Gifford's Maine Lobster Tracks Ice Cream

I headed over to Roche Bros at lunch to use up my last Gifford's replacement coupon before it expires at the end of the month. I decided to be very regional with my food choices. I grabbed a "Pilgrim Sandwich" (turkey, stuffing, and cranberry mayo on rye), Nantucket Nectars Grapeade (love this stuff!), and then I got to one very barren freezer display. There were literally four Gifford's choices before me, two that I've tried, one involving banana, and then this fellow:

Gifford's Maine Lobster Tracks Ice Cream

Vanilla ice cream, lobster-colored chocolate cups filled with caramel 

all swirled with a unique éclair crunch

As expected, the eclair "crunch" is really just a dry fudge swirl... but after I have a few bites of it, I will admit that it does remind me of the chocolate stripe that runs down an eclair. It's an enjoyable change of pace from a typical swirl.

Hahahaha, those are some very red caramel cups. 

(top view on left, sliced side view on right) 

Alright, I'm excavating a cup for melting on my taste buds. It's very mild, but there is a neat somethin-somethin to it. I try another... funny, it doesn't look like a gooshy center when you bite it in half. Let's try something else then. If you slice one open then technically it does appear to have some sort of filling. Sorry, I'm getting sidetracked.

Ok, I've had like four cups now, and they remind me of something... but I can't put my finger on it. Oh oh oh, it reminds me of the 10X sugar glaze my mom puts on her rosebud cookies. I know that's not a caramel flavor, but it's not bad either. I may not be able to describe it well, but that doesn't mean I don't like it. The difference is what makes them fun.

The base is tame, like very tame. It's vanilla in the most mild of ways. I must have gotten an older or damaged quart because the texture is just so-so, though a bit of tempering does help with that.

And my cup is empty. It was nothing crazy, but I wasn't expecting crazy either.

On Second Scoop: Wait, I could have sworn I wrote my comments during my second scooping... doh. Now I need to have a third scooping. It's definitely a safe (tame) flavor, but like most Gifford's flavors, I can see people digging it. The swirl is kind of different and the cups are kind of different, so I definitely see the amusement factor here. It's not epic, but it's not run of the mill either.

Verdict?  Not crazy, but not bad (aka different enough)
Buy Again?  Maybe