Mince Pie Fest 2022: The Results!

As I said yesterday, there is still more testing to come, for some special categories, but the main ratings are done.

Over 20 different varieties of mince pies have been tasted and tested -- well, just tasted, I'm not doing anything else with them, except for an early attempt at a mince pie milkshake that, reader, did not go well -- and a clear favourite emerged, and early too. But first, the runners-up:

Asda, Tesco, and, er, Asda produced some solid 4 out of 5 pies, and each is a good alternative if you can't find the best ones, which are...

Once again, COOP rules the roost, which I think may almost be a pun? Last year's winners were an excellent 4.5 out of 5 in 2022, er, too. Last year they sold out super quick and were difficult to find, so keep your eyes peeled!

Congratulations COOP. Feel free to send me free mince pies, or food vouchers, or cash.

But wait! There's more!

Also a 4.5er was this boozy beast from Asda:

I cannot in good conscience proclaim it a joint winner because I'm not sure it's a proper mince pie in the spirit of the competition, but it is very nice indeed, and I'm going to get at least two for the Chrimble period. I will not be sharing.

Also very tasty, but the complete opposite in girth, were these lovely pies from Sugarlumps:

Useless to most of you, but if you're in the greater Brighton area in the run up to Indiana-Jones-on-BBC1-Season, then make sure you grab some.

And now, for those who care, stats!

Here's the top five from 2021:

(Believe it or not, I was going to just test last year's top five this year, but oops.)

This shows us that COOP has maintained its quality for the most part. M&S seems to also have kept up, but 2022 has been a disaster for Iceland and Sainsbury's. There may be other things to learn from this data, probably something like how I'm more strict this year, but I'll leave that to the statisticians.

There will be more mince pie content on the way, as we delve into some special categories, but for now, off you go to buy your minceys!

#MincePieADay #MincePieFest2022