Ample Hills - PB Takes a Dip

PB Takes a Dip - Chocolate Ice Cream with a Peanut Butter Swirl and Peanut Butter Cup Pieces

Today is the final pint from my four-pint shipment from the Brooklyn-based Ample Hills Creamery.  This one is called PB Takes a Dip which is a clear flip on their popular PB Wins the Cup flavor.  Both flavors contain peanut butter cup pieces.  The original wins-the-cup flavor uses a vanilla base while the newer takes-a-dip flavor uses a chocolate base.  This flavor was added alongside Fluffernutter Fudge to their main line last fall.  This should be fun.  (Note to Minnesota readers that this is only available online and in areas that carry Ample Hills (NYC, SoCal, Florida).  This is not carried by grocery stores in the Twin Cities.)

Removing the lid, the ice cream is a very deep brown flavor -- it looks super chocolatey.  Digging in, it is very chocolatey -- that said, this is Ample Hills and their standard recipe includes adding skim milk powder to the base and I can definitely taste that as well.  It is a very milky chocolate.  It's not long before I encounter the peanut butter.  There is a lot of it!  The peanut butter cups here are the same ones used in PB Wins the Cup and they are excellent.  The best part of these cups is that they do not try to fully cover the peanut butter -- that allows for a much higher ratio of peanut butter to chocolate.  The extra peanut butter is extra welcome here as the base has so much chocolate.  This is delicious.

This is a great pint of ice cream!  I wouldn't have guessed that Ample Hills could match their PB Wins the Cup flavor but this arguably has.  The rich and decadent chocolate and peanut butter combination reminded me of the excellent Target-specific Ben & Jerry's flavor Peanut Butter World except this flavor also has extra large peanut butter chunks in it.  This likely won't replace PB Wins the Cup.  If you want mostly peanut butter with a little chocolate in a lighter vanilla base, that's the way to go.  Today's flavor is for chocolate lovers.  Enjoy.

Ample Hills - Fluffernutter Fudge

Fluffernutter Fudge - Marshmallow Ice Cream with Swirls of Peanut Butter and Chunks of Dark Chocolate

The third flavor in my recent four-pint shipment from the Brooklyn-based Ample Hills Creamery is called Fluffernutter Fudge.  (Note to local readers that this flavor is not available in grocery stores in the Minnesota area.)  This a new flavor in their regular line (not seasonal or shop-specific) that they introduced last year.  It is based on the fluffernutter sandwich which has been a popular sandwich in the New England area for over a century.  The main ingredients of the fluffernutter are peanut butter and marshmallow.  I have actually had a fluffernutter based pint once before from Jeni's (see the review here).  That flavor stuck mainly to the sandwich ingredients, adding a little bit of oat pie crust to simulate the 'bread' of the sandwich.  Here Ample Hills pairs adds chunks of fudge into the mix to make it a fluffernutter fudge.  I am quite curious to check this out.

After removing the lid, the base ice cream is a light tan color.  It is slightly browner than I expect from a marshmallow base.  Perhaps it has picked up some color from the mix-ins.  Digging in, the base is thick and creamy and I taste the extra milk powder that is characteristic of Ample Hills bases.  It does taste extra milky.  It does not have a very strong marshmallow flavor (either sweet or toasted).  Some of the peanut butter swirl is evident in the base so I think that is the dominant flavor -- but it is a muted peanut butter.  As I dig deeper I quickly encounter the mix-ins.  First I encounter the dark chocolate chunks.  These are quite good, chewy and fudge-like.  To my surprise, I also encounter some larger peanut butter chunks (see extra photo below).  These are really good.  The large mix-ins do not disappoint here.

I quite enjoyed this pint.  The large peanut butter and fudge-like chocolate chunks are the stars of the show here.  The presence of the chocolate chunks means this is a less literal reproduction of a fluffernutter sandwich than Jeni's is, but the chocolate is a very welcome addition.  Is it as good as their main chocolate & peanut butter flavor PB Wins the Cup?  That is a tough call.  Perhaps not.  But chocolate and peanut butter fans should love the extra option available.

