Graeter's - Honeycomb

Honeycomb - Honey Molasses Ice Cream with Crunchy Honeycomb Candy Pieces

Today is the second pint from my recent six-pint shipment from the Cincinnati-based Graeter's Ice Cream.  It is another summer seasonal flavor which is called Honeycomb.  Looking at the lid, it looks like the flavor is sponsored by a Cincinnati radio station, WUBE-FM -- or B-105.  It looks like they play country music.  I guess it makes sense that a radio station that calls itself "B(ee)-105" would associate itself with a honey-based flavor.  I am always intrigued by honey flavors.  It should be interesting to check out the honeycomb candy piece mix-ins as well.  Let's check it out!

Removing the lid, the base ice cream is a milky-yellow color consistent with honey.  Digging in, it does taste like honey.  Sometimes with honey bases, the flavor of the honey gets lost in the cream -- honey is just a form of sugar after all -- but not here.  The molasses flavor in the base is not especially noticeable.  I mainly taste it in the finish.  Perhaps it is just enough molasses to bring out the honey flavor.  Next I encounter the honeycomb candy mix-ins.  They look like small nuts, but they're all candy.  They are very sweet and crunchy like a candy cane.  They also stick to my teach a little as I try to chew them.  They do taste like honey and magnify the honey in the base.

I did not really enjoy this pint.  This is a rare miss from Graeter's.  The honey-molasses base was just OK and I did not care for the candy pieces at all.  I think I would have preferred a different mix-in that was not so sticky sweet.  Perhaps a honey-coated honeycomb cereal pieces, or honey and nuts like the Matterhorn pint from Jeni's.  If you are a honey-lover and are curious, you could check to see if you like it more than me, but myself, I will be looking forward to the next pint in the shipment.

Talenti - Mint Fudge Cookie

Mint Fudge Cookie - Layers of Mint Gelato, Cookie Crumbs, Fudge Sauce, Mint Gelato (Again) and Chocolate Cookies

Today we return to Talenti Gelato for the seventh and final pint in their Layers Collection which they released earlier this year.  This flavor is called Mint Fudge Cookie.  Long-time readers may recall that mint chocolate chip is my favorite ice cream flavor, so I saved the best for last here.  I did enjoy Talenti's Mediterranean Mint flavor.  This appears to be the same base used in two of the layers, but instead of chocolate chips fully mixed in, there are layers of chocolate cookie crumbs and fudge sauce between the two mint gelato layers and a layer of chocolate cookies on the bottom.  Let's check it out.

As with all the other layers pints, when you unscrew the lid, you only see the top layer.  Like Mediterranean Mint, it has a light green color.  Most natural mint bases are white or off white, but a double-check of the ingredients does not show any coloring agents.  It looks like a mint-leaf extract is used instead of peppermint oil for flavoring and perhaps some of the green from the leaves gets into the mix.  As with the other layers pints, I work to get a vertical slice out of the container so that I can get some photos of the layers.  OK, on to the ice cream.  The mint gelato is bright as minty just like it was in Mediterranean Mint.  The middle layers of cookie crumbs and fudge sauce merge together to form a chunky chocolate sauce.  This is quite tasty.  The additional layer of cookie pieces on the bottom also provided some good chocolate flavor, yet were surprisingly soft.  I expected crunchy cookies, yet these were almost spongy.  All the chocolate layers went really well with the mint as it usually does in mint chocolate chip implementations.

This is a fun layers pint from Talenti.  They basically took Mediterranean Mint and made it a more chocolatey with all the layers.  Part of me is greedy and thinks it could have been made more chocolatey by including the truffles from Dark Chocolate Cherry instead of the spongey cookie crumbs on the bottom of this layer, but that's a nitpick.  Mint chip lovers who already love Mediterranean Mint should check this out to see if they also like this flavor combination in layers format.

This concludes the layers collection for 2019.  The reviews are collected here: 

• Mint Chocolate Cookie (this page) 
• Dark Chocolate Cherry
• Salted Caramel Truffle
• Vanilla Fudge Cookie
• Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake
• Peanut Butter Vanilla Fudge
• Black Raspberry Vanilla Parfait

The highlights for me were the mini-peanut butter cups and the truffles of Dark Chocolate Cherry and Salted Caramel Truffle.

