There’s nothing better after a long week than kicking off my boots and cracking open a can of… Pringles potato crisps. Maybe even two, I ain’t drivin’.

I’m a big Pringles guy. Not THE Pringles guy – that’s Julius Pringle, everyone’s favorite mustachioed egg – but I do love me some Pringles. I’m also a beer guy, so when I heard Pringles and Miller Lite were reteaming for some new flavors, I knew I had to pop.

Coming off the collaborative launch of Beer-Braised Steak, Beer Can Chicken, and Grilled Beer Brat last summer, the two iconic brands are back with Beer Cheese Burger and Beer-Battered Onion Rings.

I won’t lie. I don’t remember loving the drop last year. They were some of the few Pringles that didn’t do it for me. With that said, this year’s flavors seemed much more intriguing.

So, did Julius Pringle turn these Miller Lites into Killer Bites?

No, he’s a fictional disembodied head. He didn’t do anything. Pringles and Miller did, however, make some decent crisps.

I’ll start with the weirder, less successful of the two – Beer Cheese Burger.

They smelled like a McDonald’s cheeseburger, but ended up tasting a lot worse than even that. It was like a “fake” hamburger on a stale bun. I kept thinking of when Lunchables tried to add burgers to its line of “edible” snack boxes. It’s just an odd beefy flavor with a little ketchup and the “breadiness” that I assume comes from the pilsner of it all. The cheese doesn’t really pop like I assumed it would, but it still has a “lite” essence of standard Cheddar Pringles. I honestly didn’t even like them, yet I popped, and I couldn’t stop. They got me. I found them addictive. It was a very similar experience to actual Miller Lites. “A fine Pilsner.”

Pretty mid, but “what do you expect from a beer that tastes like water?!” – the most obnoxious guy at the BBQ.

Now, as for the Beer-Battered Onion Rings? These were good, almost great.

They smelled awesome, like authentically fried onion rings.

They somehow managed to capture the fried taste as well, which I found impressive. They really evoke crispy onion ring batter. I swear the crisps themselves even seemed lighter and crispier, but they’re absolute onion bombs. There is a ton of onion powder happening here. It may be overwhelming to some. Luckily, I wasn’t smooching on anyone after eating these, or at any point really. *stares longingly into the distance.*

Oh, what the hell, even the obnoxious guy is smooching on someone!

The beer isn’t as prominent here. They have that lingering stale breadiness, so that’s where the Miller peaks through. It’s a really nice, unique taste – not quite sour cream and onion, not quite onion and garlic, not quite Funyuns. They’re their own flavor.

I also picked up the Beer-Braised Steak flavor, and they’re just as mid as I remember. They’re the most bitter of the three and have a “bloody meat” taste. Skip ‘em.

Despite varying levels of success, these three made for a fun flight of beer Pringles. I ate too many and got a little Chipfaced… pardon me for being uncouth, Crispfaced.

They all stay with ya. Definitely not the most pleasant of aftertastes. They actually made me want a beer, but I’ve been trying to cut back. It’s gonna be a while before I have an I.P.A. (India Pale Ale) and I.P.A. (Ingest Pringles Again).

Purchased Price: $2.27 each
Size: 5.5 oz cans
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 7 out of 10 (Beer-Battered Onion Ring), 5 out of 10 (Beer Cheese Burger)
Nutrition Facts: (14 crisps) 150 calories, 9 grams of fat, 2.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 230 milligrams of sodium (Burger has 220), 17 grams of total carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of total sugars, less than 1 gram of fiber, and 1 gram of protein.

The chorus from the 1980s power ballad by the band Cinderella rings in my head about every time this year, “You don’t know what you got until it’s gone.” Am I thinking of a past love? A long lost pet? Mini USB cables that I thought I didn’t need anymore, but found an external hard drive that uses one? Or am I thinking of a decent potato-based snack that usually comes in savory flavors but, for a moment, came in sweet ones?

If you pick the last one, you’d be correct. But if you picked any of the others, you’d also be correct. But let’s not talk about past loves, pets, USB cables, or guessing my age from a 1980s reference. Let me remind )or introduce you) to sweet Pringles flavors from about a decade ago that have faded away like many casts from MTV’s Real World.

Some were mediocre. Others were good. But none were great. So why do I miss them? Well, because sweet Pringles was such a novel idea, and one I would like to taste again. Also, I’d like them to return from time to time so a new generation of snackers can experience them. Make it happen, Kellanova!

The varieties included Milk Chocolate, White Chocolate, White Chocolate Peppermint, Salted Caramel, Pecan Pie, and Pumpkin Pie. However, one sweet flavor from that era has found its way onto the bowtie-shaped Pringles Mingles: Cinnamon & Sugar.

