Sonny's - Authentic Spumoni

Authentic Spumoni - Italian Spumoni with Cherry, Pistachio and Chocalate Rum Ice Creams

I am back in California now, but I had time for one last pint before leaving Minnesota and I chose to review the Authentic Spumoni flavor from Sonny's Ice Cream in Minneapolis.   Sonny's Ice Cream is named after Martin "Sonny" Siron.  Sonny started the business in 1945 when he returned home from the war.  His uncles all ran liquor stores but Sonny was deemed too clean cut for that business and decided to open an old fashioned soda fountain instead.  Originally, they sold burgers, fries and malts.  In the 1980s, Sonny's son Ron joined the business, and they closed the soda fountain and focused the business on the homemade ice cream.  Sonny passed away in 2007 but Ron continues the business and they currently make dozens of premium flavors.  I picked up my pint of their signtaure flavor, Authentic Spumoni, at Whole Foods.  I've occasionally had spumoni at Italian restaurants, but I haven't reviewed a pint of it before.  Similar to Neapolitan, it features layers of chocolate and fruit ice creams.  The layers of this implementation are Pistachio, Cherry and Chocolate with Rum.

Removing the lid shows the layers of the three flavors visible on top.  The way the flavors are mixed is interesting. They are not completely mixed into a single base, but they aren't sectioned off completely like a pint of Neapolitan.  They are lightly swirled together.  Of the three flavors, the cherry and the chocolate rum were the most pronounced.  The pistachio parts were visible but it too mild for me to notice on its on.  I suppose it played a part in muting the flavors of the other two somewhat.  The rum in the chocolate section provided a bit of a kick that you felt in the back of your through.  There were so solid mix-ins within the pint so it was very smooth.  You just didn't know from one spoonful to the next whether the cherry or the chocolate would be the most dominant.

This was a fun flavor.  I'm surprised that more brands do not have a spumoni-based flavor.  If you're in Minneapolis and a fan of this Italian dessert then you should stop by Sonny's and give this a try.

  

Izzy's - Midnight Snack

Midnight Snack - Graham Cracker Ice Cream infused with Nutty Peanut Butter and Sweet Chocolate Chunks

Editors note: this flavor has been renamed to Midnight Graham Crunch

I felt like I had to return to the Izzy's brand while I was on my Minnesota trip because I was a bit adventuresome with the choice for my first review.  It was a well-implemented pint using a local stout beer, but it turns out that I'm not really a stout beer guy.  For my second Izzy's review, I was looking for something with more traditional flavors and found a pint of a flavor called Midnight Snack.  This flavor was the 2009 winner of Izzy's annual People's Flavor Awards where customers submit their own ideas for ice cream flavors, Izzy's selects the top two dozen ideas and implements them and then they have a taste-testing party where customers vote on their favorites.  A video report of the contest from the year which Midnight Snack won is available here.  Midnight Snack features the classic chocolate and peanut butter combination and I was looking forward to giving it a try.

Opening the pint reveals the beige color of the graham cracker base with plenty of peanut butter and chocolate pieces visible right away on the very top.  In the first spoonful, I noticed a lot of peanut butter flavor.  There are a lot of crunchy peanut butter pieces.  The chocolate chunk pieces are not as numerous but they provide quite a bit of chocolate flavor when you bit into them.  The mix-ins are so plentiful that I had a hard time noticing the graham cracker flavoring in the base but that is not a big deal because the chocolate and especially the peanut butter are the stars of this pint.

I really enjoyed this pint.  For those who like their chocolate and peanut butter combinations on the crunchy side this flavor ranks right up there with McConnell's Double Peanut Butter Chip flavor.  I think this Izzy's flavor is probably a little better, but its close.

Grande Ole Creamery - Cookie Monster

Cookie Monster - Butter Pecan Ice Cream with Crushed Cookies and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Today we visit another Twin Cities brand, the Grand Ole Creamery, and its Cookie Monster flavor.  The Grand Ole Creamery is located on historic Grand Avenue in Saint Paul not too far from where I grew up.  One of my sisters actually worked there when she was in college.  It was opened in 1984 by Gary and Dawn Huffman.  On a trip to the east coast in the early 80s, they saw how popular premium ice cream shops were, but there were none in Saint Paul so they decided to open up their own shop to fill the void.  It quickly became a success and has outlasted a few national ice cream chains that have tried opening on Grand Avenue thanks to loyal support from neighborhood customers.  Today, I am trying out their Cookie Monster flavor.  It has cookies and cookie dough for mix-ins so it promises to be interesting.


Removing the lid, the ice cream is blue!  I did not expect that!  I double checked the side of the carton and indeed blue dye #1 is listed as an ingredient.  I guess they intentionally want the ice cream to look like the famous muppet character.  That's not exactly what I'm used to with premium ice creams -- they usually want to tout the use of natural ingredients -- but it is rather fun.  The base ice cream is thick and creamy like one would expect from a premium ice cream.  The flavor of the base was very mild.  I could only tell that it wasn't vanilla.  There are two types of mix-ins present.  First is the cookies.  These are crushed chocolate cookies like the outer parts of an Oreo,  The pieces are small enough to be mistaken for chips but on closer feel I could tell they were cookie pieces.  The cookie dough chunks were more rare.  I was at least a third of the way through the pint before I encountered the first one and I think there were only four or five chunks of dough in the whole pint.