Graeter's - Watermelon Sorbet

Watermelon Sorbet - Watermelon Sorbet with a hint of Lemon

I decided to get another shipment from Graeter's Ice Cream.  I know I just got one earlier this summer, but they sent me a coupon and I was surprised to find that there were enough new flavors in the past couple of months to warrant another shipment.  The first flavor is actually a sorbet -- Watermelon Sorbet.  Believe it or not, this is my first flavor which includes watermelon.  So, I figured I had to give it a try.  A twist of lemon is also added into the mix.

The watermelon is a member of the gourd family which includes pumpkins, zucchini, squash, zucchini and other melons.  It originated in West Africa and its domestication spread quickly.  Evidence of watermelons can be found in the tombs of ancient Egypt dating back as far as the second millennium BC.  Today, over half of watermelon is grown in China.  True to its name, the fruit of a watermelon contains 91% water.

On to today's pint!  Removing the lid, I can tell immediately that it is a sorbet and not an ice cream.  You can see the slushy texture.  Digging in, I taste bright watermelon flavor.  I checked the label and it reads 'artificial watermelon flavor'.  I was a little disappointed by that, but it does taste like watermelon.  The flavor is fairly strong, but not overpowering.  I actually taste the lemon right away too.  This almost deserves to be billed as a lemon-watermelon blend.

This is a fun pint to try -- as I mentioned above, I have never had a watermelon flavor before.  It was pretty good, but the fact that the watermelon flavor is listed as artificial had me wondering if there are better implementations out there.  Also, like many fruit sorbets, these can be better by the scoop than by the full pint.

Izzy's - Bananas Foster

Bananas Foster - Banana Ice Cream with a Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Swirl and a Hint of Rum

Today is another pint from the Saint-Paul-based Izzy's Ice Cream.  The flavor today is called Bananas Foster.  Bananas Foster is a banana-rum flambé dessert and I have detailed the history of the New-Orleans-based dessert in a previous review.  It often makes for a fun ice cream flavor, so I grabbed this pint when it was available from Izzy's.  Their implementation features banana ice cream with a brown sugar and cinnamon swirl and a hint of rum.

Cracking open the lid, I see quite a bit of the brown sugar and cinnamon swirl right away.  That's nice.  The banana base has an off-white yellow color.  Digging in, the banana ice cream is quite good.  I've written before that I've noticed two types of banana flavor, a sweeter banana-cream-pie-like flavor and a more earthy banana-bread-like flavor.  It think this is actually closer to the sweeter banana flavor.  This sweetness adds contrast to the cinnamon swirl which is also quite good.  The mixture with the brown sugar gives it substance -- it almost feels like a half-dissolved doughy mix-in?  What I'm saying is that they have somehow managed to keep a powdery swirl intact despite being churned into the ice cream.  It's a good swirl and would probably work well with a few other bases.  The rum flavoring is fairly mild.  You could almost miss it in the cinnamon if you don't look for it.

This is an interesting implementation of a Bananas Foster.  Other brands such as Coolhaus and New Orleans Ice Cream (and the Jeni's Bananas Foster/Creme Brulee hybrid flavor) have included caramel in the implementation to represent the effects of the flambé on the brown sugar and butter in the dessert.  And often an earthier banana flavor is used to emphasize the burnt flavor.  Here the brown sugar and cinnamon are present in an unburnt form against a sweet banana base with only a mild rum flavor.  It's still a good combination though.  I don't mind the variation from the usual though.  Unique implementations are fun.

Izzy's - Four Berry

Four Berry - Ice Cream made with Strawberries, Blackberries, Raspberries and Blueberries

Today's flavor is from Izzy's Ice Cream in Saint Paul.  The flavor is called Four Berry.  I was compelled to get this pint because the four berries used here exactly match the ones that I see most often at my local grocery store -- strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries.  My grocery shopping is often dictated by which of those berries happens to be on sale that week.  What happens when you put all four berries into the same ice cream?  We shall see.

