Izzy's - Nut Crazy

Nut Crazy - Maple Syrup flavored Ice Cream with Almonds, Brazil Nuts and Cashews

Today I returned to Izzy's Ice Cream in Saint Paul for a flavor called Nut Crazy.  This is not an award winning flavor or anything, I'm just a big fan of nuts and felt like I needed to give it a try.  On closer inspection, it looks like a twist on their Maple Nut flavor which I reviewed a couple of years ago.  Both have maple syrup flavored bases.  Maple Nut just has walnuts while this flavor has almonds, brazil nuts and cashews.  Lets check it out!

Removing the pint and the maple base has a light beige color.  Digging in, the maple flavor is quite noticeable.  I think it is actually a bit stronger than the flavor of the previous Maple Nut pint.  I expected that flavor to be more maple-y while this flavor would be more nutty.  This is definitely more maple-y!  Checking the ingredient list, this pint lists "maple background flavor" while Maple Nut lists an organic maple syrup from a local brand.  So perhaps maple syrup connoisseurs would prefer that pint.  I was raised on the name-brand artificial syrup, so I do not mind. As I scoop further down, I quickly encounter the nuts.  Boy, are there a lot of nuts!  I taste the brazil nuts and the cashews right away.  The almonds are not as easy to spot, but on further inspection, I do see them.  I got a few hazelnuts (a.k.a. filberts) too, which I was not expecting as the flavor description on their website did not advertize though.  That's great though.  I absolutely love mixed nuts -- the 'deluxe' kind with no peanuts -- and this pint has just about all of them.

This is an excellent nut-based flavor from Izzy's Ice Cream!  There is just about every deluxe type of nut in the mix and there are quite a lot of them, too.  This is definitely the nuttiest pint I have ever had.  Nut lovers should not hesitate to try this flavor.

Museum of Ice Cream - Cone Zone

Cone Zone - Vanilla and Chocolate Ice Cream with Chocolate Coated Sugar Cone Pieces and a Fudge Ribbon

Today we move on to the second new flavor released this summer by the Museum of Ice Cream.  This first flavor was called Queen Bee.  This flavor is called Cone Zone.  I got this flavor at my local Target.  The name of the flavor made me laugh because one of the local television stations has a weekly feature called "Cone Zone" where they discuss road construction projects in the area and how it might affect your daily commute.  Now, I am imagining that this flavor is the favorite of that local traffic reporter.  Who knows, perhaps it is?  Of course, the cones are ice cream cones and not construction cones!  The sugar cone pieces are chocolate-coated and then mixed into vanilla and chocolate ice creams along with a fudge fudge ribbon.  Let's check it out!

Opening the pint, I see the marbling of the vanilla and chocolate bases along with hints of the fudge ribbon.  Two distinct bases of vanilla and chocolate is a simple combination but it is often a very successful one.  Ben & Jerry's Half Baked is a famously successful version of swirled chocolate and vanilla bases.  As I dig in, that flavor combination works well here as well.  Soon, I encounter the fudge ribbon which is quite good.  The chocolate-covered cone pieces were more chocolatey than I expected , but the cone pieces inside were not very crunchy.  All the extra chocolate without the crunch inside made it taste like an extension of the fudge ribbon.

This is a decent flavor.  The chocolate and vanilla bases went well together and there were two chocolatey mix-ins which were quite delicious.  The flavor is named "Cone Zone" though and the cone pieces did not contribute enough to warrant top-billing in the flavor name.  If you can overlook that, you can enjoy the big chunky chocolate mix-ins.  If cone pieces are important, you should try Ben & Jerry's Americone Dream for its light crunchy cone pieces or the darker cone pieces of Häagen-Dazs' Caramel Cone which also features decadent amounts of caramel.

Izzy's - Lemonberry Icebox Cake

Lemonberry Icebox Cake - Lemon Non-Dairy Ice Cream Base, Blueberry Pie Filling and Chunks of Pound Cake

Earlier this summer, I attend the 2019 People's Flavor Awards tasting contest for Izzy's Ice Cream.  It was a lot of fun!  I reviewed the "Best in Show" winner Strawberry Mint Mojito not long afterwards and really liked it.  Today I am reviewing the other "Best in Show" winner from that event -- the non-dairy Lemonberry Icebox Cake.  Non-dairy flavors are big these days and it looks like Izzy's is trying to improve their non-dairy line.  I don't usually survey non-dairy flavors, but since this one was the year's award winner, I figured I would give it a go.  This flavor is not a sorbet, but uses a coconut-based non-dairy ice cream base.  Swirled into the non-dairy lemon base are blueberry pie filling and chunks of pound cake.  I bought this at Izzy's scoop shop in Saint Paul.

