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Review: I last reviewed a Co-op Irresistible mince pie back in 2019 with an almost identical box. They received a score of 6.5/10, can the class of 2021 do any better?

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Review: Tesco have had a good showing with their “Finest” range over the last few years – 8/10 in 2019 and 8.5/10 in 2020. So how will these fair?

The last two years have seen a brand name cognac (Courvoisier) listed on the box. That’s been dropped for 2021 with a fall back of “with brandy and port”. But does that matter? I’m not sure anyone’s palate is good enough to distinguish between port, brandy and cognac in a mince pie – and all that really matters is that you still get a nice kick from it. And you do.

The mincemeat is sweet and full of plump fruits – and a very generous fill right to the top of the pie too. That’s something you still find lacking in many mince pies and would be a solid reason to mark down.

The pastry is a good consistency as well, a nice crumble but maybe a touch too soft in places. The top is pretty fancy, they’ve stuck with a snowflake design but it’s bigger than the previous two years and has more sugar on top as well. These are very moreish, in fact I ate all 6 over 3 days which must be a good sign.

For those reasons, it’s a very healthy score of 8.8/10 for the Tesco Finest All Butter mince pie. A good start to 2021’s tasting season

Cost: 29p each (£1.79 for 6)

Overall Rating: 8.8/10

See more mince pie reviews, or check out the mince pie leaderboard.

 

As this site is a resource many of you refer to religiously each festive period, I know you expect me to have the answers answers important mince pie based questions. You’re right, I should.

I’ll be honest, there’s very few *important* mince pie questions, but I have been contacted by a number of concerned readers worried that Brexit, covid, HGV driver shortages and food & drink production issues might result in empty shelves down the mince pie aisle come Christmas time. Surely not?

Is the UK facing a mince pie shortage this Xmas?

The only way to get a good steer on this was to go direct to the 8 biggest UK supermarkets, and ask them to provide a mince pie update.

I contacted ASDA, Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsburys, Aldi, Lidl, Co-op and Morrisons, asking each supermarket if they knew of any issues which might negatively affect the supply of mince pies into their stores.

I received a mixture of responses from boilerplate, to unspecific and a bit of super enthusiasm thrown in for good measure.

Here’s the results:

ASDA

Not hugely confidence building, their reply states:

“We have not received anything to suggest a shortage of mince pies but would encourage you to keep an eye out both in store and online for availability”

So not clear either way but at least they’re not *expecting* issues…

Tesco

Similar to ASDA, Tesco couldn’t confirm either way but at least they did acknowledge a general issue with availability for some products. Their response stated:

“We are experiencing some disruption due to an industry-wide shortage of HGV drivers. This has led to temporary low availability on some products but we’re working hard to get shelves fully stocked and overall availability remains good”

I followed up to ask if this applied only across standard items or would be different for seasonal items like mince pies but they couldn’t be anymore specific.

Waitrose

A quietly confident but non committal reply from the upmarket Waitrose, their reply states:

“We have no information that there will be a shortage this year so please do keep an eye in store for our mince pies”

It sounds like this is more to do with hearing nothing negative from the mince pie suppliers, rather than other aspects outside their control such as general delivery.

Sainsburys

The reply from Sainsburys was pretty straight to the point:

“We’re not aware of any issues at the moment regarding mince pie stock”

However it’s possible issues could still appear down the line that they’re just not aware of right now.

Aldi

No real information from Aldi except to confirm they did not in fact have the requested information:

“We can confirm that we don’t have this information”

Not great. But at least it’s not confirmation of a shortage!

Lidl

Slightly more reassuring from Lidl, making a statement about all products – not just mince pies:

“As with all retailers right now, we’re trying really hard to make sure that disruptions are kept to a minimum. We really hope that this won’t be an issue and are doing everything we can on our end”

I followed up to ask if this applied to seasonal produce too and they confirmed it did.

Co-op

The winners by a country mile, Co-op’s reply made me really happy not just because it’s a super positive one, but they’ve done really well in recent years – some of the best mince pies I’ve had:

“I have spoken to our buying team and they have told me there will be no shortage of mince pies in our stores this year”

Bravo Co-op We know where we can go to be guaranteed some mince pie goodness this Christmas at least…

Unfortunately it’s a blank from Morrisons who failed to reply after 48 hours, so not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

So mostly fairly non committal but reasonable upbeat from the major players. You should have plenty of mince pies this Christmas hopefully…now if only you knew which ones to buy

Look out for the mince pie reviews starting in a few weeks time as per usual (I hope!)…

 

Overall rating: 9/10

Price per pie: 33p

Review: ASDA have a good volume of mince pies to choose from this year and these sloe gin ones catch the eye. Fancy purple box does the job, but what are they like?

Well they’re very, very nice indeed. I could end this review there to be honest, but I won’t – I know you like the details.

The mincemeat should be the star of the show here, and it certainly shines. Lovely and rich, sweet, spiced and a nice buzz of sloe gin too. Really needs to be tasted because it’s a cracker.

The pastry is good too – it’s sweet and buttery but not overly. Maybe just *slightly* too soft on the bottom, but I’m being picky now…

Not all of ASDA’s 2020 mince pies are as good, but they have a beauty on their hands here.

See more mince pie reviews, or check out the mince pie leaderboard.

 

Overall rating: 8/10

Price per pie: 50p

Review: Any fans of the bourbon-based Old Fashioned cocktail? I hope so, because Co-op have plonked all those flavours into a mince pie.

