Sebastian Joe's - Rum Raisin

Rum Raisin - Sweet Cream with Rum-soaked Raisins

 

Today I return to the Minneapolis-based Sebastian Joe's for their Rum Raisin flavor.  I picked it up at their scoop shop in Lowry Hill.  Rum Raisin is a classic old flavor from decades past.  I have had one Rum Raisin implementation before from Häagen-Dazs and one more complex flavor which included rum raisins as a mix-in from Coolhaus.  It will be fun to see how this flavor compares.

Removing the lid, I see the light color of the ice cream base with many raisins visible right away.  Digging in, there are a lot of raisins!  These raisins are filled with rum flavor which is released every time you bit into one.  There is just enough ice cream to balance out the flavor of the raisins and keep them from becoming overwhelming.

This is an excellent implementation of a rum raisin flavor from Sebastian Joe's.  I liked it better than Häagen-Dazs.  The Häagen-Dazs is cheaper, available in grocery stores and is still pretty good, but it is good to have a premium scoop-shop version of the flavor once in a while as well.  Now, rum raisin is a bit of a polarizing flavor -- some people don't like rum and some people don't like raisins -- but if this flavor is your jam than this Sebastian Joe's flavor is very well done.

McConnell's - Cinnamon & Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Cinnamon & Oatmeal Raisin Cookies - Cinnamon Ice Cream with Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Pieces

Today we move on to the next pint in my recent five-pint shipment of seasonal flavors from McConnell's Fine Ice Creams in Santa Barbara.  This is another fall flavor, Cinnamon & Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.  As I write this, this pint is still available online, but not available locally in Minnesota that I know of.  This looks quite similar to a recent pint I had from Sebastian Joe's.  I mentioned in that review that that was the first of several oatmeal-cookie-based flavors that included raisins and here is another one with raisins.   It should be interesting to see how they compare.

Cracking open the pint and removing the protective wrapper, I see the cinnamon ice cream base with no mix-ins visible yet.  As I dig my spoon in, the cinnamon base is quite good.  This is a sweet cinnamon rather than a hot cinnamon -- appropriate for a cookie-based flavor.  The ice cream is very thick and dense like most McConnell's bases.  Soon, I start encountering the oatmeal cookie pieces.  These are quite tasty and go well with the cinnamon.  About every other oatmeal piece has a raisin in it.

This is a well-done version of a cinnamon oatmeal cookie flavor.  It is quite different from my recent pint from Sebastian Joe's.  The Sebastian Joe's pint was overloaded with mix-ins and had a very high raisin-to-oatmeal ratio.  Here, there are fewer mix-ins which highlights more of the flavor of the cinnamon base and a more usual amount of raisins in the mix.  I do not want to undersell this flavor simply because it was not super-stuffed with mix-ins though.  This is quite good and some people like a moderate amount of mix-ins.

Sebastian Joe's - Oatmeal Raisin Cookie

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie - Brown Sugar Cinnamon Ice Cream with Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Pieces

Today is another pint from the Minneapolis-based Sebastian Joe's Ice Cream.  This flavor is called Oatmeal Raisin Cookie.  They have it listed as a 'fall flavor'.  I got it at their scoop shop on Franklin in the Lowry Hill neighborhood.  I've had several oatmeal cookie flavors from Ben & Jerry's, Sweet Science, OddFellows and Ample Hills, but this is the first oatmeal cookie pint that I've had which includes raisins.  This should be interesting!

Removing the lid, I immediate greeted by a lot of raisins.  This pint is super-loaded with mix-ins!  I see sizeable chunks of cookies on top as well.  The base ice cream is a little darker brown than I expected.  Digging in, I can taste some cinnamon in the base.  Not incredibly strong, but definitely noticeable.  I think I taste a little brown sugar in the mix as well, and that could explain the darker color of the base, but most oatmeal cookie recipes include brown sugar and it could be coming from that.  But enough about the base ice cream, this pint is dominated by the mix-ins.  Most Sebastian Joe's ice cream bases are quite thick and chunky in texture but all the mix-ins make this pint even thicker and chunkier.  Also, there are a lot of raisins!  The ratio of cookie dough to raisins is almost one-to-one.  The flavor is quite good.

