Kotas Reviews Cranberry and Sage Triscuits

Happy Holidays everyone! There are a ton of holidays packed into this month (Hanukkah, Christmas, Return Terrible Presents Boxing Day, New Year's Eve, etc.) but I'm going to attempt to review some things in the holiday spirit. You know what 'tis the season for? Holiday Parties! Yes, whether you are embarrassing yourself with the eggnog fountain at your office party, or simply gorging on food at your in-laws' annual get together, December means holiday parties, which means Holiday Snacks! Today we have...wait, what? Cranberry and Sage Triscuits? Oh man, it's gonna be one of THOSE years...

That's somewhat festive, I'll give it that.

Triscuits are an odd beast, even without any holiday trappings. First developed in 1900 and taken to market in 1903 by Nabisco, the Triscuit is one of the oldest branded snack foods that we still consume today. Of the popular snack crackers they are the most durable and the single best vehicle for toppings you can have, given their inherent sturdiness as a cracker. They also have a relatively unique texture, and come in all sorts of flavors...such as the one we look at today. I can say, I've never THOUGHT to include cranberry as a flavor on my wheat based snack cracker, particularly paired with SAGE of all the herbs, but hey, how bad could it be? It's a Triscuit! I generally like Triscuits, though not as a go to snack food. They require me to be in a mood for them. So...how are these gonna stack up?

Why am I allowed to speak? No good can come of it.

Well, that's a Triscuit for you. I've always loved the look of Triscuits because nothing else looks like them. These have the usual "colored dust" that many savory flavored snacks have, with flecks of green to indicate the sage, I'm guessing. The scent is definitely some cranberry and sage, with the wheatiness of the Triscuit strongly present, but not completely dominant. The cranberry is sort of muted, yet obvious. It's weird.

The flavor is...mostly sage actually. There seems to be little to no direct cranberry taste, though in the aftertaste and in the nose it is very present. I keep smelling cranberry, but while I'm actually eating the cracker cranberry vanishes, only to return after the cracker is gone as a lingering presence. It is interesting, but I don't think I like it. It's not horrible, at least. Just very weird. Probably would work better with some toppings, but it is fairly unpleasant for snacking on. Sage is not what I would choose for a primary flavor on anything, let along a cracker, especially when the supposed cranberry compliment is absent for the critical portion of the taste journey.

On the FACE Rating System, these get 1 frowny face. The cranberry is like an elusive entity that comes and goes when it wants to, rather than when you want it to be there. The sage is absolutely the strongest flavor continuum that this cracker has since it is present for the whole experience. I don't think either of those features are very good. Real herbed Triscuit aficionados might find something here to like, but I advise not bothering with this one. Not completely awful, but poor execution of a mediocre idea does not an tasty treat make.