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.

Ample Hills - Maple Bourbon Barrel

Maple Bourbon Barrel - Maple bourbon ice cream made with Widow Jane bourbon and Crown Maple Syrup aged in Bourbon Barrels and Sprinkled with Chocolate-coated Maple-candied Pecans

I always like to try a pint of the Brooklyn-based Ample Hills whenever I visit New York.  The selection at the Whole Foods on the Upper East Side was not great, so I trekked down to one of their newest scoop shops in the Essex Market on the lower East Side.  I ate the pint down there, so you'll notice my photos have a different look to them than usual.  For this pint, I got their featured fall flavor called Maple Bourbon Barrel.  It's a bourbon and pecan implementation which has been very popular with other brands in recent years.  I have seen similar flavors from Graeter's, McConnell's and Häagen-Dazs.  Here the bourbon is from Widow Jane and the maple syrup is from Crown Maple.  It will be fun to see how this one compares.

This pint was hand-packed at the scoop shop.  So, it's a bit softer than I am used to seeing it from Ample Hills, but it is only half-melted on the surface.  It still has the same ice cream texture that I am used to once I get my spoon dipped into it.  Anyhow, the maple bourbon base as a very light neutral color to it and I can see the pint is chunky.  Digging in, I can taste both the bourbon and the maple at the same time.  It is a sweet bourbon and not a bourbon that has a biting kick to it.  That said, the bourbon is not too intense.   It blends with the maple well and provides a bit of 'aromaticity'.  The praline pecan pieces are crunchy and have a very flavorful praline coating on them.  The website link mentions a bit of chocolate in the coating as well, but I did not specifically taste that.  I didn't miss it, though.  The candied pecans were delicious.  There was also some larger chunks of the coating which was separate from the pecans.  I enjoyed this as well.  It was like having a bit of brittle mixed into the ice cream as well.

This is an excellent new flavor from Ample Hills.  It is a very well done implementation of a bourbon-infused pralines-and-cream which ticks all the boxes for me.  As I write this, this is my new favorite bourbon pecan flavor, but I confess that I might have a bit of recency bias.  Looking back at my reviews of  Graeter's, McConnell's and Häagen-Dazs I really enjoyed those as well (especially the Häagen-Dazs) but I do recommend that NYC-area folks that enjoy this type of flavor should check out this pint from Ample Hills as well.  It is very good.

Ample Hills - The Hook

The Hook - Burnt Sugar Ice Cream with Housemade Stroopwafels and Chunks of Salted Fudge

The next pint in my "Taste of New York 4-Pack" from the Brooklyn-based Ample Hills Creamery is called The Hook.  This is the last pint which will create a new review because the last pint in my shipment is one I have already written about -- the famous It Came From Gowanus.  Today pint, The Hook, is normally only available at their Red Hook Factory and scoop shop in the Red Hook area of Brooklyn.  I actually visited this scoop shop last year when I was in New York for Thanksgiving.  It was pretty quiet there on a winter weekend -- just big windows that let you peer inside to see idle machines.  I would not make a special trip just to see the factory unless there is some sort of pre-arranged tour, but if you happen to be in the neighborhood or if you can find an excuse to go to the large Fairway Market across the street, then by all means stop by. 

This flavor is a burnt sugar ice cream with stroopwafel and salted fudge mix-ins.  Burnt sugar is the hottest  the candy temperature scale -- past caramels, nougats, caramels and toffees.  I found an interesting article about burnt sugar here.  Stroopwafels are thin Dutch cookies pressed with special waffle iron.  They are pronounced "strope-vah-ful" -- I like how the Dutch use two o's to represent the long-o sound.  That actually makes a lot of sense!  I did have the chance to try a scoop of this flavor last year and I am anxious to try a full pint so I can write a proper review.

