From August 6-16, the Wisconsin State Fair is once again offering oodles of entertainment, oodles of animals, oodles of questionable T-shirts, rides for folks of all ages, and much more. Oh, and food! And drinks! In addition to the State Fair’s annual food-stand staples, this year’s fairground festivities feature eight intriguing indulgences and four baffling beverages that were named the 2026 Sporkies and Drinkies finalists. We wasted little time heading to West Allis with empty stomachs and open minds to try the 12 finalists during State Fair’s opening day…

SPORKIES

Birria Flamin’ Bombs — Fiesta Grill & Cantina

This year’s Sporkies title went to the Birria Flamin’ Bombs from Fiesta Grill & Cantina. This $12 item comes complete with a pair of breaded orbs of birria meat (your choice of beef or chicken), mozzarella cheese, cilantro, and onion. It’s certainly inventive, but it left us wanting more. Though extremely tender, our beef lacked any discernible seasoning. The red exterior hue of the so-called “Flamin'” bombs didn’t deliver on the implied promise of using Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, and was instead a bland cornmeal crust. Heck, even the consommé dipping sauce couldn’t pull its weight. Without the aid of chipotle aioli, the Birria Flamin’ Bombs would’ve fallen entirely flat. Spare yourself the lengthy line and the $6-per-bomb hit and consider skipping this perplexing first place finisher. [Tyler Maas]

Bayou Crunch Cup — Exotic Meat Grill

New from Exotic Meat Grill, the same vendor who serves up “The Claw” (an alligator leg with the claw still attached) and something called a Hawaiian Pizza Slush, comes the Bayou Crunch Cup. This sizable container runs a hefty sum of $20, but it comes jam-packed with breaded and fried crawfish bites and alligator nuggets, as well as coleslaw, pickled okra, fries, a thousand island-like “Comeback Sauce,” and even a whole crawfish to top things off.

Aside from the morbid aspect of having a deceased crawdad you’re likely going to dispose of staring at you as you eat this, it’s kind of tough to identify what type of meat you’re eating until you begin chewing. The crawfish is far better than the gator, for the record. Also, the fries warm up the slaw, the slaw cools down the fries, and the Comeback Sauce just kind of drags everything down. The okra is one of the few high points in this otherwise skippable offering. Your $20 bill can (and should) be used in far better ways elsewhere on the fairgrounds. [TM]

Cream City Cone — WürstBar

This is a small pretzel cone filled with loose bratwurst, onions, mushrooms, and cheese, drizzled with mustard and speared by a cheese curd. And a tiny American flag. It came in second in this year’s Sporkies. Okay. It’s fine but it doesn’t really taste like anything. The cheese curd is good. $13. [Matt Wild]

Deep-Fried Horchata Balls — Badger Bites

Each and every year lately, a batch of Wisconsin State Fair vendors burden themselves with the tough task of reimagining a liquid consumable into something that can be ingested as a solid. This year alone finds stands serving beer ice cream, deep-fried ranch dressing, and a Badger Bites Sporkies-contending dessert riff on a popular Mexican beverage. The Deep-Fried Hochata Balls ($11) find the creamy, rice-based liquid somehow being fashioned into cinnamon- and sugar-coated fried balls. They’re crunchy on the outside and unsettlingly wet within. A chocolate and caramel drizzle, chocolate chips, some plantain chips, and a literal fistful of shaved coconut strives to add complexity and, yes, potentially distract from the gooey balls of faintly horchata-like dough, but there’s just too much happening here. If you have a massive sweet tooth and won’t mind the slime-y dough innards of these balls, give them a try. Do it this year though, because these probably won’t last beyond 2026. [TM]

Al Pastor Pizza — Charlie’s Pizza

We know our assessments haven’t exactly been glowing to this point, but to prove we’re actually capable of liking State Fair Sporkies, we now offer you our thoughts on the Al Pastor Pizza. The latest from perennial Sporkies entrant Charlie’s Pizza finds pork in a rich, tangy, and semi-spicy—at least by appealing to the masses at State Fair standards—marinade commingling with pineapple chunks, a creamy verde salsa, a dusting of fresh cilantro, and even lime wedges (to squeeze on the slice) set atop a bed of melt-y mozzarella, a subtly sweet red sauce, and fluffy dough. There’s a lot to consider, but every component plays its part and makes this $11 slice a definite Sporkies standout. Even the braided and buttered crust holds its own! If you’re on the fairgrounds and you’re craving pizza, you could do a lot worse than this. [TM]

