Sebastian Joe's - Dakota Cherry

Dakota Cherry - Black Cherry and White Chocolate Ice Cream with Almond Pieces

Today is another flavor from Sebastian Joe's of Minneapolis.  This flavor is called Dakota Cherry.  It is a black cherry with white chocolate and almonds.  Their flavor page lists a Dakota Berry but the guy at the scoop shop on Lowry Hill assured me that this is Black Cherry.  It sounded interesting and different from what I've been eating recently, so I am looking forward to it.

Removing the lid, the carton is packed full with a dark pink ice cream.  Several of the almond mix-ins can be seen on the top already.  Like most Sebastian Joe's pints, this ice cream is very dense and thick.  The black cherry base has a lot of small cherry pieces in it and it is quite delicious.  Dispersed throughout the pint are small almond pieces which are just large enough to provide a bit of crunch to most spoonfuls.  I do not specifically taste the white chocolate, but I have noted in the past that white chocolate is an inert flavor on my taste buds.  I think what has happened here is that the white chocolate is blended completely into the base cream and is used to cut the strong cherry flavor a bit.  If so, it did work!  The black cherry flavor is quite good without being overpowering.

I really enjoyed this flavor.  The closest flavor I can find in my archive is Cherry Nut from Izzy's which I also really liked.  There are key differences between the two flavors, though.  The main difference is that this is a black cherry while Izzy's uses regular cherries.  Also, this pint uses almonds while Izzy's uses walnuts but that's a smaller difference.  Which one you prefer depends on what type of cherry you are in the mood for, but either way, you can't go wrong.

Ample Hills - I Contain Breakfast Foods

I Contain Breakfast Foods - Sweet Cream Ice Cream with a touch of Cinnamon, pieces of Chocolate Donuts and Coffee Cake Crumble

The next pint in my four pint shipment from the Ample Hills Creamery in Brooklyn is called I Contain Breakfast Foods.  It is only available as the shop-specific flavor for their location in Brooklyn Bridge Park -- and occasionally they make it available online.  This is the second breakfast-themed flavor in a row -- the first flavor in my shipment was Boozy Breakfast.  I Contain Breakfast Foods contains a sweet cream base with cinnamon, pieces of chocolate donuts (the breakfast of champions after all) and coffee cake crumble.  Looks good.

But I had to ask:  what kind of a name for an ice cream flavor is "I Contain Breakfast Foods"?  It turns out that it is a Walt Whitman reference.  Whitman's poem Crossing Brooklyn's Ferry refers to Brooklyn as having "ample hills" in its fifth stanza -- which is how this brand got its name.  So, when the New York Public Library was celebrating Whitman's 200th birthday last year, Ample Hills decided to create a new flavor to commemorate the occasion.  This flavor is a reference to another Walt Whitman poem called Song of Myself.  Near the end of the poem is a section that reads:

Do I contradict myself?

Very well then I contradict myself,

(I am large, I contain multitudes.)

... which has gotten a little bit of traction as an online meme.  It's difficult to try to interpret poems (and online memes), so I will leave that as an exercise for the reader.

On to the ice cream!  Removing the lid, I see a sizeable air pocket.  I always get a little bummed about this, because I feel like I could have gotten more ice cream.  It's probably not that much and it is also probably a fluke.  The base is darker than the usual sweet cream -- sweet cream is usually white.  It could be the cinnamon or that some of the color has dissolved away from the mix-ins.  The first spoonful is thick and creamy.  I do taste some cinnamon but I also taste some brown sugar and a little bit of chocolate.  At first the mix-ins are crumb-sized and numerous but as I dig my way down, I start to encounter larger pieces.  The larger pieces are quite soft and chewy.  The flavors of two cake-like mix-ins are not too strong -- I taste mild chocolate in the donut ones and mainly brown-sugar in the coffee-cake ones -- but they did blend well.

