Stone Ridge Creamery Dream Flavors

I forget how many weeks ago it was, but we spotted the new dream flavors at Shaws. They caught my attention because unlike other Stone Ridge containers, these ones had drawings on them. I picked up one in particular and it's been patiently hiding in the deep freezer until now. It's been on a long list of things I need to try, but I decided to bump it up the list when I received a very cool email from Supervalu's marketing company.

--- start email ---

Last year, SUPERVALU invited its employees from across the company to show their love for the Stone Ridge Creamery brand by submitting their “dream” ice cream flavors. The company received nearly 1,500 submissions from its 160,000 employees.

Three employees (two from Minneapolis and one from Chula Vista, Calif.), won the chance to have their dream flavors added to the Stone Ridge Creamery lineup and their caricatures featured on the carton. They are also receiving free ice cream for a year! This sweepstakes has been SUPERVALU’s way of recognizing and thanking employees for the contributions they made to the brand’s growth.

The new dream flavors, which are now available nationwide at SUPERVALU’s family of grocery stores, are listed below. Full descriptions of each flavor can be found in the press release: http://www.pitchengine.com/supervalu/cool-prizes-awarded-to-three-supervalu-employees--in-the-stone-ridge-creamery--name-your-dream-flavor-sweepstakes/60869/

Twisted Pretzel
Red Velvet Cake
Italian Kiss

--- end email ---

Talk about a fun idea, and free ice cream for a whole year to boot! I hope the employees enjoyed the contest because I know I certainly would. I love stories like this but it wouldn't be fair to bring it up without actually sampling one of the flavors. Oh which one to try, they all sound unique:
Twisted Pretzel: Chocolate Ice Cream, Pretzels and a Caramel Swirl
Red Velvet Cake: who's description isnt on the container
Italian Kiss: Hazlenut Ice Cream and a Chocolate Swirl

So which one did I pick? Well, ummm, you see.... technically there is a fourth Dream Flavor:

This is Philip's Truffle Shuffle. It's a "Rich Chocolate Ice Cream with Decadent Truffles and a Thick Fudge Swirl". When I bought this, Twisted Pretzel wasn't out yet and so I was having a bear of a time deciding which flavor to go with. So, I made an assumption: I know Phillip is the SRC's ice cream guru, so I went with his flavor. It seemed only fair since he does read the blog (at least he used to, not sure how busy he is these days).

That's no poor photography, this ice cream really is a rich brown color. It's amazingly bright brown and I can't remember the last time I saw something so bright. Now, if you are like me, you may be a little disappointed at first glance. I didn't really see any truffles or swirls jumping out at me at first, but you just need to look a bit closer.

Truffles! Check out those giant chunks of chocolate! Just digging another 1/8 inch down revealed a ton of these awesome looking hunks of dark-chocolate-looking goodness. Mmmmmm (ok, i'm trying to keep you in suspense here but I'm giving away the ending).

Truffles! TRUFFLES TRUFFLES TRUFFLES TRUFFLES TRUFFLES TRUFFLES hehehehhehehehe. These things rock. I always say Stone Ridge makes a decent ice cream but that it usually doesn't pack enough bits. Well, with this ice cream it seemed like I got at least one truffle bit in every bite. Maybe it was a fluke, but it was a mighty rich tasty fluke. They're just the perfect size and texture: solid, yet soft enough to give just the right bite. You know they are there, you will enjoy biting them, but they wont crunch hard nor will they get stuck to your teeth. Excellent job on the Truffles.  I'm going to be bold and say these are some of the finest inclusions I've had in an ice cream, they are just that impressive.

Now usually you see chocolate, or milk chocolate, or on occasion you might see some low fat treat that pretends to have "rich chocolate", but Stone Ridge means business on this one. This is easily one of the most chocolaty ice creams I've had in a while. In fact, I think I may have even been on a bit of an overload between the base richness and then the truffles just making me happy.

Now, here's the funny thing. A single serving is just 65g. That's right, that puts it in light ice cream territory and it tastes as such. However, this still clocks in at 30% saturated fat because of the fudge swirl and truffles. Oh, speaking of the swirl, I didn't really notice it that much. The base is so rich, the truffles are so nice, the swirl is really just an after thought for me. I didn't really notice any kind of major swirls to get my attention, it's just kind of spots of swirl here and there quietly accepting it's role as the third and final piece of the puzzle.

Really nice job on this one Stone Ridge. I'm tempted to check out the other flavors because I hope they are as bold as this one is. It's stuff like this that can seperate a company from being just another in house brand. Who knows, if this goes well, maybe Stone Ridge can have another contest next year.

On Second Scoop: I will admit that I didn't really know what I wanted for snack today, but thankfully, an idea hit me. Why not scoop out a few of those tasty truffle bites from Phillip's Truffle Shuffle. Fantastic idea because not only am I full of trufffle bits, but I dug into a the heart of the fudge swirl and it is a tasty swirl indeed. I'm guessing alot of you might be relying on Ben & Jerry's Flourless Chocolate Cake right now for your cocoa fix, but when that limited flavor is gone, why not give this one a try.