Sweet Science - Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip - Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Chocolate Chips and a Peanut Butter Swirl

Today we return to the Saint Paul-based Sweet Science brand for their implementation of a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip flavor.  I bought it at their scoop shop in the Keg & Case Market.  This flavor is actually just a mild permutation of a previous flavor of theirs called Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookie.  It may not warrant a completely separate review, but I got it anyways because I feel like I have been missing out on this brand of late because a lot of their recent monthly seasonal flavors are re-releases -- usually very good, but I only write up new flavors.  Anyhow, let's check this out.

Removing the lid, I see the light beige color of the peanut butter base with hints of some of the darker tan of a peanut butter swirl.  The chocolate chips looks like simple miniature chips that are often used for baking.  Digging in, the peanut butter flavor in the base is excellent.  It does not have any peanut-crunch to it, but it has a very nutty flavor.  The simple chips are actually quite efficient at delivering the chocolate.  You really get a lot of chocolate flavor chewing on these.  The extra peanut butter swirls are excellent -- delivering extra peanut butter without ever becoming too much.

This is a simple, but excellent pint of peanut butter chocolate chip.  I do think the flavor from early 2018 was slightly better -- there was a denser group of mix-ins, it almost felt like I was eating a candy bar.  That said, although the chocolate chips here are much simpler, they might add more chocolate to the mix.  If you are at Keg & Case and in the mood for peanut butter, do not hesitate.

Museum of Ice Cream - Queen Bee

Queen Bee - Honey Ice Cream with Chocolatey Covered Honeycomb & English Toffee with Almonds

The Museum of Ice Cream has new flavors this summer!  As mentioned in my first review of this brand, the Museum of Ice Cream started in 2016 as an experience-based museum that traveled from city to city where you can do things like play in giant sprinkle pools and stuff like that.  Last summer, they teamed up with Target to release seven flavors.  Some of them were a little heavy on candy mix-ins but some of them were pretty decent.  You can check them out in my review archive here.  This year, they have added several new flavors featuring new pint designs and what at first glance appears to be more savory flavors (more chocolates, caramels and malts and pretzels).  Today's flavor is called Queen Bee.  It is a Honey-centric flavor which a honey base, a honey mix-in and also toffee and almonds.  I got the pint at Target.

Removing the lid, they have a foil cover with a clever saying on it.  Coolhaus does that.  This one is telling me to 'dive right in'.  OK, let's go!  Peeling back the foil, I see a pint which is peppered with lots of mix-ins.  I see the lighter brown of the English toffee and the darker brown of the chocolate-covered honeycomb.  Digging in, the honey base is not too strong, but you can tell there is honey in it.  I enjoyed the toffee and almond pieces.  The toffee pieces outnumbered the almond pieces but I could still feel the occasional crunch from the almonds.  The chocolate coating of the honeycomb pieces was quite good, but like a recent Graeter's pint, I was not really into the odd hard-candy-like crunch of the honeycomb pieces themselves.  The chocolate coating certainly helped though.

This is an interesting pint.  It is the second flavor that I have had this summer which has included "honeycomb candies", so perhaps this type of candy is getting hot right now.  This particular type of candy is not for me, though.  It is just too much like hard candy -- like a candy cane pieces but made with honey.  I think I would have preferred like a chocolate covered honeycomb cereal instead.  The other mix-ins certainly helped though, so I liked this better then the recent Graeter's pint.  But of course, if you really like these types of hard honeycomb candy pieces, you'll certainly enjoy this pint more than me.

Pumphouse Creamery - Fresh Peach

Fresh Peach - Colorado Peaches Folded into Madagascar Vanilla Ice Cream

Today's pint comes from the Pumphouse Creamery in south Minneapolis.  This is the third pint that I picked up in my recent visit to the Chicago Avenue scoop shop.  The first was Garam Masala, the second was Blueberries and Buttermilk and the today's third pint is Fresh Peach.  Pumphouse specializes in seasonal fruit and other garden-type flavors.  Their most famous flavor is the springtime Fresh Rhubarb and I really enjoyed their Door County Sour Cherry flavor last fall.  August and September is peach season and I am seeing Colorado Peaches at my grocery stores and my pie shops.  So, I am excited to check this flavor out.