I liked this ice cream.  The breakfast pastry mix-ins were not too strong or distinctive but they blended well with the cinnamon in the base ice cream.  This is not a home run flavor for me compared to other Ample Hills flavors but it is still tasty.  If you are at their scoop shop in Brooklyn Bridge Park, check it out.

Pumphouse - Heirloom Corn Masa

Heirloom Corn Masa - Heirloom Corn Masa Flavored Ice Cream

Today, I try an interesting new flavor from Pumphouse Creamery in South Minneapolis.  This one is called Heirloom Corn Masa.  Masa is a corn-based dough, so this appears like it may be a tortilla-chip based ice cream.  Interesting!  Their flavor page says "Fear not friends, this flavor is a sleeper-stunner."  I am very eager to check this out.

Popping off the lid, I see that the base ice cream is quite light in color and I can see little specks of the masa mix-ins.  With the first spoonful, the ice cream is soft and creamy.  The masa flavor in the base is not too strong.  It's definitely more flavor than sweet cream and it's definitely not vanilla.  Then I encounter the corn masa pieces.  These are quite interesting!  They are like tortilla chips but a little thicker and sweeter.  It is a bit like a cross between a tortilla chips and a waffle-cone pieces.  This material would make for interesting material for a waffle cone actually.  Also, perhaps the material that makes up the shells of those 'ice cream tacos' that some brands sell. 

I really liked this!  "Sleeper-stunner" is correct.  Like other recent experimental flavors from Pumphouse like Cardamon with Candied Orange Peel and Lemon Olive Oil & Sea Salt, this might not be ideal for kids but it's fun and surprisingly delicious for adult palates.  Unfortunately, I think it might have fallen out of their scoop shop rotation already -- maybe this was just a winter-time experiment?  Perhaps I am biased towards unique and unusal flavors, but I hope they bring it back someday.

Izzy's - S'more Fun

S'more Fun - Toasted Marshmallow Ice Cream with a Swirl of Toasted Marshmallows and Chocolate-Covered Graham Crackers

I recently got a Flavor Up alert from Izzy's Ice Cream in Saint Paul.  Their flavor S'more Fun was available.  I had put an alert on it as one of the flavors that I should try and when it showed up in their scooping bin, they sent me an email.  It looks like this flavor was created specifically for the 2017 Minnesota State Fair.  (Contemporary links: here, here, and here ... ctrl-F to find Izzy's in each link)  For many years, they have had a kiosk inside the Hamline Church Dining Hall at the fair and often have a new flavor created.  Last year's flavor was Dessa's Night Drive. 

S'mores is an old girl scout treat from the early 20th century that consists of a toasted marshmallow and chocolate on a graham cracker.  Many different ice cream brands have implemented an ice cream flavor based on this treat, each putting its own twist on this combination of those three flavors.  Ben & Jerry's (twice), Graeter's, Sweet Science, Milkjam Creamery, Coolhaus and now Izzy's.  I have seen each of the three ingredients as the base ice cream with the other two as the mix-ins.  Here, the base ice cream is toasted marshmallow-flavored and the mix-ins are chocolate-covered graham cracker pieces.  The other implementation with a marshmallow base is the second Ben & Jerry flavor ("Gimme S'more!")  Let's see how Izzy's compares!

Upon removing the lid, I see the toasted marshmallow base is a medium beige color.  This marshmallow base does appear to be 'toasted'.  Digging in, it is a thick, creamy base.  There is enough marshmallow in the base to affect the texture a bit.  The marshmallow parts feel a bit more frozen to me.  I can taste the caramelization of the marshmallows a bit -- created the 'toasted' flavor.  Dispersed throughout the pint are the chocolatey mix-ins.  These are much more chocolate than graham cracker.  If it wasn't for the flavor name, I would have assumed that these were just chocolate.  I had to look to find a few graham cracker pieces.  They mix-ins tasted pretty good, though.

I was slightly disappointed by this flavor.  It wasn't bad, though.  If you see it in the scooping bin and you are in the mood for toasted marshmallows with chocolate then feel free to have a scoop, but I did not think it was as good as most of the other implementations linked above.  Perhaps my expectations are too high as I have really loved some recent Izzy's flavors.  Coolhaus still has my favorite S'mores flavor.