Before today, I was not aware of what an icebox cake was.  It looks like a layered dessert where every other layer is whipped cream -- so the dessert must be kept refrigerated ("in the icebox") after it has been made and then it is served cold.  The wikipedia article lists chocolate as a key ingredient but it is not hard to find recipes that do not include chocolate online.  I was even able to find a lemon-blueberry recipe!  It looks really good.  There's lots of dairy in that recipe though  -- cream, mascarpone and lemon curd is usually made with butter -- so it will be interesting to see how this turns out.

Removing the lid, I see the yellow lemon base with lots of marbled blueberry.  Digging in, I taste the lemon right away and then get hit with a bit of blueberry.  The sweetness of the flavor tastes different to me.  I thought for a second that it might have used an artificial sweetener, but I figured that must not be it.  There is nothing that says a non-dairy flavor needs to be low calorie.  I did like the lemon and blueberry flavoring though.  Every once in a while, I was reminded of the flavors of a lemon blueberry muffin.

This was interesting non-dairy flavor from Izzy's.  Although the flavoring was decent, I did not like it as much as I was expecting because odd sweetness of the non-dairy base.  Perhaps it just constrasted so much with their dairy line which is so rich and filled with butterfat creaminess.  It is also easier to do non-dairy when the flavoring brings it's own creaminess, like a peanut butter or coconut or even chocolate.  Maybe it is better in smaller servings?  For now, I think I'll be sticking with their dairy flavors.  Check out Strawberry Mint Mojito if you have not already done so.

Sweet Science - Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip - Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Chocolate Chips and a Peanut Butter Swirl

Today we return to the Saint Paul-based Sweet Science brand for their implementation of a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip flavor.  I bought it at their scoop shop in the Keg & Case Market.  This flavor is actually just a mild permutation of a previous flavor of theirs called Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookie.  It may not warrant a completely separate review, but I got it anyways because I feel like I have been missing out on this brand of late because a lot of their recent monthly seasonal flavors are re-releases -- usually very good, but I only write up new flavors.  Anyhow, let's check this out.

Removing the lid, I see the light beige color of the peanut butter base with hints of some of the darker tan of a peanut butter swirl.  The chocolate chips looks like simple miniature chips that are often used for baking.  Digging in, the peanut butter flavor in the base is excellent.  It does not have any peanut-crunch to it, but it has a very nutty flavor.  The simple chips are actually quite efficient at delivering the chocolate.  You really get a lot of chocolate flavor chewing on these.  The extra peanut butter swirls are excellent -- delivering extra peanut butter without ever becoming too much.

This is a simple, but excellent pint of peanut butter chocolate chip.  I do think the flavor from early 2018 was slightly better -- there was a denser group of mix-ins, it almost felt like I was eating a candy bar.  That said, although the chocolate chips here are much simpler, they might add more chocolate to the mix.  If you are at Keg & Case and in the mood for peanut butter, do not hesitate.

Museum of Ice Cream - Queen Bee

Queen Bee - Honey Ice Cream with Chocolatey Covered Honeycomb & English Toffee with Almonds

The Museum of Ice Cream has new flavors this summer!  As mentioned in my first review of this brand, the Museum of Ice Cream started in 2016 as an experience-based museum that traveled from city to city where you can do things like play in giant sprinkle pools and stuff like that.  Last summer, they teamed up with Target to release seven flavors.  Some of them were a little heavy on candy mix-ins but some of them were pretty decent.  You can check them out in my review archive here.  This year, they have added several new flavors featuring new pint designs and what at first glance appears to be more savory flavors (more chocolates, caramels and malts and pretzels).  Today's flavor is called Queen Bee.  It is a Honey-centric flavor which a honey base, a honey mix-in and also toffee and almonds.  I got the pint at Target.

Removing the lid, they have a foil cover with a clever saying on it.  Coolhaus does that.  This one is telling me to 'dive right in'.  OK, let's go!  Peeling back the foil, I see a pint which is peppered with lots of mix-ins.  I see the lighter brown of the English toffee and the darker brown of the chocolate-covered honeycomb.  Digging in, the honey base is not too strong, but you can tell there is honey in it.  I enjoyed the toffee and almond pieces.  The toffee pieces outnumbered the almond pieces but I could still feel the occasional crunch from the almonds.  The chocolate coating of the honeycomb pieces was quite good, but like a recent Graeter's pint, I was not really into the odd hard-candy-like crunch of the honeycomb pieces themselves.  The chocolate coating certainly helped though.

