Reviews of Mince Pies available in stores during the 2008/2009 Pie Season.
This year we want to expand the Pie reviewing process to Mince Pie fans across the world. So we have added a Downloads section where you can download you very own Pie review scoring sheets. We will still conduct reviews by independent panel of volunteer tasters, but really want to hear what you think of the pies.
The review process should be carried out as follows:
- Reviews were conducted 'Blind' with the identity of the Mince Pie kept secret from the tasters. (Note: As tasters took it in turns to buy the pies, one taster in each review knew the pies true identity).
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Reviews were conducted with pies at room temperature, usually accompanied by a nice cup of tea.
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Where possible the tasters sampled the mince pies at the same time, so that age, humidity and dryness would not adversely affect the pies taste.
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Each Mince Pie was given a score of 0 to 5 (0 being low) on nine different criteria (devised buy the tasters).
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Each criteria was deemed to have equal weighting in calculating the Mince Pies Average Score or Total.
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Details of the review criteria can be found here
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| Date: |
04/12/2008
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| Pie: |
Tesco 6 Deep Filled Mince Pies
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| Cost: |
£1.00 |
| Score: |
51.6% |
Nice looking pie with star design on the top.
Some of the pies were seeping a bit though and had a brown stain.
Very sweet tasting. Plenty of sugar.
A little too sweet though.
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| Date: |
03/12/2008
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| Pie: |
Morrisons The Best 6 Deep Filled Mince Pies.
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| Cost: |
£1.50 |
| Score: |
75.6% |
What a looker!
A great looking pie, with nice snowflake design on the top, even sugar coating and a very domed top.
Just the singe steam hole in the middle of the snowflake. Could this be an amazing pie?
First impressions, good, a little too sweet, but the filling was good. Took a white for the hint of alcohol to permeate through but it was definitely there.
Crust was slightly crumbly.... but nice and light. Though it had that domed top, it was not filled full, there was room for more filling.
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| Date: |
02/12/2008
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| Pie: |
M&S Connoisseur 6 All Butter Pastry Deep Filled Mince Pie. £2.99
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| Cost: |
£2.99 |
| Score: |
64.8% |
A new box and a new pie for the M&S Connoisseur this year. We always look forward to this pie, a personal favourite of the Mince Pie Club. So much so, that we have a few from last year still in the freezer.
However, this year a disappointing results from M&S. The box and pie redesign did not go down well. In particular we were disappointed with the amount of sugar that had fallen off the pies and in to the packaging.
Come on M&S you can do better...
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| Date: |
01/12/2008
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| Pie: |
Waitrose All Butter mince pies £3.38 for 12
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| Cost: |
£1.69 |
| Score: |
65.5% |
Very nice filling, pastry a little dry though. Not bad.
Last year this pie scored 59.6% so it has improved this year!
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| Date: |
28/11/2008
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| Pie: |
Mr Kipling Exceedingly Merry Mince Pies
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| Cost: |
£1.00 (2 for £2) |
| Score: |
56.9% |
A rather nice pie. Good looking with nice design on the top.
It had quite an overhang giving it that 'home made' kind of look.
Pastry was quite light a fluffy, but a bit too crumbly, ending up on my lap.
Filling was good, sweet and quite fruity, I like that.
The overhang made the pie look bigger than it was, so there was less to actually enjoy...
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| Date: |
27/11/2008
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| Pie: |
Rowan Hill Bakery pies from Lidl
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| Cost: |
£0.75 |
| Score: |
50.4% |
A small pie, with a nice decoration on top.
Pastry was nice and soft and light, so a rather pleasing first bite. Just a shame it was not bigger.
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| Date: |
26/11/2008
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| Pie: |
Sainsbury's Taste the difference 6 Brandy rich Mince Pies
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| Cost: |
£1.99 |
| Score: |
77.3% |
Three steam holes.. Could this be a nice full pie?
Good sugar coating. Amazing aroma.
Pastry a bit dry, hard and thick.
Still a good pie though.
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| Date: |
25/11/2008
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| Pie: |
M&S Classics for Christmas - Luxury 6 Deep Filled Mince Pies
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| Cost: |
£2.29 |
| Score: |
61.1% |
Quite a nice looking pie with a domed top... Could it be full of filling or air?
Pastry a little too crunchy for my liking, crumbled a bit in my lap.
The Filling was good... But the Pie was only half full.... The rest was air.... I was robbed!
Overall a nice pie, but a bit misleading.
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| Date: |
24/11/2008
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| Pie: |
Sainsbury's 6 Deep Mince Pies
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| Cost: |
£1.22 |
| Score: |
57.8% |
A nice small pie, with lovely holly leaf design.
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| Date: |
21/11/2008
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| Pie: |
Tesco's Finest
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| Cost: |
£1.65 |
| Score: |
60.6% |
Very nice pastry, note the steam holes, usually a good sign of plenty of filling. Nice tasting too. Not a bad pie.
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