Ample Hills - Boozy Breakfast

Boozy Breakfast - Mocha Stout Ice Cream Featuring Other Half Brewery Stout and Pieces of Housemade Oatmeal Cookies

I ordered a four-pint shipment from the Brooklyn-based Ample Hills Creamery!  My orders from Ample Hills usually depend on whether or not I can find four flavors available that I have not tried before.  I was able to find that and pulled the trigger on a shipment.  None of these flavors are available locally in Minnesota.  The first flavor is called Boozy Breakfast.  It is a mocha stout ice cream with oatmeal cookie pieces.  The stout used here is from the Other Half Brewery in Brooklyn.  Stout and chocolate blend surprisingly well as evidenced by two previous pints from Häagen-Dazs and Sweet Science.  I wonder why Ample Hills associates this flavor combination with breakfast?  Anyhow, it should be fun to check it out.

The top of the pint looks quite chocolatey.  It is about a medium brown color -- not that dark, but not as light as I've seen some chocolate bases, either.  Digging in, the base ice cream is quite good.  Contrary to the flavor name, I would not call this 'boozy'.  The stout accents the chocolate and coffee flavors quite well without taking over.  So, don't be afraid if you're not into booze or stout in general.  This is a good flavor blend.  Dispersed throughout the pint are the oatmeal cookie pieces.  These are fun to chew on.  Not the typical flavor of an oatmeal cookie but good nonetheless.

I enjoyed this pint.  Ample Hills is good at blending flavors into their base ice creams in a unique way and this mocha stout base is another good example of that.  The oatmeal cookie mix-ins were decent, but not as good as the ones in their amazing Nonna D's Oatmeal Lace. I do applaud the effort to create a unique mix-in for this flavor, though.  Check it out if you are curious about how well Stout mixes with chocolate.  If you can't get a hold of this flavor, you can try Häagen-Dazs' stout-and-chocolate flavor.  It was my favorite from last year's Spirits Collection.

Pumphouse - Orange + Tangerine Sorbet with Sweet Cream

Orange & Tangerine Sorbet with Sweet Cream - Sweet Cream with a Swirl of Orange and Tangerine Sorbet

The Pumphouse Creamery in South Minneapolis is the source for the next flavor:  Orange + Tangerine Sorbet with Sweet Cream.  Their flavor page says that it seasonal flavor designed to take advantage of the citrus season.  This appears to be another one of those 'dreamsicle'-based flavors.  I had a similar flavor last month from Sweet Science.  This flavor is a little different.  There is both orange and tangerine in the sorbet and the base is sweet cream instead of vanilla.  This is the second pint I have had with tangerine in it.  The first being one of the lesser-known but still-on-the-menu Häagen-Dazs flavors called Vanilla, Tangerine & Shortbread.  Citrus flavors in the winter are a fun antidote to the cold weather.

Opening the pint, the sweet cream base is a bright white color and there is quite a bit of the sorbet on the top.  The colors are so bright and the top of the pint is so smooth that I had trouble getting my camera to focus in the first picture.  I usually catch this, but oh well.  The subsequent photos are in focus as scooping leaves some texture on top for the camera to focus on.  Digging in, the sorbet is a bit icy in texture, but the flavor is really good.  The inclusion of tangerine in the mix makes the flavor much more interesting.  The sweet cream base is quite thick -- it took a little effort to get my spoon through it.  Perhaps I should have left the pint on the counter for a few minutes before digging in.  It was good, though.

I liked this pint.  The orange/tangerine sorbet has a very good flavor which went well with the sweet cream.  I liked this about as much as last month's Sweet Science flavor I mentioned above.  The sorbet here had a more interesting flavor because it included tangerine, but the texture here was a little icy.  Check this one out if you like the idea of a tangerine dreamsicle.