These fall firmly into the fancy category – I mean just look at the little beauties, like a work of art.

Quite a shallow pie but that adds to the fancieness somehow. The pastry is biscuity and sweet and the mincemeat is really rich thanks to a good glug of bourbon and orange flavour.

The star of the show is the little bit of buttercream and the caramelised orange on top. If you get a mouthful with all the elements this is a top quality mince pie. Really lovely. But, there’s only a small amount of the buttecream and orange which means you only get maybe one ‘perfect’ bite.

Very impressive and I think a genuinely unique mince pie flavour too.

See more mince pie reviews, or check out the mince pie leaderboard.

 

Overall rating: 8/10

Price per pie: 33p

Review: A first showing for the Morrisons The Best mince pie range. Who knows what to expect? Let’s hope for “the best” and crack open a box…

First impressions are good, the box looks great and the top of the pies are really festive. Good start.

Before I’ve even bitten into any pasty I’ve spotted a potential issue. That pastry looks thick. However it’s not actually as bad as it looks. It has a pleasant biscuity taste to it. Phew.

It is a bit crumbly though, which will cause some structural issues for those that like a one handed eat – see photo evidence below.

Next, the mincemeat. It’s good too – and despite the near pointless promise of “vine” fruits (I think you’d be hard pressed to make them any other way), the addition of brandy, cider and spices really shines through. Some of the tastiest mincemeat of the year so far.

A nice surprise then from a slightly pricier pie. An 8/10 is fair I think, a slightly tidier and thinner pastry would’ve been nice I think. Good effort though Morrisons, I think this will be close to the top this year.

See more mince pie reviews, or check out the mince pie leaderboard.

 

Overall rating: 7/10

Price per pie: 13p

Review: Aldi’s most standard of their enourmous mince pie range has faired averagely over the last few years. They’re cheap and pretty cheerful.

The class of 2020 are pretty good. A nice looking mince pie with a snowflake on top, and a nice sprinkle of sugar too.

The pie is maybe a *little* crumbly once bitten but not to the point of disaster. And one you’ve bitten in, you’re met with a lovely mincemeat. Nice and sweet with some whole currants and spices.

The pastry is sweet, but with a bottom spiralling towards something that could be described as “soggy”.

For me this is a very solid mince pie. So if, and its a big if, you were expecting a good number of people round at Xmas then this would be a good one to buy in bulk. And at 15p per pie they’re very easy on the pocket too. Bonus.

See more mince pie reviews, or check out the mince pie leaderboard.

 

Overall rating: 2/10

Price per pie: 35p

Review: These very tall pies look suspiciously like the bakery pies ASDA and Co-op have had great success with over the last few years (a raft of 9s and 10s no less). Have Morrisons managed to copy a winning formula?

In short, no. Very disappointed to be writing that, as those nice deep bakery pies are usually *so* good.

These pies are billed as “all butter” and thats certainly what they deliver. It’s all I can taste, butter. I know that probably doesn’t sound that bad, but when it’s literally the only taste – that’s bad mince pieing.

The mincemeat tastes of nothing. What. A. Shame. It’s a bit if a disaster all round really. The pastry is pale and crumbles really easily – as you can tell from the photo. It looks like I’ve hit it with a brick.

I belive all the bakery pies are baked in house, and so to some extent we’re at the mercy of the staff in the bakery. These pies *might* be better tomorrow, the day after – or – at another Morrisons altogether.

But, do you want to risk it?

See more mince pie reviews, or check out the mince pie leaderboard.

 

Overall rating: 5/10

Price per pie: 25p

Review: A recommendation from a fellow Twitter user (none other than the “Carmat King“, Ash Young), I had to get a box of these and try them out. They’re gluten free, wheat free, milk free and vegan. Let’s go.

Outside of the many things they’re “free from”, these include maple syrup and maple crumble which sounds pretty nice – quite a festive flavour. However, I’m really not getting much maple which is a shame – I’m guessing maple syrup is vegan, gluten free, wheat free and milk free, so why not put loads in?

The pastry is very crisp and I think has quite a granular texture which tends to stay on the palate for a while after you’ve eaten them. I also don’t think they look particularly appealing which is a shame.

The mincemeat is nice though, pretty juicy and fruity. Which means the main element of the pie is ok, but quite standard not really delivering on the promised maple flavours.

So the mix of pastry issues and lack of flavour mean we arrive at a 5/10 score for this one. Sorry.

See more mince pie reviews, or check out the mince pie leaderboard.

 

Overall rating: 3/10

Price per pie: 25p

Review: The box hasn’t changed since last year, and the Good Housekeeping Institute approval sticker is still proudly displayed. Last time I rated these 7/10 and thought they were fairly standard but ok.

Oh dear. Things have taken a turn for the worst.

These mince pies could accurately be described as miserable to look at. No sugar on top, the pastry looks haphazard – quite unusual from the pie experts. I mean, just look at the state of them…

But maybe the taste will save them? Hmm, not much better there I’m afraid. The pastry is dry and dense, leaving a fairly miserable taste in tbe mouth. The mincemeat is so nondescript that it can’t make up for the poor pastry.

I’m shocked that Mr Kipling have put such a substandard 3/10 pie in the exact same box as last year – when the pie scored 7/10. Taken a cheaper route this year maybe? Anyway, steer clear folks – you can get better for less. Lyons and Aldi both have better standard mince pies.

See more mince pie reviews, or check out the mince pie leaderboard.