New College Inn Bold Stocks and Culinary Broths have beautiful packaging, with vivid pictures and an easy pour spout. The flavors entice you with their delicious sounding names like Thai Coconut Curry. You can imagine yourself on a warm beach digging your toes into the sand while Buddhist monks in saffron robes chant in a nearby temple. The flavors, however, won’t take you to this wonderful place.

The Rotisserie Chicken boasts that it’s made with onion, garlic, and other spices, but the chicken overpowers any other tastes. This thick stock is definitely bold and could use a bit of watering down. It’s salty enough, but missing the full bodied flavor that pepper provides. There’s also a bitter, almost metallic, aftertaste that leaves you with cotton mouth. Overall, this stock wasn’t great as a soup but would taste excellent in mashed potatoes with butter and a good dash of pepper.

Beef Sirloin doesn’t taste like beef at all. It tastes dominantly like carrot with undertones of celery and beef. It’s definitely an earthy experience complimented by the woods aroma of freshly whittled wood, but not what I’d expect of a beef sirloin stock.

Thai Coconut Curry says it is chicken broth infused with a blend of coconut, curry, garlic and coriander flavors for an exotic and delightful touch from the at-home chef. Upon opening the package, there’s a wonderful lemony scent that smells sooo good. Unfortunately, it’s a very sour broth that kicks you in the mouth with spice. Lemon cleaning products and potpourri both come to mind. When used to make white rice as a bed for salmon, the flavor is muted and complimentary. It’s a good thing or this product would have gone down the drain.

Flavored with thyme, oregano and rosemary, White Wine and Herb is a chicken broth that adds delicious sophistication to meals. The flavor is true to its name and the taste is only slightly medicinal. The onion, garlic, and salt don’t overpower the wine. This is one broth to buy over and over again, as making anything with wine as an ingrediant isn’t easy.

Although they’re not great as stand alone products, New College Inn Bold Stocks and Culinary Broths add rich taste that provides intensity of flavor to sauces, stews and other favorite dishes; for reliable goodness you can depend on! In order of favorites, White Wine and Herb, Thai Coconut Curry, Rotisserie Chicken, and Beef Sirloin, are all great bases for meals and worth trying at least once.