If you haven’t munched on Pringles Mingles, they are puffy corn-based snacks that have a crunch somewhere between Cheetos Puffs and Crunchy Cheetos. They debuted with savory flavors late last year, but now have come out with this sweet flavor for the holiday season. I enjoyed the savory varieties, and I like this one too.

There’s real cinnamon and sugar on these puffs, and they make this snack pleasing to my sweet tooth. Because they’re corn-based and not made from potatoes, there isn’t that naked potato flakes flavor I remember the original Pringles Cinnamon & Sugar Potato Crisps had once the seasoning had faded. The seasoning on some of these fades too, but that’s mainly because they weren’t well seasoned to begin with. However, when there’s a decent amount of cinnamon and sugar, the sweet flavor tends to have staying power, and there’s a slight butteriness to those pieces. With its taste and texture, it reminds me of a cinnamon-flavored breakfast cereal.

Time will tell whether or not we’ll see this again next year, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they make a return in 2026. I enjoyed them more than the potato crisp version from a decade ago, and they were difficult to stop eating. But if they don’t come back, I’ll just miss them annually with the chorus from an 1980s hair band song playing in my head.

Purchased Price: $3.79
Size: 5.5 oz bag
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (about 35 pieces/1 oz) 150 calories, 9 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 45 milligrams of sodium, 17 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 4 grams of sugar (including 3 grams of added sugar), and 1 gram of protein.

Years ago, Pringles attempted to convince us to flavor stack, combining different flavors to create new ones. I don’t know how successful that campaign was, but I don’t recall ever doing it. But now Pringles is doing the flavor mixing for us with the cornmeal-based Pringles Mingles, a new line of crunchy puffy snacks with four fused flavors: Sharp White Cheddar & Ranch, Cheddar & Sour Cream, BBQ & Pizza, and Dill Pickle & Ranch. However, I could only procure three of the four at Walmart.

First off, let me say how much I love this product’s name because it’s incredibly clever, it’s fun to say, and I’m a sucker for rhyming. Saying Pringles Mingles gives me the giggles and tingles. The puffs come in a curved bow tie shape, and they have a texture that’s not as airy as Cheetos Puffs but also not as dense as Cheetos Crunchy. Also, a serving is frickin’ 56 PIECES!!!

The Cheddar & Sour Cream one is the tastiest of the three I tried, but I’m not surprised. Numerous other crunchy snacks have shown us that the two flavors work exceptionally well when paired. For example, Ruffles Cheddar & Sour Cream is the best Ruffles variety. Heck, even regular Pringles has a tasty Cheddar & Sour Cream flavor. There’s a pleasant tanginess from the sour cream and a sharp bite from the cheddar flavoring. Also, my taste buds sometimes got a Cheetos Puffs vibe from them. I could eat these light orange puffs all day, every day.

When I first tried the Sharp White Cheddar & Ranch one, I instantly thought it tasted familiar. At first, my mind leaned towards a White Cheddar Cheetos, but that didn’t seem right in my head. Its flavor starts with a sharp cheesiness, and then the ranch kicks in the background. It’s got a great savory flavor, but it’s not as addictive as the Cheddar & Sour Cream one. After eating one-third of the bag, I finally realized why this tasted so familiar. The aftertaste reminded me of Chicken in a Biskit crackers. I could eat these white speckled puffs some of the time.

Finally, there’s the BBQ & Pizza, which I found to taste odd initially. The pizza seasoning is the most dominant of the two. Its cheese, herb, and tomato flavor is common with most pizza-flavored snacks, and the smoky, sweet taste similar to other barbecue-flavored snacks is right underneath it. While I did think the combination was weird at first, the more I ate it, the more I enjoyed it. I think it helps that pizza is the dominant flavor because I love me some pizza-flavored snacks. I could see myself eating these dark orange puffs every so often.

While I enjoy the three flavors, the one slight downside to them is that the seasoning left on my fingers isn’t as flavorful as what I’d taste after eating a Cheetos or Doritos. Also, I totally forgot to mingle the Pringles Mingles to stack even more flavors. I’m such a dingle…berry.

Purchased Price: $4.24 each
Size: 5.5 oz bags
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 8 out of 10 (Cheddar & Sour Cream), 7 out of 10 (Sharp White Cheddar & Ranch), 7 out of 10 (BBQ & Pizza)
Nutrition Facts: (56 pieces/1 oz) Cheddar & Sour Cream – 150 calories, 9 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 320 milligrams of sodium, 15 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 2 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein. Sharp White Cheddar & Ranch – 150 calories, 9 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 240 milligrams of sodium, 15 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 1 gram of sugar, and 2 grams of protein. BBQ & Pizza – 150 calories, 9 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 260 milligrams of sodium, 16 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 2 gram of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.