Sweet Science - Espresso Brownie Party

Espresso Brownie Party - White Chocolate Vanilla Ice Cream with Espresso Brownies and Sprinkles

Today we return for the second January flavor from the Saint Paul-based Sweet Science Ice Cream.  The first flavor was Lemon Meringue Pie and today's flavor is called Espresso Brownie Party.  It features brownies made with espresso as mix-ins in a white chocolate vanilla base.  Sprinkles are in the mix as well -- I guess the sprinkles are the source of the 'party'.

Removing the lid, I see that the white chocolate vanilla base is quite white in color.  I see several of the brownie mix-ins right away.  I also see quite a few of the rainbow-colored sprinkles.  Digging in, the base has a very good texture.  White chocolate is a very neutral flavor to my taste buds so I taste mainly a hint of vanilla here.  The cocoa butter might make it a bit richer than a straight sweet cream or vanilla.  It is clear here that the base is to serve as a vehicle for the brownies.  The brownie mix-ins are bite-sized and soft.  They are also very delicious.  The chocolate dominates the espresso in these brownies at first.  Interestingly, I noticed the espresso most after I had finished the pint as a got a bit of a caffeine buzz from them.  The sprinkles provided a little bit of texture and sugar, but as with other ice creams I have had with sprinkles, most of what they bring is visual appeal.  These sprinkles do look great and make it feel like a party.

This is an excellent pint from Sweet Science.  The brownies are the main attraction here.  They have a great soft texture and deliver good chocolate flavor (with a kick of caffeine).  Check it out if you like brownie mix-ins.

Tillamook - Caramel Bananas Foster

Caramel Bananas Foster - Spiced Banana Frozen Custard with Bananas and a Caramel Rum Flavored Ribbon

The Oregon-based Tillamook Creamery has a new flavor in their pint collection!  It is called Caramel Bananas Foster.  I picked this up at the Kowalski's on Grand Avenue in Saint Paul.  I have had Banana's Foster-themed flavors a few times before -- from Coolhaus (review includes the history of the dessert), Izzy's and New Orleans Ice Cream.  It should be fun to see how this flavor compares.

Removing the lid, I see another one of those foil labels that are becoming more popular.  I don't mind this trend.  I like to save the lids of all the pints I eat as keepsakes and the foil keeps the lids clean.  It saves me time washing them.  The foil label says "Made to be enjoyed."  I do hope that I enjoy it!  Peeling back the foil, I see the off-white color of the banana base and there is a murky cloudiness on the top.  That must be the caramel.  Digging in, the base has a sweet banana flavor.  Sometimes Bananas Foster implementations go with the more earthy banana-bread type of banana flavor but this is a bit sweeter than that.  Not quite as sweet as banana cream pie though.  The texture is thick and creamy.  It reminds me of other Tillamook bases in that regard.  I taste a hint of cinnamon in the mix.  The cloudiness of the caramel appears to be just a surface effect.  There is a distinct caramel swirl below.  The swirl has a dark caramel flavor which goes with well with the banana.  I do not specifically taste rum, but it could be that the rum flavoring is the source of the darkness in the caramel (as opposed to a burnt caramel).

This is a solid implementation of a Bananas Foster flavor from Tillamook.  Banana and Caramel is a good combination and the rum flavoring appears to add bite to the caramel.  I like that they used a normal swirl trying to layer the ingredients as they have in some of their other pints.  I think my favorite is still Coolhaus, but you can't go wrong here.  More brands should try a Bananas Foster flavor.

Milkjam Creamery - Death By Chocula

Death By Chocula - Chocolate Monster Cereal with Chocolate Marshmallows

Today's flavor comes from Milkjam Creamery in Minneapolis.  It is called Death By Chocula.  I know what you are thinking.  Isn't that a Halloween flavor?  It is, but I did buy it this month.  Sometimes the pint selections at Milkjam lag a bit.  It is a cereal based on Count Chocula ice cream from General Mills.  Milkjam had a flavor from a previous Halloween called Monster Mash which combined all the monster cereals (Count Chocula, Frankenberry, Booberry).  This flavor focuses only on Count Chocula.  Let's check it out!