Removing the lid, I am greeted by a giant hunk of peach just under the lid.  Cool.  I see it sitting on top of a creamy white vanilla base.  Digging in, the peach tastes pretty darn good.  It goes quite well with the thick and creamy vanilla as well.  As I eat my way further down the pint, I am finding that some of the peach pieces are pretty big which is always fun.  I did find that a couple of the peach pieces were frozen which is not ideal but perhaps unavoidable for pieces this large frozen into ice cream.  The easy thing to do avoid chewing right away which gives it a chance to melt in my mouth.  Doing, that I was able to avoid biting into a frozen peach piece.

This is an excellent implementation of a peach ice cream.  Checking my archives, the major competition was a seasonal pint I got by mail from Graeter's.  I really liked both, but there were distinctive differences.  Graeter's had smaller peach pieces in a peach-flavored base and perhaps the best overall peach flavor.  This Pumphouse pint had larger peach pieces in a vanilla base, so it was more of a peaches and cream.  This pint also had more of a homemade feel to it.  The most important advantage this Pumphouse pint has is that is is available now -- though their website is telling me only through late September.  Check it out if you are in the area and you like peaches.

Izzy's - Cherry Nut

Cherry Nut - Cherry Ice Cream with Sweet Cherry halves and Salty Walnut Pieces

Today's flavor is from the Saint-Paul based Izzy's Ice Cream and is called Cherry Nut.  I got it hand-packed at the scoop shop.  They have a cool flavor up system on their website where they tell you all 32 flavors that they are currently scooping at both the Minneapolis and Saint Paul shops.  I usually have lots of time on my bus ride home from work to check to see which flavor are currently scooping, but if you are not that obsessive, you can sign up to have them email you if your favorite flavor gets cycled in.  Anyhow, this looks like a fun flavor.  Cherry ice cream with both cherry and walnut mix-ins.  Let's check it out!

Removing the lid, the the cherry base is a light pink color and a couple of the cherry mix-ins are visible already.  The cherry-half mix-ins look quite similar to the ones in Izzy's Cherries Jubilee flavor.  Digging in, the cherry base is a sweet cherry as opposed to a darker cherry.  It is not a candy-sweet cherry like a maraschino cherry which might be fun for a scoop but be too much for a full pint.  The cherry here is sweet, but not too sweet.  The cherry halves are soft (not at all frozen) and juicy and are quite delicious.  It is really generous to have such large cherry halves in a cherry ice cream like this.  Then, the walnut mix-ins are distributed throughout the pint.  They provide a good crunchy texture.  The walnuts appear to be peeled because I do not at all taste any bitterness that you sometimes get with the peel of a walnut.

This is quite a good cherry-centric flavor from Izzy's.  The excellent cherry halves make this a good recommendation for cherry lovers.  It is sort of a sister flavor to the very similar Cherries Jubilee flavor.  This Cherry Nut pint having nuts is a significant difference but the biggest difference is the Cherries Jubilee pint having brandy in the mix.  The brandy is not very 'boozy', but it does make a significant difference in the feel and flavor of the pint.  If you're in the mood for a mildly spiked pint, I'd try the Cherries Jubilee.  If you are not in the mood for brandy, then this pint is the one to get.