Opening the pint, I see that the ice cream has a purplish pink color.  I suppose that's about the average color of those four berries.  This might be a little more purple than I would have guessed, but it is pretty close.  I see a lot of little chunks in there, too.  Some fruit pieces and seeds are in the mix.  That is fun.  In the first spoonful, the first berry I taste is blueberry, then maybe blackberry and raspberry.  As I continue eating, I notice some strawberry as well.  Particularly the small strawberry pieces which are easy to pick out.  The fruits blend pretty well.  Izzy's is really good at blending fruit flavors.  That surprised me at first, but I have had several fruit blends now that I have come to expect it.

This is a fun and interesting blend of berries from Izzy's.  I have just noticed that this the more famous Church Elderberry flavor contains the same four berries plus elderberry extract.  This is a different mix, though.  Church Elderberry was more tart and leaned more on raspberries and strawberries.  This pint was a little sweeter and contained more blueberries and blackberries.  I think I still have to go with Church Elderberry as the favorite of the two -- especially with its association with the Minnesota State Fair -- but Four Berry is also an excellent flavor.

Coolhaus - Milk & Cookie Crumbs

Milk & Cookie Crumbs - Chocolate Cookie Ice Cream with Chocolate Cookie Crumb Swirl

Happy National Ice Cream Day!  Today is a flavor from Coolhaus ice cream.  I like this Culver-City-based brand.  They came out with new flavors several months ago, but I've been having trouble finding places in Minnesota which stock them.  I finally found a pint at Fresh Thyme.  Just one, though.  There are eight new flavors and if I find one more then I could order the remaining flavors with a six-pint online shipment.  Anyhow, today's flavor is called Milk & Cookie Crumbs.  It is a cookies and cream flavor with a cookie-flavored based.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, I am once again greeted with a cheeky message on the inner foil wrapper.   A fun play on a common saying.

Removing the foil, I see a lot of Oreo-like cookie pieces drizzled over the top.  Coolhaus has stepped up their top-of-the-pint presentation in recent years and they succeed again here.  Digging in, the cookies taste like Oreos, though I do not see them specifically branded as such on the package.  I've written before about the distinctive flavor that Oreos have relative to other chocolate sandwich cookies.  That's not to say that other brands are not good.  Some people prefer a bakery-made chocolate sandwich cookie or even a Newman-O because they have richer and chewier chocolate but you can still tell that it is not an Oreo.   I find that Oreos tend to be crunchier with the crumbs creating a finer powder when crushed and the chocolate has an almost "toasted" flavor to it.  The cookies here do taste more like Oreos.  If they are not, they are a very close facsimile.  The base ice cream is quite good.  This is cookie milk!  It tastes like what your milk tastes like after having dipped a lot of Oreos in it for a while.  The distinctive toasted chocolate flavor is in here as well.  This is very good.  The texture is thick and creamy as with most Coolhaus flavors.  Coolhaus designs their ice cream to be the filling for an ice cream sandwich, so it almost tends to fold when you spoon it.

This is an excellent pint of ice cream.  The flavor name might confuse some people -- this is a very-well done implementation of cookies and cream with the slight twist that the base is cookie milk.  That cookie-milk base is well-done and delicious and the cookie mix-ins are Oreo-like and tasty as well.  It reminded me of a pint from the local Milkjam brand called Ridin' Duuurty -- except that pint also contained peanut butter chunks.  If you like cookies & cream and you spot this in your local grocery, you should check this pint out.

Sebastian Joe's - Sebastiano's Favorite

Sebastiano's Favorite - Ice Cream infused with Brandy and Amaretto

Today, we return to Minneapolis's Sebastian Joe's Ice Cream.  A while back, I reviewed their two most popular flavors (here and here) so this time I figured I would try a couple of flavors further down the menus.  Today's flavor is called Sebastiano's Favorite.  (The specific webpage for the flavor appears to be broken right now, looks like it should be here).  It is a summer flavor which includes brandy and amaretto.  I figure if it is the 'favorite', then I should try it, right?

