Lick - Roasted Beets & Fresh Mint

Roasted Beets & Fresh Mint - Ice Cream flavored with Roasted Beets and Fresh Mint

I made an online purchase from a new brand!  I got a six-pint shipment from the Austin-based Lick Ice Cream (with the very cool website URL of ilikelick.com).  They look like they have an interesting selection of regular and seasonal flavors so I pulled the trigger online and the package came in the mail the other day.  A note to Minnesota readers that I do not believe that the Lick brand is available in local grocery stores.

Lick was founded in 2011 by Anthony Sobotnik and Chad Palmatier in Austin, Texas.  Like most premium shops of this era, they use locally-sourced ingredients and have interesting and eclectic flavor implementations.  Here is an early review of their first scoop shop in Austin and a more recent write-up.  In 2016, they were featured on a Time/People documentary series called American Doers.  They now have three scoop shops in Austin, two in San Antonio and ship nationwide via Goldbelly -- which is how I ordered them.  I am excited to check out their ice cream.

The first flavor I am trying is called Roasted Beets and Fresh Mint.  It is one of their signature flavors that they offer year round.  It sounds really interesting!  I have never had beets in an ice cream before!  Beets (or beetroot in the UK) is an old-world root vegetable known for its bright red color.  The flavor has been described as both earthy and bitter but also can be sweet.  I found an interesting article on the flavor of beets here.  Here they pair the beets with mint.  Sounds very interesting!

On to the ice cream.  Lick Ice Cream comes in these clear plastic cartons with their fun licking-cow logo on the top.  Removing the lid, the ice cream has a very bright reddish pink color.  It almost looks like a fruit sorbet because ice creams normally do not get this red.  Digging in, I taste the beets right away.  It is a cleaner and earthier flavor than I am to but I think I usually have pickled beets.  These are definitely not pickled.  It's got a layer of sweetness underneath as well.  Beets are an interesting flavor.  I taste the mint mainly as a finishing flavor.  It complements the beets quite well -- adds a lot of palatability.  The texture of the pint is a bit on the icy side -- a bit sorbet-like.  I wonder if specific to this flavor or if it applies to their whole line.  I'll find out as I try other Lick flavors.  This is a homogeneous flavor with no mix-ins.

This is a very interesting and unique flavor from Lick Ice Cream.  I did not quite love it, but it is very fun to try new flavors.  Perhaps it would take me a while to acquire a taste for it.  It is definitely not a flavor for kids.  It's not bad, though, and I had no problems finishing the pint in one sitting.  But certainly, if you're a beet-lover and have access to this brand then you should check this out.  Curious adventurous types would be interested as well.