Pumphouse Creamery - Fresh Blueberries and Buttermilk

Fresh Blueberries and Buttermilk - Blueberries and Buttermilk Ice Cream

Today is another pint from Pumphouse Creamery in South Minneapolis.  I picked up three pints last time I was there.  Garam Masala was the first, and the second is called Fresh Blueberries & Buttermilk.  It is a blueberry ice cream which is made with buttermilk.  An interesting combination.  I have seen peaches with buttermilk once from Jeni's here.   I have seen lemon with buttermilk from Pumphouse and Jeni's.  I've had a lemon, blueberry and buttermilk yogurt from Jeni's here.  This pint from Pumphouse is just blueberries and buttermilk (no lemon).  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, I see a the light bluish purple color of the blueberry buttermilk base with lots of blueberry pieces visible.  Digging in, though I immediately taste the effects of the buttermilk.  Thankfully, it does not taste like drinking buttermilk.  It tastes pretty good!  It is not outwardly sour but it is definitely not as sweet as normal ice cream.  The best analogy I can think of is a sourdough bread.  This is the ice cream version of a sourdough bread.  The blueberry pieces are delicious and go pretty well into the buttermilk base.  I am really liking this combination.

This is a fun and unique ice cream flavor!  The effects of the buttermilk are the strongest that I have yet seen in a pint of ice cream, but it is still good!  It creates sort of a cultured sourdough-like flavor which I found quite fascinating.  This might not be for everyone but if you are not in the mood for something overly sweet and a cultured base sounds interesting, then you should give this flavor a try.

Graeter's - Vienna Coffee

Vienna Coffee - Espresso-flavored Ice Cream made with Sumatran and Columbian Arabica Beans

Today is the sixth and final review from my recent six-pint shipment from the Cincinnati-based Graeter's Ice Cream.  This flavor is called Vienna Coffee.  I had never heard of Vienna Coffee, but I guess it is a reference to a specific beverage.  Vienna coffee is two cups of espresso and instead of mixing it with cream and sugar, it is mixed with whipped cream.  It sounds like a fun drink.  I guess ice cream is a form of whipped cream -- it is churned and frozen instead of simply whipped and served.  So, you could almost say that all coffee ice creams are similar to a frozen Vienna Coffee.  But it is still a fun name and it is fun for me to learn about new things.

On to the ice cream. Removing the lid, the coffee-base is quite light in color.  Perhaps there is more cream used here?  Digging in, I immediately taste the coffee flavor.  It is not extremely strong, but I can tell that it is made with a stronger bean and then diluted with cream -- it has a little bit of an espresso bite to it.  I am not a coffee afficiando myself, so I double-checked with my coffee-loving friend and they liked it and thought it was good coffee flavor.

This is a well-done implementation of a coffee ice cream.  It is not too strong, but I can tell there is a slight espresso-like flavor underneath the milk and cream.  It has a good creamy texture which I have come to expect from Graeter's.  Nothing too fancy, but if you are in the mood for a simple, but well done coffee ice cream and you like Graeter's, then give this pint a try.

Pumphouse Creamery - Garam Masala

Garam Masala - Indian-inspired Ice Cream using Coriander, Cumin, Cardamom, Black Pepper, Cloves, Nutmeg and Cinnamon

The flavor today comes from the Pumphouse Creamery in South Minneapolis.  I like to go there at least once a season to see if they have any interesting new flavors.  Today's flavor is called Garam Masala and is an ice cream based on a blend of Indian spices.  Masala means 'spice blend', while garam means 'hot'.  I have had an Indian spice blend once before from McConnell's where it was mixed with tea, date and nuts here.  I had a sample spoonful in the scoop shop and it was quite good, so I am looking forward to this.

Removing the lid, I see an off-white yellow base with lots of speckles from the spices.  It is yellower than I would expect a sweet cream to be, so I believe the spices have modified the color of the base a bit in addition to adding the speckles.  In the first spoonful, I taste a fair amount of spices right away.  It's an interesting mix, but I don't think it is as strong as the sample that I tried at the scoop shop.  I can taste that it is different than the five-spice, or the spices that make up the spices in a pumpkin spice -- that must be the coriander and the cumin.  But it's not as distinctly Indian as I remembered my sample in the scoop shop.  Did I have the pint in my freezer too long before eating it?  Usually spices get stronger when stored, though.  Or maybe the pints were made from a different batch than the scooping bin?  I'm not sure.