Before I proceed, I just figured out that this is another milestone review -- 500 pints!  As with the previous reviews for 100, 200, 300 and 400, I like to make a collage of the previous 100 pints:

Pints 401 to 500

This is a lot of ice cream.  I keep thinking that I am eventually going to run out of flavors, but somehow I never do.  Every spring the major national brands come out with new lines of flavors, I have a few vendors like Graeter's, Jeni's, McConnell's and Ample Hills which I like exploring via mail-order and the local brands in the Twin Cities area are excellent.  So, I will keep going!

Back to this week's pint.  Removing the lid, the ice cream is an off-white creamy color.  Digging in, the texture is very thick and creamy.  I taste the brandy as well as the almond-accents of the amaretto right away, but they are surprisingly mild.  The main flavor is the milk and cream.  It's quite good though.  It's just a more basic flavor than I was expecting.  It is a homogenous flavor with no mix-ins.

Although, this pint is more simpler than I was expecting, it is still very good.  It tastes like a sweet cream with accents of almonds and liqueur.  It's for when you are in the mood for something milky and creamy but with a twist.

Izzy's - Brown Sugar Bourbon

Brown Sugar Bourbon - Brown Sugar Ice Cream with Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey

Today, we return to the Saint-Paul-based Izzy's Ice Cream for one of their pre-packed flavors -- Brown Sugar Bourbon.  The first thing I notice is that there is new packaging for the pre-packed pints!  Izzy's appears to be stepping up their pre-pack game.  Pints are available in a few more local grocery stores as well.  One downside is that they have switched to 14-ounce "pints" to reduce costs and perhaps help them keep their sticker price down.  They are not the only brand that does this.  Häagen-Dazs and Baskin Robbins do it nationally while the Grand Ole Creamery already does it locally.  I guess one rationalization is that I have noticed that Izzy's Ice Cream often feels a bit more filling than other brands, so I will probably feel just as full after this than I would a 16 ounce pint from another brand?  That may be a bit of a reach, but we Minnesotans like to look on the bright side.  The flavor is a features a base made with Billington's brown sugar and accented with Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey from Knob Creek.  Let's check it out!

Opening the pint, the homogeneous brown sugar base is a light beige color.  Digging in, the brown sugar flavor is a little on the mild side.  The bourbon flavor is also mild and is something that I notice a bit on the 'finish' -- the flavor that linger a bit in your mouth after you swallow.  The bourbon adds flavor and is not at all boozy.  Although the flavors are not very strong, it is still quite tasty.  This is a homogeneous pint with no mix-ins.

This is a well-done implementation of a brown sugar and bourbon flavor.  The flavors are not too intense, yet it is a very successful flavor blend.  Do not be scared away by the 'bourbon' in the flavor name.  This pint is not at all boozy and the bourbon simply adds body and richness to the brown sugar base.  This would make a decent base ice cream of its own for those who like to add toppings or mix-ins.

Milkjam Creamery - Violent Skye

Violent Skye - Violent Skye - Toasted Coconut with Peanuts, Chili Pepper and Nutter Butter Cookies

Today we return to the Minneapolis-based Milkjam Creamery for a flavor that they have added this year called Violent Skye.  Their terse flavor description simply says "peanuts, nutter butters, chili, toasted coconut (and it's vegan )".  The packaging does not list any further details on the ingredients.  The nutter butter is a brand of peanut butter sandwich cookie, where both the cookie and the creme filling are peanut butter flavored and the cookie itself is shaped like a peanut.  As for the flavor name, I am a bit stumped.  I can usually google to find the pop culture reference even if it was not already familiar to me, but I couldn't find anything.  It sounds like the name of an old movie or maybe the name of a song.  Regardless, the flavor should be interesting.

Opening the pint, I see the off-white color of the peanut butter coconut base.  Some of the nutty mix-ins are visible as well as one of the pieces of chili.  Digging in, the ice cream has a bit of a gritty texture which is not uncommon in vegan implementation.  The flavor is good, though.  It is an interesting mix of a peanuts and coconut.  There are no chunks or strands of coconut but I can taste the coconut flavor.  The chili is very mild.  I checked with someone whose spice tolerance is not as high as mine and they agreed.  The chili is here just for a touch of mild spiciness every now and then.  The nutter butter cookie chunks and peanut pieces are fairly numerous inside and give something crunchy to chew on.  It is a relatively sweet flavor mix.  Something with this much peanuts and peanut butter could have gotten really rich and heavy, but enough sweet coconut milk is in the mix to keep that from happening.