Removing the lid, the base ice cream has a brown color.  It has a slightly lighter color than I was expecting, but it still looks like chocolate.  Digging in, I taste the chocolate of course.  I also taste a bit of the 'cereal' even though I did not bit into anything crunchy.  Eating my way down, I don't notice much in the way of mix-ins, so it appears that most of the cereal and marshmallow pieces have been ground up before adding to the ice cream.  What is left is a near-homogenous mixture which has all the flavor of Count Chocula but not the texture.  This is one way of keeping the mix-ins from getting soggy.  I do not specifically notice marshmallow flavor, but I don't doubt that it is in there.  The marshmallow pieces in these types of cereals are sort of their own flavor and the flavor I am tasting is consistent with that.

This is a decent implementation of a Count Chocula ice cream.  It has all the flavor of the monster cereal, but as I mention above, the cereal and marshmallow pieces are ground up making for a mostly homogeneous ice cream.  It has a good milky chocolate flavor with notes of cereal flavor in the finish.  If you like the Count Chocola and don't mind that it is not crunchy, then this flavor is not bad.

Sebastian Joe's - Pineapple Toasted Coconut

Pineapple Toasted Coconut - Pineapple Ice Cream with Toasted Coconut

Today's flavor comes from the Minneapolis-based Sebastian Joe's Ice Cream.  It is called Pineapple Toasted Coconut.  I got it at the scoop shop in Lowry Hill (Franklin & Hennepin).  The tropical ingredients looked appealing to me during the middle of the winter, so I picked it up.

The top of Sebastian Joe's pints almost always show a thick dough-like texture to the ice cream -- at least by sight.  In the first spoonful, I taste a lot of pineapple.  It is quite strong.  The appeal is good at first, but after a couple of spoonfuls I get a medicine-like vibe from it.  It's not bad, but something feels a bit off.  Scattered throughout the pint are small threads of toasted coconut.  They provide some interesting texture, but pineapple is the dominant flavor here.

This is not a bad pint -- I was able to finish it -- but something about the pineapple flavor seemed a bit off.  Maybe this was just a flawed batch?  A rare miss from Sebastian Joe's -- for me at least.  I recommend Häagen-Dazs for this flavor combination.

Izzy's - Nut Goodie

Nut Goodie - Maple Nougat Ice Cream with Peanuts and Chocolate-Covered Peanuts

Today's flavor is from Izzy's Ice Cream.  I actually went to their scoop shop in Minneapolis for this flavor.  The Saint Paul shop is closer to where I live, but they have a flavor up page which lists the flavors and this flavor looked interesting enough to me to make the trek across the river.   It is called Nut Goodie -- after the candy bar from the Saint-Paul-based Pearson's Candy.  Growing up in Saint Paul, I would see Nut Goodie's and Salted Nut Rolls in the candy isle right alongside the Snickers and M&M's.  I had no idea they were local products until I moved away and could not find them anymore.  Now that I am back in Minnesota, I can enjoy them again.  Izzy's created this flavor a while back to celebrate Pearson's 100th anniversary.  It contains all the ingredients of a nut goodie: maple nougat, peanuts and chocolate.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, I see the maple nougat base is an off-white beige color.  I can see a few of the peanut mix-ins underneath the surface as well.  A few of them are just plain peanuts and at least one of them is chocolate-coated.  Digging in, the maple nougat base does taste just like the nougat in a nut goodie candy bar.  It is always interesting to have a nougat-flavored base.  I tend to thick of nougat as having a texture and consistency, but it has it's own distinct flavor as well.  Immersed in the ice cream are the peanut mix-ins.  About half of the peanuts are covered in chocolate while the other half are not.  This difference is quite fun.  Biting into each type of peanut is a completely difference experience so I did not know what to expect from bite to bite.