This is an interesting experimental flavor from Pumphouse, but I was a little disappointed that the spices were not as strong as I was expecting.  I do have a strong spice tolerance though -- especially compared to my Midwestern neighbors.  Perhaps the flavor is muted for the local clientele, I don't know.  Sample this flavor at the shop before getting a scoop instead of committing to a pre-packaged pint.

Graeter's - Cookies & Cream

Cookies & Cream - Sweet Cream with Oreo Cookie Pieces

Today is the fifth pint from my recent six-pint shipment from the Cincinnati-based Graeter's Ice Cream.  The first four pints of my shipment were special summer releases, the last two are from their standard menu.  I have not yet tried every flavor on the standard menu, so that is OK.  Today's flavor is the classic Cookies & Cream.  I tried their Cheesecake Cookies & Cream last summer when it was a limited release, but I have not yet had their regular cookies & cream.  I admit this is a bit backwards but it is not unusual for me to do this.  The limited batch flavors are often a twist on the standard flavors and there is an urgency for me to try the limited batch flavors first because they are only out for a limited time.  In this implementation of cookies & cream, a sweet cream (i.e. no vanilla) is used for the base and Oreo-brand sandwich cookies are used for the mix-ins.

Removing the lid, I see a sweet cream base that is speckled with a lot of cookie crumbs.  Oreos make very fine crumbs when you crush them.  There are hints of larger cookie pieces as well.  As I dig in, it is not long before I encounter a very large cookie piece.  Check out the picture below.  You can see the creme filling between the two chocolate halves.  I don't think I've seen a cookie that larger before -- I'm not sure what happened, but I like it.  It reminds me of some of the very large chocolate chips that you often get in Graeter's Signature Chip line.  It is quite good.  Oreos in ice cream is a winning combination.

This is a simple, yet quite good implementation of cookies & cream.  Real Oreos are used with some pieces being quite large.  The sweet cream base is simple, yet creamy and good as you would expect from Graeter's.  This simple flavor is one that your supermarket might carry if it carries Graeter's.  It's certainly worth checking out to see how it compares to cookies & cream from other brands.

Milkjam Creamery - Waka Flocka Flakes

Waka Flocka Flakes - Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with Caramelized Cornflakes & a Berry Swirl

Today I return to the Minneapolis-based Milkjam Creamery for a flavor called Waka Flocka Flakes.  I have been eyeing this flavor on their website all summer, but every time I visit, it is not available in pints.  Finally, on my last visit they had it!  It is a cereal-based flavor.  Caramelized cornflakes are mixed into vanilla bean ice cream with a berry swirl.  I cannot wait to check it out.

The name of the pint reminded me of Fozzie Bear but a quick googling tells me that it is a reference to the rapper Waka Flocka Flame, but it turns out the rapper's name is a reference to Fozzie Bear.  I guess the rapper's given name is Juaquin and one of his young cousins used to call him 'Waka' which reminded everyone of Fozzie and the nickname stuck.  Waka even has a diamond-encrusted Fozzie-bear necklace.  So it is all connected.

On to the ice cream!  Removing the lid, I see a the vanilla base is an off-white yellowish color with quite a lot of the berry swirl marbled in even on the very top of the pint.  Some of the corn flakes can be seen on the top as well.  As I dig in, the berry flavor of the swirl is quite good.  I encounter the corn flakes pretty quickly.  Unfortunately, they have gotten a bit soggy in the ice cream, but the flavor is good.  The caramelization of the flakes is fairly light and subtle.  Mainly, I just taste corn flakes.  The berry swirl is the best part of the pint.  Upon closer examination, I see that this is a mixed berry blend.  I saw a peel fragment which obviously blueberry.  I saw some seeds too.  Some smaller seeds that looked like they came from blueberries as well as larger seeds that normally come from a cane berry (i.e. raspberries and/or blackberries).  It was a good berry mix.