This is an excellent and chunky pint of oatmeal raisin cookie ice cream.  It is just super-loaded with cookie piece mix-ins.  If you like oatmeal raisin cookies -- especially those with extra raisins -- you should check this flavor out.

Coolhaus - Aunt Gladys Yellow Cake Batter

Aunt Gladys Yellow Cake Batter - Yellow Cake Batter Ice Cream with Rum Raisins & Candied Ginger

Today, I move on to the second pint in my six-pint shipment from the Culver-City-based Coolhaus Ice Cream.  This flavor is called Aunt Gladys Yellow Cake Batter.  Note to local readers:  Coolhaus is a fun brand and the Fresh Thyme Market carries some of its flavors but I am not aware that this particular flavor is available in Minnesota.  I ordered it online and had it shipped to me. 

The flavor name is rather fun.  Gladys is indeed an old person's name.  It was a fairly popular name for people born in the early 1900s but has been falling in popularity ever since.  Unlike some old-fashioned names like Eleanor or Grace, it has not made a comeback in recent years.  Do I have an Aunt Gladys?  Technically no, but my grandfather had a first cousin named Gladys.  That would make her my first cousin twice removed which I guess is similar to a great aunt.  I might have met her once, I can't recall.  I don't know if she was a good cook.  Anyhow, at first glance this appears to be a yellow cake batter flavor which is not uncommon but on second glance there are rum raisins in the mix as well.  I have had once yellow cake batter flavor (from Ben & Jerry's) and one rum raisin flavor (from Häagen-Dazs).  This appears to be a combination of those two flavor ideas with some pieces of candied ginger thrown into the mix as well.  Let's check it out.

Opening the pint, the ice cream is much softer than I am used to from Coolhaus.  Coolhaus is usually known for having a firm bases ideal for use in ice cream sandwiches.  I am temporarily concerned that my freezer might be malfunctioning, but I double-checked and it says -2F plus all the other pints appear to be unaffected.  What seems to have happened was the alcohol from the rum raisins has seemed into base which has lowered its freezing point.  It is not completely melted but it is just softer and gooier than I expected.  Digging in, I do taste a bit of the yellow cake batter at first but I quickly start tasting the rum from the raisins.  The rum-soaked raising are generously dispersed throughout the pint.  They are chewy and provide quite a bit of rum flavor.  The candied ginger pieces do not stand out very much but I do find them if I look for them. 

This is an interesting and very eclectic flavor from Coolhaus.  I was expected a yellow-cake batter implementation, but the cake batter has mostly been overpowered by the rum raisins.  It's worth a shot if you want an interesting twist on rum raisin, but you might just want to stick to Häagen-Dazs' very well-done implementation of the that flavor.

Häagen-Dazs - Rum Raisin

Rum Raisin - Rum Ice Cream with Rum-Soaked Raisins

 
Today's flavor is Häagen-Dazs' implementation of Rum Raisin.  This has been a standard flavor of the Häagen-Dazs line since the 1980s.  It is based on the old Italian gelato flavor called "malaga".  Malaga gelato is named after Malaga raisins which originate in the Malaga province of southern Spain.  Originally, the raisins for this gelato were soaked in Marsala wine from the province of Sicily.  Marsala is a dry, sweet wine and a dark rum can be substituted for it in many recipes.  From that, the "rum raisin" flavor was born.  The side of the Häagen-Dazs pint states that they use California raisins instead of Malaga raisins and that the raisins have been steeped in rum for 42 days.  That is an amusingly specific number, but Häagen-Dazs has been making this flavor for over three decades, so I will trust their judgement.

Opening the pint shows that the rum base has a very light color and a few of the raisins are visible right away.  I noticed the rum flavoring right away in the very first spoonful.  I could tell that it was a dark rum too by the aftertaste.  I enjoyed that.  The raisin mix-ins were dispersed generously throughout the pint.  They gave me something to chew on but were not too tough.  They contained some rum flavor as well, but not noticeably more than was in the base.

This was an interesting pint.  I had never had a pint with raisin mix-ins before.  The star of the pint is the rum, though.  I should say though that because this is a pre-packaged pint from Häagen-Dazs that this is a PG-rated version of a rum raisin flavor.  I could taste the rum flavor but not the alchohol.  I imagine that a homemade version of this flavor from a restaurant or scoop shop could be quite a bit more intense.  Still, if a grocery store is what you have available then give this a try.