Porky Puff — Bud Pavillion

This is a pastry filled with pulled pork, peach filling, and garlic and herb cheese, drizzled with hot honey and topped by some mustard seeds. It’s fine. Pretty good, even. The mustard seeds are a nice touch. $13. [MW]

Sweet Lemon Berry Cheese Curds — Saz’s BBQ

These are deep-fried cheese curds made from Ellsworth Creamery white cheddar cheese, tossed in a cinnamon-sugar mix, and drizzled in raspberry sauce. They come with a small cup of lemon zest cream whip for dipping. They’re good. They’re cheese curds. $12.50. [MW]

Tinga Tango Chicharrones — Blue Moon Tavern at the Park

These are honey-habanero pork rinds topped with chicken tinga, pickled red onions, cheese, jalapeños, and cilantro, topped with cilantro-lime crema. They come with a small cup of salsa verde for dipping. They’re fine but they don’t really taste like anything. The shredded chicken is good. Also, what’s the deal with this year’s stuff? Why is it all so bland and forgettable? Sigh. $14. [MW]

DRINKIES

Color-Changing Swamp Juice — All Things Jerky

This is green-colored lemonade topped with a gummy frog. You get a plastic syringe filled with darker-colored lemonade that you’re supposed to inject into the thing. There are Pop Rocks on the rim, sort of. It’s not very good and it doesn’t really taste like anything. There’s maybe another gummy thing in the bottom? Who knows. Seriously, what’s going on here? I’ve liked and even LOVED plenty of Sporkies and Drinkies in the past, but NOTHING in this year’s crop of finalists is leaving an impression. And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the State Fair! Seriously! $10. [MW]

Hot Honey Chicken Lemonade — Deep-Fried Mashed Potatoes On-a-Stick

This is lemonade spiked with Mike’s Hot Honey and speared by two spicy honey-battered chicken nuggets. There are “honey popping juice pearls” floating around in the thing, too. It’s fine but it doesn’t really taste like anything other than lemonade. The chicken nuggets are good. But COME ON. I’m not trying to be funny or snotty with these quickie blurbs; I honestly have NOTHING to say about this stuff. Is it me? Have I lost my physical sense of taste? Do I have COVID? I think I might have a home testing kit around here somewhere. $13. [MW]

Tilt-a-Spritz — Old Fashioned Sipper Club

As the more long-winded half of the duo writing these reviews to this point, let’s just keep this one relatively short and sweet. The Tilt-a-Spritz is good! The Drinkies-winning beverage earned the honor with a refreshing blend of grapefruit and lime juices, along with a tongue-tingling kick of ginger beer. It’s also accented with a sprig of fresh rosemary and a lime wedge. Oh, and you can get it placed in a smoker for a few seconds to really bring out the flavor. Plus your choice of alcohol can be added for an additional $3. We had tequila put in ours! The only minor criticism we have is its $12 price (though the $15 charge with booze seems closer to market value), but beyond that, it’s a rare high point from an otherwise forgettable crop of 2026 Sporkies and Drinkies. [TM]

Cookie Butter Coffee Float — Fluffy’s Hand Cut Donuts

The Cookie Butter Coffee Float is proof that sometimes four or different things that are good on their own can be thrown together in a cup and somehow disappoint. This $11 (!!!) dessert/drink hybrid combines cookie butter, cookies, soft serve ice cream, and coffee. Instead of talking about how cookie butter is completely played out, that the coffee was utterly lost in a deluge of soggy cookie pieces and melted soft serve soup, or that we eventually just spooned out what was left of the ice cream to eat on its own before hucking an estimated $8.75 worth of float into the garbage, we’ll just quote the one and only sentence we wrote about the Cookie Butter Float in our notebook. “It’s doing too much.” [TM]