This was a interesting pint and the blue color was kind of cute.  It is a little low on the mix-ins.  If you like lots of mix-ins then you'll likely prefer Ben & Jerry's Tonight Dough flavor, but if you actually like fewer mix-ins or if you're on Grand Avenue and want a fun blue scoop then you could give Cookie Monster a try.

Sweet Science - Rhubarb Cinnamon Almond

Rhubarb Cinnamon Almond - Amaretto-Cinnamon Ice Cream with Rhubarb Compote and Almond Pieces

We continue the exploration of ice cream brands local to my hometown of Saint Paul, Minnesota.  Today is the Rhubarb Cinnamon Almond flavor of the Sweet Science brand which was started by Ashlee Olds on the East Side in 2011.  Ashlee is the daughter of local hockey legend Wally Olds and is also the great-great granddaughter of Ransom E. Olds the inventor of the Oldsmobile.  The Sweet Science brand started off small and focused on participating in tasting events and sourcing a few coffee shops for the first couple of years.  Since then, it has grown and is now available in pints in many local markets.  I found my pint at Whole Foods.

I am intrigued by the inclusion of rhubarb in this particular flavor.  Growing up, we had a rhubarb plant in the back yard.  Rhubarb is a very hardy perennial, so it basically showed up in the corner by the garage every year without any effort from us.  Every other year or so, we'd decide to bake something with it.  It was always a challenge because although rhubarb is very flavorful, it is also incredibly tart.

Removing the lid shows the beige color of the amaretto-cinnamon base as well as well as a smattering of the rhubarb and almond mix-ins intentionally placed on the very top.  In the base ice cream, I could taste the cinnamon but I did not specifically notice the amaretto.  Since amaretto is almond-based it could be that its flavor mixed in with the almond mix-ins.  I did enjoy the cinnamon flavoring, though.  The rhubarb swirl was thick, syrupy and quite tart.  It would be too much to eat just the swirl by itself but it worked well when balanced against the base ice cream.  The almond mix-ins are in the form of almond slices.  I think this is the first time I've seen thin almond slices used as a mix-in.  They were quite tasty and provided my teeth with something to crunch on from to time.

I enjoyed this flavor.  Rhubarb is a strong and tart flavor, but I think it did a good job of balancing it so that it was enjoyable.  If you like rhubarb-flavored desserts then you'll have to try this.

Izzy's - Summit Oatmeal Stout

Summit Oatmeal Stout - Ice Cream flavored with reduced Summit Oatmeal Stout

The ice cream reviews are on the road again!  This time, I have returned to my birthplace, Saint Paul, Minnesota, to visit family.  While I am here, I figure I might as well sample the local ice cream brands.  Minnesota and Wisconsin are known for their dairy farms and where there are dairy farms, there is usually good ice cream.  The first brand I'm trying out is Izzy's Ice Cream.  Izzy's was founded as a scoop shop on Marshall Avenue in Saint Paul in 2000 by the husband and wife team of Lara Hammel and Jeff Sommers.  The shop was an immediate success and Izzy's quickly became not only a local institution but became nationally recognized as well.  In 2006, it was featured on an episode of the Food Network's Throwdown with Bobby Flay (Izzy's won!).  Today, we're reviewing their Summit Oatmeal Stout flavor where the primary ingredient is a local craft brew from the Summit Brewing Company.

Removing the lid shows a light brown color of the stout-based ice cream.  Stout's are very dark in color but here it was only enough to turn the ice cream into a beige-ish color. The first spoonful was fairly mild in flavor but I could taste some oatmeal.  After a few spoonfuls, I got a similar flavor in my mouth that I get when I'm having a pint of Guinness -- that's the stout.  I am not a beer afficianado, though.  Overall, it was a bit too mild for my tastes.  The Summit web page boasts "hints" of coffee, caramel and chocolate which may be fine when you are savoring a pint of the beverage, but for a pint of ice cream, I'd prefer more concentrated flavors.  Last year's Salted Caramel Brown-ie Ale flavor from Ben & Jerry's was a better combination for me because of the strong mix-ins and the ale in the base provided a stronger kick compared to the stout here.

I would recommend this flavor only if you are a fan of stout beer and are curious to see how that would taste in ice cream format.  I think I may have made a mistake picking this as my first Izzy's flavor.  I was lured in by the local craft brewery connection.  I will try to sneak in another pint of Izzy's later on this trip.
  

 

  

McConnell's - Whiskey & Pecan Pralines

Whiskey & Pecan Pralines - Buttery, salt-roasted ‘n caramel-coated pecan pralines, folded into California Central Coast, grass-fed milk & cream, spiked with rich, mouth-coating, smoky spicy Kentucky Bourbon.

We return to the Santa Barbara-based McConnell's brand for the latest review.  McConnell's has added a few new flavors to their menu in the past year but I had not seen any of them until last week when I found a pint of Whiskey & Pecan Pralines.  I am always intrigued by alcohol-based flavors, so I'm looking forward to giving this a try.

Removing the lid shows that the base has a beige color and some of the nutty mix-ins are visible right away on top.  Digging in, the praline pecans are numerous.  As advertised, there is a bit of a candy-like praline coating to the pecans but it is not overly done.  In some bites, it is the caramel and the pecan core that take center stage.  The 'whiskey' part of the flavor takes the form of an occasional burn that you feel in the back of your throat.  It was not too much but it was noticeable.

This was a successful pint and I enjoyed it very much.  For me, this is a premium version of the classic Pralines N' Cream flavor which is spiked with a kick of Kentucky Bourbon.  If you are a long-time Pralines N' Cream fan then you should give this one a try.