Opening the lid, the burnt sugar base is a creamy-beige color.  It resembles the color of a coffee base or a brown sugar base.  I see a few chunks of fudge with smaller speckling of chocolate as well.  Digging in, the base has an interesting flavor.  It is sort of like brown sugar, but not exactly.  Ample Hills has several dark brown, brown or burnt sugar bases.  They could have just used the same one for each, but they decided to give each flavor a special twist.  This base is more neutral than the two linked before.  It's not as aromatic as the brown sugar in their oatmeal flavor or as dark and 'toasted' as the base in their butter pecan flavor.  That brings out more of the flavor of the mix-ins.  The salted fudge is excellent.  The chunks were relatively large, very chocolatey and enough salt for me to notice but not too much.  I did not find as many stroopwafels as I expected -- perhaps that varies from batch to batch? -- but when I did encounter them they were delicious.  They were crispy crunchy with a nice dash of cinnamon.  They would actually make a pretty good cone.  I wonder if a cone made with stroopwafel batter would be strong enough to hold scoops of ice cream?

This is a delicious pint of ice cream from Ample Hills.  The salted fudge is the clear star of the show.  The stroopwafels were good, too, but I wish there were slightly more of them.  If you are in the Red Hook scoop shop, check this one out.

Ample Hills - Nectar of the Queens

Nectar of the Queens - Honey Cinnamon Ice Cream featuring Baklava and Galaktoboureko

Today's flavor is the second pint from my recent "Taste of New York" shipment from the Brooklyn-based Ample Hills Creamery.  The flavor is called Nectar of the Queens and is normally available only at their scoop shop in Astoria, Queens.  A blogpost from when they opened this scoop shop last summer which includes a discussion of this flavor can be found here.  Astoria has a lot of Greek neighborhoods, so Ample Hills decided to partner with a local Greek bakery called Artopolis to create a flavor based on the Greek desserts of baklava and galaktoboureko.  Most people know of baklava -- many layers of a paper-thin pastry called filo with nuts and honey embedded between the layers -- but I had not heard of galaktoboureko before trying this flavor.  Galaktoboureko is features a semolina custard which is wrapped in that same paper-thin filo pastry.  These two desserts are used as mix-ins in a honey cinnamon base.

On to the ice cream!  After removing the lid, the base is a light gold color and I can see lots of little mix-ins already.  When I dig in, I taste a nice soft cinnamon flavor.  It is very creamy and has a good flavor.  The mix-ins that I encounter right away are small pieces of that paper-thin filo pastry.  They remind me a bit of cereal flakes but they are a little chewier instead of crunchy.  I taste some small nuts in the mix as well.  This is a really good combination.  I am surprised that I have not yet seen a baklava-themed flavor before.  I looked for the influence of the galaktoboureko.  Galaktoboureko also contains filo pastry, so some of the mix-ins I tasted could have been from that, but I did not see explicit sections or swirls of custard.  I like to think that the custard blended into the base ice cream and contributed to its delicious flavor but I am not sure.

This is a really good pint of ice cream!  It is delicious and unique.  I said this above, but it is worth repeating.  Using baklava as a mix-in is a great idea and Ample Hills does a great job of swirling the pieces in.  If you are at their Astoria scoop shop, give this flavor a try.

Ample Hills - The Flavor of Record

The Flavor of Record - Sweet Cream Ice Cream with Deep Fudge Swirls and Housemade Black & White Cookies

I have ordered a shipment from the Brooklyn-based Ample Hills Creamery!  I stumbled upon this brand a few years ago on one of my visits to my sister who lives in New York City.  I have trying to keep up by making orders online.  This shipment is the "A Taste of New York 4-Pack" and contains today's pint "The Flavor of Record" and flavors which are specific to individual scoop shops in the New York City Area.  Apologies to my local readers, none of this is available in Minnesota grocery stores.