This is an interesting cereal-based flavor from Milkjam Creamery.  I liked the flavor of the berry swirl and the corn flake mix-ins, but the sogginess of the corn flakes kept this flavor from being a home run.  I said the same thing about their Cereal Killers flavor.  The other cereal flavor I have had from them -- Monster Mash -- did not have this issue.  That's not to say that I did not like this flavor, corn flakes an berries are a fun and delicious combination, but the sogginess may be an issue for some.  I asked this in the Cereal Killers review, but perhaps the cereal is crispier in the scooping bins at the scoop shop?

Graeter's - Brown Butter Bourbon Pecan

Brown Butter Bourbon Pecan - Bourbon-glazed Pecan Pieces in Brown Butter Bourbon Ice Cream

Today is pint four in my six-pint shipment from the Cincinnati-based Graeter's Ice Cream.  The flavor is called Brown Butter Bourbon Pecan and it was a limited-batch flavor which was released this spring in time for the Kentucky Derby.  Although it is a limited release, the carton has its own artwork so I think this might be a flavor that gets re-released from time to time.  I tried a variation on this flavor with Graeter's signature chocolate chips a couple of years ago and reviewed it here.  It will be interesting to try a more pure version of the bourbon pecan flavor combination.

Removing the lid, the brown butter bourbon base as a very light off-white color.  Several of the pecan pieces are visible right away.  There is a small void on the top of the pint on one of the sides, and I like the way it looks like the pecans are bubbling up through the base there.  It makes the base look extra creamy.  Digging in, the base is indeed quite creamy!  The brown butter bourbon flavor in the base is fairly mild but quite tasty.  The base is serving here to act as a vehicle for the pecan pieces.  The pecan pieces are numerously dispersed throughout the pint and they taste very good.  They pecans are billed as being bourbon-glazed, but the glaze has melted to create little pools of bourbon flavor around every nut.  I have seen this in-suspension melting happen with small toffee pieces or brittle pieces before.  I actually really like it when this happens.  The bourbon flavor itself was tasty but there was no kick or burn associated with it.  I think it is just bourbon flavoring and the pint does not contain any actual alcohol.

This is a very good pint of ice cream.  The brown butter base is simple, but quite good and the pecan pieces whose glaze had melted to give the effect that the nuts were sitting in small pools of liquid bourbon flavor were excellent.  This is sort of a souped up version of a butter pecan flavor.  Fans of butter pecan who enjoy a little bourbon flavoring should really love this.

Sweet Science - White Chocolate Raspberry

White Chocolate Raspberry - White Chocolate Ice Cream with a Raspberry Swirl

The Saint Paul-based Sweet Science Ice Cream has two seasonal flavors for August.  The first flavor is Sweet Corn Blueberry which I have reviewed previously here.  The second flavor is called White Chocolate Raspberry.  They say that this flavor is 'returning' but it must be returning from before when I starting surveying their flavors in mid-2017 or so.  It is a white chocolate base with a raspberry swirl.  Let's check it out!

Removing the lid,  I immediately see quite a bit of the raspberry swirl.  It is relatively dark in color and looks like a thick jam.  Digging in, the raspberry swirl is excellent.  It is thick and filled with raspberry flavor, it is a little bit tart but not overly so.  This swirl is really well done.  The white chocolate base is decent.  White chocolate is an inert flavor for me -- it is usually just cocoa butter and sugar -- but here I do note that the cocoa butter does seem to make the base a bit richer and creamier than usual.