I enjoyed this pint. Despite their namesake flavor containing three types of milk, Milkjam actually specializes in vegan flavors.  They don't focus on exactly mimicking the texture of dairy cream -- as I mentioned above, this pint is a bit on the gritty side -- but they come up with good non-dairy flavor blends.

Häagen-Dazs - Pistachio

Pistachio - Sweet Cream with Pistachios

Today we return to one of the main national brands,  Häagen-Dazs, for their implementation of a Pistachio ice cream.  Looking at the side of the container, I am surprised to find that this is not a pistachio base!  Sweet cream is the base here and pistachios are the mix-ins.  That's an interesting and unexpected variation.  Let's see how this works out.

Removing the lid, the base ice cream is indeed quite light in color.  This is definitely not the standard green pistachio base.  That said, there are loads of pistachio pieces visible already on top.  Digging in, I immediately taste the pistachios.  There are many of them on each spoonful.  The fact that it is a sweet cream base does not have as large of an effect as I expected.  The pistachio pieces are so numerous that it almost tastes like the base had some pistachio flavor in it.  Maybe some flavor got mixed in from the nuts during the churning process.  I guess it made it taste a little brighter and less rich.

This is an interesting pint of pistachio ice cream.  Most brands do a pistachio-flavored base -- often with pistachio pieces as mix-ins.  This is the first pint I have seen to use plain sweet cream as the base and then lots of mix-ins.  It is still quite good, but I feel like I should give people the heads up about the twist.

Talenti - Dark Chocolate Cherry

Dark Chocolate Cherry - Layers of Double Dark Chocolate Gelato, Chocolate Flakes, Black Cherry Sauce, Double Dark Chocolate Gelato (Again) and Fudge Truffles

Today is the next flavor in the Layer Collection for Talenti Gelato.  It is called Dark Chocolate Cherry.  As usual with the Layer Collection pints, there are five layers here.  Two of the layers are Double Dark Chocolate Gelato, while the other three layers are mix-ins: chocolate flakes, black cherry sauce and fudge truffles.  This is the second of the layers pints to include cherry.  The other one, Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake, had cheesecake gelato bases and only had chocolate in the mix-ins.  So this promises to have a more chocolatey flavor palate.  Let's check it out.

Unscrewing the lid on a layers pint only reveals the top base.  I see a tiny bit of frost on top because of the pocket of air but it does not appear to be anything to be concerned about.  I extract out a slice of the pint to show all the layers and I primarily see chocolate.  The black cherry sauce is a deep read and it has mixed with the chocolate flakes to form a mix-in layer between the two gelato layers.  On the bottom are these fairly large chocolate truffles.  Digging in, the dark chocolate gelato is quite delicious.  It is not too 'dark', but it has a definite strong cocoa flavor.  The black cherry and chocolate flakes layer is also quite tasty.  I can tell it is a darker black cherry flavor.  Visually, it does not look like a lot of red is in this pint, but a little bit of cherry goes a long way.  Then on the bottom are the chocolate truffles.  I really like these!  They are a lot like the truffles in the Salted Caramel Truffle flavor, but they have a solid-but-soft chocolate in the middle instead of caramel.  I think the inclusion of these types of mix-ins is one of the bonuses of the layers pints.  These truffles would likely be too large to evenly swirl into a normal flavor.

This layers pint is well done!  In terms of a cherry/chocolate pint, I liked this one a bit better than the Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake flavor because the chocolate gelato was softer and allowed for easier mixing.  I should note as I have with all the other layers flavors that I feel like extracting out a slice for the photos gives me an advantage when eating the pint.  Once I have a slice removed, it is pretty easy for me to sample from all the layers with my spoon as I eat out of the jar.  I suppose if this gets too tricky one can scoop it out of the jar and into a bowl before eating it.  Anyhow, this a delicious chocolate and cherry pint.