This is an interesting pint.  It is the second flavor that I have had this summer which has included "honeycomb candies", so perhaps this type of candy is getting hot right now.  This particular type of candy is not for me, though.  It is just too much like hard candy -- like a candy cane pieces but made with honey.  I think I would have preferred like a chocolate covered honeycomb cereal instead.  The other mix-ins certainly helped though, so I liked this better then the recent Graeter's pint.  But of course, if you really like these types of hard honeycomb candy pieces, you'll certainly enjoy this pint more than me.

Pumphouse Creamery - Fresh Peach

Fresh Peach - Colorado Peaches Folded into Madagascar Vanilla Ice Cream

Today's pint comes from the Pumphouse Creamery in south Minneapolis.  This is the third pint that I picked up in my recent visit to the Chicago Avenue scoop shop.  The first was Garam Masala, the second was Blueberries and Buttermilk and the today's third pint is Fresh Peach.  Pumphouse specializes in seasonal fruit and other garden-type flavors.  Their most famous flavor is the springtime Fresh Rhubarb and I really enjoyed their Door County Sour Cherry flavor last fall.  August and September is peach season and I am seeing Colorado Peaches at my grocery stores and my pie shops.  So, I am excited to check this flavor out.

Removing the lid, I am greeted by a giant hunk of peach just under the lid.  Cool.  I see it sitting on top of a creamy white vanilla base.  Digging in, the peach tastes pretty darn good.  It goes quite well with the thick and creamy vanilla as well.  As I eat my way further down the pint, I am finding that some of the peach pieces are pretty big which is always fun.  I did find that a couple of the peach pieces were frozen which is not ideal but perhaps unavoidable for pieces this large frozen into ice cream.  The easy thing to do avoid chewing right away which gives it a chance to melt in my mouth.  Doing, that I was able to avoid biting into a frozen peach piece.

This is an excellent implementation of a peach ice cream.  Checking my archives, the major competition was a seasonal pint I got by mail from Graeter's.  I really liked both, but there were distinctive differences.  Graeter's had smaller peach pieces in a peach-flavored base and perhaps the best overall peach flavor.  This Pumphouse pint had larger peach pieces in a vanilla base, so it was more of a peaches and cream.  This pint also had more of a homemade feel to it.  The most important advantage this Pumphouse pint has is that is is available now -- though their website is telling me only through late September.  Check it out if you are in the area and you like peaches.

Izzy's - Cherry Nut

Cherry Nut - Cherry Ice Cream with Sweet Cherry halves and Salty Walnut Pieces

Today's flavor is from the Saint-Paul based Izzy's Ice Cream and is called Cherry Nut.  I got it hand-packed at the scoop shop.  They have a cool flavor up system on their website where they tell you all 32 flavors that they are currently scooping at both the Minneapolis and Saint Paul shops.  I usually have lots of time on my bus ride home from work to check to see which flavor are currently scooping, but if you are not that obsessive, you can sign up to have them email you if your favorite flavor gets cycled in.  Anyhow, this looks like a fun flavor.  Cherry ice cream with both cherry and walnut mix-ins.  Let's check it out!

Removing the lid, the the cherry base is a light pink color and a couple of the cherry mix-ins are visible already.  The cherry-half mix-ins look quite similar to the ones in Izzy's Cherries Jubilee flavor.  Digging in, the cherry base is a sweet cherry as opposed to a darker cherry.  It is not a candy-sweet cherry like a maraschino cherry which might be fun for a scoop but be too much for a full pint.  The cherry here is sweet, but not too sweet.  The cherry halves are soft (not at all frozen) and juicy and are quite delicious.  It is really generous to have such large cherry halves in a cherry ice cream like this.  Then, the walnut mix-ins are distributed throughout the pint.  They provide a good crunchy texture.  The walnuts appear to be peeled because I do not at all taste any bitterness that you sometimes get with the peel of a walnut.

This is quite a good cherry-centric flavor from Izzy's.  The excellent cherry halves make this a good recommendation for cherry lovers.  It is sort of a sister flavor to the very similar Cherries Jubilee flavor.  This Cherry Nut pint having nuts is a significant difference but the biggest difference is the Cherries Jubilee pint having brandy in the mix.  The brandy is not very 'boozy', but it does make a significant difference in the feel and flavor of the pint.  If you're in the mood for a mildly spiked pint, I'd try the Cherries Jubilee.  If you are not in the mood for brandy, then this pint is the one to get.