Ripken’s Gourmet Burgers
Price: $9.99 (for 4 patties) at Giant
Rating: Four Gold Gloves out of five

Roseda Black Angus beef doesn’t need the Iron Man to make delicious burgers, but I suppose Cal Ripken can move product in Baltimore like few others. The “Ripken” branded burgers are being sold in area stores exclusively at Giant, and although they are terrible for you (10g of saturated fat!) and expensive, they are delicious.

To put it to the ultimate test, I served these puppies at my fantasy football draft this past weekend. I got comments ranging from, “yep, it tastes like a burger,” to “is it supposed to taste like iron?” My league is not necessarily full of foodies. A more sophisticated palette might note that the texture, while semi-easily screwed up by an overzealous grillmaster, is more rewarding and hearty than your typical ground beef. The burgers were even good without seasoning or cheese, allowing for that pure, earthy angus flavor to come through.

Cal Ripken seems like he’ll put his name on pretty much anything these days, but at least this time around he’s shilling for some decent protein pucks instead of crappy cable service or worthless vitamins.

Got a Baltimore sports-related product for the BSR Taste Test? Let us know: dave [at] baltimoresportsreport [dot com].