This is an excellent pint of ice cream.  The raspberry swirl is one of the better fruit swirls that I have encountered.  It has lots of raspberry flavor and is the perfect blend of sweet and tart.  It works really well in a white chocolate base.  I checked my archives and found that white chocolate and raspberry is not an uncommon flavor combination.  The closest I can find is a Milkjam Valentines Day flavor which was good, but the swirl here is much better.   Häagen-Dazs has a similar flavor, but it again the swirl is not as good and it also contains dark chocolate chunks.  Pumphouse has a flavor with a similarly excellent swirl of black raspberry, but with a vanilla base and oatmeal streusel, they are going more for a pie-a-la-mode feel.  Anyhow, this Sweet Science pint is excellent.  They are a super-premium brand that costs a little more, but with this flavor you certainly feel you are getting your money's worth.  Enjoy.

Graeter's - Piña Colada

Piña Colada - Coconut Ice Cream with Chunks of Pineapple and a Hint of Rum

Today we move on to the third pint in my recent six-pint shipment from the Cincinnati-based Graeter's Ice Cream.  This flavor is called Piña Colada and it is a coconut ice cream with a pineapple mix-ins and some rum mixed in as well.  The ice cream is named after the popular sweet cocktail which contains the same ingredients and of course everyone knows about the drink from the old Rupert Holmes song from the late 1970s.  I like tropical-themed flavors, so I am excited to give this pint a try.


Removing the lid, the coconut-rum base has a bright white color.  The ice cream is thick and creamy as is typical of Graeter's.  I can taste the coconut in the base, but the rum flavor is actually quite a bit more noticeable.  The flavor description on the website states that the ice cream contains no alcohol, so this is not a 'boozy' pint but I can really taste the dark flavor of rum here.  Small chunks of pineapple are dispersed throughout the pint.  These are bright and fruity and go well with the coconut-rum base.  It does taste quite a bit like a piña colada.

I quite enjoyed this pint.  The ingredients of this flavor are quite similar to the Pineapple Coconut flavor from Häagen Dazs.  The inclusion of rum here makes it a completely different flavor.  The Häagen Dazs flavor is bright and fruity while the rum here makes the Graeter's flavor a bit darker and more like the adult beverage.  Which one you would prefer would probably depend on personal taste or mood (personally, I'm inclined to like the Häagen Dazs a bit better) but they are both quite good. 

Sebastian Joe's - Bailey's Raspberry Truffle

Sebastian Joe's - Bailey's Raspberry Truffle - Raspberry Ice Cream infused with Baileys Cream with Chocolate Truffles

Today's flavor is the second pint that I picked up in my recent trip to the Minneapolis-based Sebastian Joe's Ice Cream.  This flavor is called Bailey's Raspberry Truffle.  The individual flavor pages at the Sebastian Joe's website do not appear to say much, but there is a full list of flavors here.  This looks like a twist on the classic raspberry chocolate chip flavor.  The twist is that the raspberry base is blended with Bailey's Irish Cream and that chocolate truffles are used instead of chocolate chips.  I cannot wait to check it out.

Removing the lid, the raspberry base has the expected pink flavor and a few of the chocolate truffles are visible right away.  They look lozenge-shaped on first glance, but when I take one out (see photo below) they are like mini-chocolate cups.  Digging in, the raspberry base is delicious and I can tell right away that it is spiked.  It's not at all boozy, and there is no burn, but I definitely notice the flavor of the Bailey's mixed in with the raspberry.  I really liked it.  I'd be curious to know what a kid would think of it or if only adults would appreciate this flavor blend.  The truffles mix-ins are dispersed generously throughout the pint and they are quite good.  At first, I thought they might be raspberry filled but I think that was just the base ice cream from the rest of the spoonful that I was tasting when I thought that.  These truffles are quite good.  They are definitely harder on the outside than on the inside which is why I thought they might be filled.  That makes them easier to chew.

This is a really good pint of ice cream!  It is like a deluxe version of the standard raspberry chocolate chip flavor.  The Baileys is delicious and blended with the raspberry extremely well and the truffles are very chewy and chocolatey.  It does make me wish I had tried their standard Raspberry Chocolate Chip flavor first, but that's more of a compliment than a complaint.  Check it out if you see it available.