Graeter's - Malted Pretzel Ball

Malted Pretzel Ball - Milk Chocolate Pretzel Balls in Malted Ice Cream

I got a shipment from the Cincinnati-based Graeter's Ice Cream!  Graeter's has a lot of seasonal flavors and I was noticing while shopping online that I haven't tried any of their late-spring/early-summer selections (my shipment last year was in late summer).  They also have a couple of limited batch flavors which look quite interesting.  The shipment almost did not happen.  Often Graeter's runs out of their seasonal and limited batch flavors -- at least online.  It seemed like that was happening to me as a couple of flavors were being marked as sold out, but then one day all the flavors that I wanted got restocked!  And they came, too.  Woohoo!  Anyhow, the first flavor in my shipment is one of the limited-batch flavors:  Malted Pretzel Ball.  It is a malted ice cream with milk chocolate pretzel balls.  Let's check it out!

Removing the lid, the base ice cream is quite light in color.  It is not a pure white, but it could pass for a sweet cream or vanilla.  One of the pretzel balls is visible right away on the top.  As I dig in, the malt flavor is noticeable, but not too strong.  Next I encounter the pretzel balls.  These are excellent.  They are about the size of marbles.  They are salty and crunchy on the inside with a chocolate coating.  They are dispersed throughout the pint, but not quite as many of them as I expected.  They're good when I encounter them, though.

This is a pretty good pint of pretzel ice cream.  It is basically a simpler and lighter version of Chubby Hubby -- malt and chocolate-covered pretzels, but without the peanut butter in the base or mix-ins.  Peanut butter is a big part of Chubby Hubby, though, so this ends up being a very different flavor.  Here, the malted base is simple and not very strong, but it serves as a good vehicle for the excellent pretzel balls.  I would have liked a few more pretzel balls.  I understand you don't want to overdo this type of mix-in but they were hard to find at times.  It is still a solid pint and worth checking out if you like pretzels.