This is a good implementation of a nut-goodie-inspired ice cream from Izzy's.  There is more chocolate in the candy bar than there is in the ice cream flavor, but otherwise they nailed the flavor of the maple nougat filling almost exactly.  Izzy's has other nuttier flavors like Nut Crazy and they have a few other candy bar ice creams that they stock more often.  The appeal here is for those who have a specific affection for the Nut Goodie candy bar.

Sweet Science - Lemon Meringue Pie

Lemon Meringue Pie - Vanilla Wafer Ice Cream with Swirls of Lemon Curd and Meringue

The Saint-Paul-based Sweet Science Ice Cream has two limited-batch flavors for January:  Lemon
Meringue Pie and Espresso Brownie Party.  The exciting thing for me is that unlike the December flavors these are not flavors that I have seen in previous years, so I have new flavors to review!  The first flavor is Lemon Meringue Pie.  I am big fan of lemon as a flavor.  I don't think I have had a lemon pie flavor before.  I have had lemon cookie (Three Twins), lemon bars (Pumphouse), lemon peel (Sebastian Joe's) and lemon sponge cake (Izzy's), but not lemon pie.  I did have meringue once in a non-lemon (paired by Milkjam with a Strawberry Sorbet).  So, I am looking forward to this flavor.

Removing the lid, I see quite a bit!  I see thick creamy lemon curd (pie filling).  I see a couple of pockets of meringue on top -- they look like pockets of marshmallow that I sometimes see.  I see a couple of pieces of vanilla wafer and I see an off-white/yellow ice cream base holding it all together.  I get a bunch of lemon curd/pie filling in my first scoop and it is very good.  Very lemon-y, not too tart and delicious.  It tastes like a good lemon creme pie.  There is enough tartness in the pockets of meringue that I can tell that they are meringue and not just whipped cream, but it not too much.  The vanilla wafers provide a bit of crunch every now and again.  There is so much lemon curd and meringue in there that I don't notice the flavor of the base so much but somehow it is holding it all together.  The pockets of lemon curd and meringue are so large and quite numerous.  I have no idea how they packed them all into this one carton.  This is really delicious.

This is really good stuff.  They It is everything that I would want from a lemon meringue pie ice cream.  It is not as tart as I was expecting it to be, but I think I prefer that.  Sweet Science really hit it out of the park with this one.  Check it out before they cycle it out at the end of the month.

Jeni's - Darkest Chocolate

Darkest Chocolate - Dark Chocolate Ice Cream

Today is the final pint from my Black Friday shipment from Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream called Darkest Chocolate.  It is a dark chocolate ice cream.  I got this one online, but I have seen this at local Whole Foods stores in the Twin Cities and perhaps other markets that carry the Jeni's brand.  Let's check this out!

Removing the lid, I see a foil seal between the cover and the ice cream.  See below for a photo.  This is the first time I have seen this with Jeni's.  I wonder if this is something they do only for this flavor or if it is something that they'll start doing for their whole line-up now.  Peeling off this wrap the chocolate does indeed have a dark color.  The first spoonful has a very strong chocolate flavor.  There is no bitterness that you often see with a dark chocolate.  Also, there is no 'hot-cocoa finish' that I sometimes see with chocolate bases.  There's nothing wrong with a hot-cocoa finish, just describing the differences among chocolates.  It's very chocolatey.  Their flavor link above says that they've added as much chocolate as they are allowed while still being able to call it ice cream.  Presumably that means that adding more chocolate would take the place of the milkfat required by the FDA to use the term 'ice cream'.  It is delicious.  This pint is all base -- no mix-ins.

This is a very good chocolate ice cream base.  It is very chocolatey and should please all chocolate lovers.  It is simple -- all base -- some chocolate lovers may prefer a kitchen-sink of chocolaty-ness which mixes a chocolate base with chocolate mix-ins but for a simple chocolate base this is very good.  It has me very curious about the Milkiest Chocolate that Jeni's offers.  I guess it adds evaporated milk into the base to distinguish itself from this flavor.  I hope to try this one day to see how it compares.