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.