Batch Austin Gourmet Food Subscription Box Review, September 2014 + 10% Discount Code!

Over the past few months, the Batch Nashville folks offered a fun "Tour of the South" series of gourmet food boxes which included stops in Birmingham, Atlanta, Charleston, New Orleans and Austin.  Subscribers received monthly boxes featuring foods that represented each city. The tour concluded with the Batch Austin box, which I've just received.

I'm happy and relieved to report that NO bats flew out of this box!  (In case you aren't aware, Austin is home to the largest colony of Mexican free-tail bats in North America. A very entertaining bat culture has evolved since the bats arrived in 1980. It's well worth a visit to the public bat observation area on the grounds of the local newspaper building if you're ever in the area!)

Sorry for the digression but how can one talk about Austin without mentioning the bats? Back to business. The Batch Austin box contains four hand made food items representing a range of local flavors. Like all the other Batch boxes, this big box contained a paper wrapped mass of brown crinkle shreds with a Batch Nashville sticker on top. (Their concept is a little confusing but I think all of the Batch variations fall under their original Batch Nashville identity.)    

       

As soon as I cleared all the packing out of the way, I knew I was going to like this box!

First out is the information card which tells about the purveyors and the products included.

A really delicious looking bag of Bubba's Blend granola from House Granola immediately caught my attention. This 12 oz. bag features maple, currants and pecans...all natural organic ingredients.  As a snack, this should last me a long time!

There is a 7 oz. round tin of "Luscious" Chai tea from Luscious Pastry, which specializes in gourmet baked goods.  I'm not very familiar with chai teas but this one is a black tea flavored with vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and other spices. Sounds good!

My favorite item is this "Poppin Pecan" popcorn from The Great San Saba River Pecan Company which is located in the Hill Country.  This product is actually produced and shipped from a facility inside the pecan orchard.  This one could not wait....it is delicious!

There's no way a box representing Austin could omit a jar of hot sauce.  This one is Royito's all natural, all fresh hot sauce.  Their motto is "We don't do mild!"  At 16 oz., this is a big jar and a very predictable item for this city.  (Paul, if you're reading this...you can bet this jar is headed in your direction!)

Of all the Batch boxes I've tried, Austin's was my favorite. I'm not exactly unbiased. In another lifetime, I lived in Austin for a couple of years, graduated from U.T. and have family there now. Not to incriminate myself, but let's just say there were NO bats in Austin when I lived there! Austin has changed dramatically in the past thirty years but its epicurean delights just get better and better.

Unfortunately, I don't see an option to purchase the Batch Austin box currently since the "Tour of the South" series has concluded. However, you can still subscribe to Batch Nashville, Charleston or Memphis and you can also purchase many of the individual items featured in recent boxes under the Shop tab on their site.  If you don't want to commit to a subscription, there are a lot of interesting looking one time purchase gift batches. (Great holiday gifts, by the way!)  Click here and use code BATCHTASTIC to get 10% off your order. Please be aware that this code does not apply to subscriptions...only to seasonal Batch purchases or gift purchases.  

Keep an eye on Batch's site; I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually add other subscription options or tour series boxes!

Cheryl

P.S.  Batch is about to open a retail store in Nashville.  If you're interested, check out this article for more information.  They have a great concept and I would like to see them succeed and expand the number of featured cities!