As mentioned above, today's flavor is called "The Flavor of Record" and was created for the first  New York Times Food Festival which was held earlier this month.  The name of the flavor is a pun on the 'paper of record' distinction that is sometimes bestowed upon the paper.  The flavor is based upon the black and white cookie which is one of those uniquely New York treats and 'black-and-white' creates yet another newspaper-related pun.  Today I learned that the cookie was actually invented Glaser's Bakery which was not far from my sister's apartment on the Upper East Side.  Glaser's closed just last year after being open for more than a century.  I can't remember if I ever went there.  If not, I like to think that they supplied all the black and white cookies to all the local delis and markets in the area.

On to the ice cream!  Removing the lid shows an off-white cream color to the sweet cream base (Ample Hills uses eggs in their base which explains the yellowish color).  I see a little bit of white color - presumably from the vanilla frosting.  I also see quite a bit of the fudge swirl.  Digging in, the ice cream is thick, creamy and delicious.  I quickly encounter a large number of cookie pieces.  The cookies seem to be cut into small cubes which let allow them to be mixed in quite well.  I also notice that often the frosting gets its own cube.  Some of the cubes appear to be mostly vanilla frosting, some mostly chocolate frosting and some mostly cookie.  The cookie pieces are soft and chewy.  The fudge swirls help to make the pint a bit more chocolatey.

This is a fun pint from Ample Hills.  A black-and-white cookie themed flavor is a great idea.  Fans of this particular cookie should definitely check this out.  For those unfamiliar with this particular New York novelty treat, blend of chocolate, vanilla and soft cookies into ice cream make for a great combination.

Ample Hills - Baked/Unbaked

Baked/Unbaked - Vanilla Ice Cream with Pieces of Housemade Chocolate Chip Cookies and Brown Butter Cookie Dough

Today is the next pint in my shipment from the Brookyn-based Ample Hills Creamery.  This one is called Baked/Unbaked.  At first glance, this looks a lot like one of Ben & Jerry's most popular flavors Half Baked.  A second look reveals important differences.  Ben & Jerry's includes cookie dough and brownies uses both vanilla and chocolate bases.  This pint, features a vanilla base and a mixture of cookie dough and (cooked) cookies.   A nice blog post from Ample Hills describing how they make this flavor is available here.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, I see the off-white color of the vanilla base.  I see a small air-pocket on top, but nothing major.  I see a bunch of the mix-in pieces on top as well.  Digging in, vanilla base is same one used in the last pint (PB Wins the Cup).  It is very thick, but also quite malleable, so it is ideal for folding in large mix-ins.  Soon, I discover these mix-ins.  The brown butter cookie dough is the easiest to pick out.  It is soft and chewy and tastes like buttery brown sugar as you would expect.  The baked mix-ins were more chocolatey than I expected.  There were more like small shards of chocolate with the occasional cookie crumb embedded into it.  It is hard to imagine it being a cookie outside of the ice cream but it actually worked really well paired with the cookie dough pieces since there is no chocolate in the cookie dough.

This is an interesting and solid implementation of a cookie dough flavor from Ample Hills.  Ample Hills loves do twists on put their own twist on classic flavors and they've certainly done that here.  This pint is heavy on the 'unbaked' half of its name. The brown butter cookie dough tastes quite good in this thick and delicious vanilla ice cream.  The baked half may not be what everyone expects, but it is successful at delivering good chocolate flavor.

Ample Hills - PB Wins the Cup

PB Wins the Cup - Vanilla Ice Cream with Chocolate Flakes and House-made Peanut Butter Cups

Today, I continue working my way through my recent shipment from the Brooklyn-based Ample Hills.  This one is called PB Wins the Cup.  This an one of their older, fan-favorite flavors.  Here is their recent blogpost featuring this flavor and how it is created.  I'm not sure why I have not gotten around to trying this one yet.  I plan on remedying that today. 

Removing the lid, I see the bright white color of the vanilla base with hints of the mix-ins underneath.  Digging in, the vanilla is very thick and creamy.  It almost folds as I eat it.  It reminds me of Coolhaus bases which are specifically designed to work well in ice cream sandwiches.  Then I encounter the mix-ins.  These are not your normal peanut butter cups.  These are small cube-sized pieces of peanut butter and chocolate.  What is different here is that chocolate does not necessarily form the outer layer of every piece. Without that constraint, it seems like there is more peanut butter in each chunk.  It's quite good and the thick vanilla base seems design to allow these pieces to be folded in.

