavoring - this is a not-so-good-case because you have photographic imagery mixed with cartoon flames. The latest logo design has an odd stamp type serrated edge. The flavor has a color coded box, but we think they missed a trick here. The creamy colored bottom section of the bag looks innocuous as a background, but the top is a dark blue (for the Groovy range) for all the flavors. This should be flavor color coded.
These were not Kettle Cooked Chips so the crunch was not hard, firm and brittle. Instead these were thicker than the average Chip so the crunch was softer and more food like, than Chip like. A crunchy, but somewhat muffled sound.
'Groovy' relates to the Ridged design of the Chips - geddit. This certainly made them thicker than Mikesell's regular Chips. Also interesting was the liberal seasoning that saw the odd Chip fairly naked while the fully clothed members of the club were coated in a dark and thick orange seasoning powder.
The Nose Plunge test revealed a slightly smoky paprika hot sauce aroma. Often, with an interestingly titled flavor, the first question is - What is in it? Here it is more of a case of what is NOT in it! The little Chip geniuses that stir away at hubble pots of fancy ingredients in Chips factories (we imagine they all look like Wizard of Oz munchkins), have certainly a got a combo going here. We obviously went for the darker colored Chips first, and unlike so many spicy, hot sauce Chips, these were actually, shock horror, hot! Best of all, they were not hot, as in - here is a challenge. They were hot and spicy nice.