Popcorn paired with a cheeky tequila while watching Tiger King? Don’t mind if we do indeed.
Popcorn just got an adults-only rating.
Dr Bugs Popcorn, a Christchurch-based factory, has released a new gourmet range, which veers away from the mundane and pays respect to flavours New Zealanders have grown up with: Mint Choc, Coconut Ice and Berry Sorbet.
In fact, Dr Bugs marketing manager Reuben Posthuma, thinks you should team their Berry Sorbet Gourmet Popcorn with a cheeky tequila while watching Netflix’s Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.
He has a bit of wicked sense of humour, does Rueben, but this is a solid suggestion.
Coconut Ice Gourmet Popcorn should be teamed with a pinot noir, while a nice cider and board game goes well with the Mint Choc, he says with what sounds like a grin on the phone.
Reuben pretty much grew up in a popcorn factory, when his parents Raymond and Monique Posthuma bought the Casebook factory in 1999.
“I was taping up boxes of popcorn as a five-year-old,” he says. He admits to indulging in a fair bit of “taste testing” too as a child.
The concept for “popcorn for adults” came about a year and a half ago.
“Looking at popcorn, it's actually kind of boring. Everyone's quite nostalgic about it, but if you look at the shelf in the supermarket you’ve just got butter and caramel. It's really interesting, New Zealanders don’t seem to like the seasoned type of stuff, like cheese flavours. They are really big in the United States,” he says.
But what we do like, is to indulge on something a bit sweet.
“We started down that lane and thought about, what are the some Kiwi flavours we could make? Flavours we remember from being kids? School fairs and that type of thing. We had been talking about mint chocolate popcorn for a couple of years, so that was on the top of the list. Coconut ice was a natural fit and then berry sorbet with a fizz on it,” he says.
During lockdown, staff at the factory have been trimmed to a single “family household bubble” including his parents. But the orders have been coming in strong, so it has been a busy few weeks for them, he says.
Turns out people quite like an adults-only treat.
Do you know a local producer with a bit of a story? Email shelley.robinson@starmedia.kiwi