This is an excellent peanut butter cup ice cream.  I really like the cube-shaped mix-ins which deliver more peanut butter flavor than the average peanut butter cup mix-in.  There's enough chocolate in the mix, too, of course.  Peanut butter fans will definitely want to check this one out.

Ample Hills - Breakfast Trash

Breakfast Trash - Cap'n Crunch, Frosted Flakes and Corn Pops-Infused Ice Cream mixed with Fruity Pebbles and Fruit Loops

I ordered a shipment from the Brooklyn-based Ample Hills!  They still have a few flavors online that I have not tried, their shipping costs are much cheaper than they used to be, and I had a coupon, so I pulled the trigger.  The first pint from the shipment is a limited batch flavor called Breakfast Trash.  It is available this spring because it won the Flavor Frenzy contest that they hold every year at the same time as college basketball tournament known as March Madness.  Each year, they ask customers to vote online to determine which old flavor to bring back (at least temporarily).  They set it up with head-to-head match-ups in a bracket like the basketball tournament.  This year Breakfast Trash beat our another morning flavor called Sunday Brunch in the finals.  Ice cream for breakfast is catching on!  Breakfast Trash is a cereal-based flavor -- Cap'n Crunch, Frosted Flakes, Corn Pops, Fruity Pebbles, Fruit Loops -- so much cereal!  The Ample Hills Blog recently featured this flavor and how it is made.  Let's check it out.


Opening the pint, I see an off-white base with lots of colored speckles embedded in it.  Digging in, I immediately taste the cereal.  Often, I'd get a hint of a particular kind of cereal.  In one one spoonful, I definitely noticed Cap'n Crunch, in another I was pretty sure that I tasted Corn Pops.  Overall, I noticed a certain thick texture to the ice cream.  The small cereal bits seemed to make the cream more of a 'solid'.  It reminded me of a creamier version of a rice krispie bar -- which is the basis for Ample Hills' Snap Mallow Pop flavor.  This flavor is less gooey (no marshmallows) and more colorful (lots of different kinds of cereals used here) than that one, of course.

I enjoyed this pint, it was fun.  Those who enjoy sugary breakfast cereals will get a kick out of it for sure.  As with a few other 'kitchen sink' flavors, there is a little bit of diminishing returns when so many different flavors are being tossed at you at once, but that can be part of the fun.  With Snap Mallow Pop in their regular line-up, I can see why this is not promoted into their regular line-up, but I am glad I was able to try it while it was available.  And with Sunday Brunch taking the runner-up slot in the Flavor Frenzy, perhaps it will be ice cream for breakfast again next year.

Ample Hills - Butter Pecan Brittle

Butter Pecan Brittle - Dark Brown Sugar Ice Cream with Pieces of Housemade Pecan Brittle

The third pint from my recent Ample Hills shipment is one from their standard line.  It is called Butter Pecan Brittle.  In previous reviews, I have mentioned that Butter Pecan is one of the most popular flavors of ice cream in the United States (after chocolate and vanilla).  Some brands like to implement a straight butter pecan, while others like to throw in a twist.  Ample Hills has gone with the twist here.  A pecan brittle is used as the mix-in while brown sugar is added to the base.  Let's check it out!

Opening the pint, the brown sugar base has the expected caramel color, but the first thing I notice is the mix-ins.  The brittle has melted a bit.  This is actually quite common.  Something about being immersed in ice cream causes it to soften.  Sometimes it even goes so far as to dissolve into the surrounding base, but here it form little syrupy pools of liquid that surround the pecan pieces.  The effect is actually quite good.  Digging in, the base is quite different from the brown sugar base of their Nonna's Oatmeal Lace flavor.  The base here is less sweet and aromatic and has a strong molasses flavor.  The syrupy pecan mix-ins go well with the base.

I enjoyed this pint.  At first, I was going to write that this is an interesting twist on butter pecan, but I think it is so much of a twist that people should not expect a butter pecan-like ice cream.  I think 'molasses praline' would be a better description as the base has a strong molasses flavor and the pecans are coated with a sweet candy-like syrup.  An interesting flavor.

Ample Hills - Oscar Night

Oscar Night - Cream Cheese Ice Cream with Pieces of Red Velvet Cake

It's Oscar Night and Ample Hills has the right ice cream for the occasion.  It is appropriately called Oscar Night.  They have a limited release of this flavor every year.  I am usually not in New York in February, so I haven't had this flavor before, but this year, I was excited to be able to able to put both the Valentines's flavor and the Oscar Night flavor into the same online shipment, so here I am eating Oscar Night on Oscar Night!  What does one eat while watching the stars on the red carpet?  Why red velvet cake of course!  Here, pieces of red velvet ice cream are immersed in a cream cheese base.  Sounds fun!

I open the pint and I see a lot of red chunks are visible right on top.  Some of the cake pieces are intact and some have been 'swirled' which for a cake means that small specks of red cake are distributed through the rest of the base.  Digging in, the cream cheese base is thick and sweet -- the cream cheese adds thickness here, but I detect no distinctive 'cream cheese flavor' that you sometimes find.  This base effectively acts as the 'frosting' for the cake piece mix-ins.  The cake pieces themselves are sweet and they stay soft in the frozen pint.  Red velvet cake usually -- but not always -- includes chocolate.  I don't taste much chocolate here.  It tastes like red-colored sheet cake.  I checked the ingredients and there is cocoa in the mix but it must not be very strong because I don't taste it.  It's good cake, though, I'm just making an observation so that you know what to expect.  The mix is good.  Some cake pieces are spoon-sized, while the rest peppers the base.

This is a fun pint to eat while watching the Oscars.  The red velvet cake pieces look beautiful and they taste pretty good as well.  This is easily much better than the Ben & Jerry's version of the flavor where they tried to use natural dyes to create the red color.  I think  By the time you read this, the Oscars will be over and this flavor will no longer be available, but this flavor returns every year.  If you are in the mood for red velvet cake during the Oscars next year, check this flavor out.

Ample Hills - Be Mine

Be Mine - Strawberry Ice Cream with Dark Chocolate Flakes

The Brooklyn-based Ample Hills Creamery had a free-shipping deal for their Oscar-themed flavor.  Their Valentines flavor was also still available as well.  I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get two limited batch flavors in one shipment, so I got four pints.  I decided to have the Valentine's Flavor first because we're already a week late.  The flavor is called Be Mine and it's a strawberry ice cream with dark chocolate flakes.

Opening the pint, I see the light pink color of the strawberry base.  I also see a bunch of small chocolate specks, but I only see them on one side.  Sometimes that happens on the top layer.  Digging in, the strawberry base is fully strained -- no solids or seeds -- and it is quite tasty.  The chocolate chips on the one side are fairly dense and provide a lot of crunchy flavor.  As I continued eating the pint, the mixing issues persisted.  There are large sections of the pint which are only the strawberry base and other sections which are chip-heavy.  I get the impression that this is not intentional, but I actually didn't mind.  The strawberry base is quite delicious so it was good to have some spoonfuls which contained only that so that I could appreciate it more.  As I got further down, I encountered a spoon-sized chunk of aggregated chocolate chips.  It was almost as if I was eating a crunchy version of Graeters.  Like the semi-accidental super chips in a Graeters pint, the big chunk of chocolate near the bottom was quite tasty.

I enjoyed this pint.  The mixing flaw was a bit strange -- I am almost positive that it is accidental -- but I went with it and I almost want to say I liked it better this way.  The smooth and fully-strained strawberry base was easier to appreciate this way and the denser sections of chips were fun.  I'm not sure how reproducible this mixing would be if I got this pint again, though.  Anyhow, it's a fun flavor for Valentine's Day.