Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Brownie Sundae Ice Cream

[By Nick, New for end of 2014, Exclusive to Walmart] I've been on the lookout for this flavor ever since we first got news about it. However much like the Pina Colada fiasco a couple years back, my Wal-Marts were still all stocked to the brim with Cotton Candy pints. I was starting to lose hope of getting my hands on this exclusive flavor until I found this guy hiding behind a pint of Pumpkin Cheesecake. I'd like to think that the ice cream gods were on my side.

Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Brownie Sundae Ice Cream

Vanilla Ice Cream with Fudge Brownies & a Crunchy Peanut Buttery Swirl

While I love the use of Greyston Bakery's brownies, the main draw here for me is the crunchy peanut butter swirl. I loved this swirl in Peanut Butter Jam Session and I'm excited to get to try it again in another flavor. Oh and yeah, brownies!

Well the swirl looks as beautiful as ever but something seems to be off about the brownies. These are far too tiny to be Greyston's. I can't imagine Ben & Jerry's using another company to supply their fudge brownies though.

Digging in, the swirl is everything I remembered. Sweet, salty and with that added crunch from the pieces of peanuts mixed throughout it. I think I like it's presence here more than I do in PBJS. While the peanut butter base tended to blend in here and there with the swirl, it's able to stand out more against the vanilla base than the peanut butter base.

That might be one of the only times I've ever complimented Ben & Jerry's on their standard vanilla base. This swirl needs to become a mainstay and incorporated into more flavors in the future. I wonder how it would do when their chocolate base is involved? I have a feeling it might make it more tolerable for me.

Rant aside, I have another thing to rant about: The Brownies. I was right, there's no way these can be Greyston's. While their flavor is nice and fudge like, the texture is bad. These are some of the driest brownies I've encountered. I'm about to compliment their vanilla base again. It really made the brownies tolerable by moistening things up a bit. There's nothing worse than a completely dried out brownie.  I had to contact my friends over at Greyston to confirm I didn't get a bad batch and I was right. Ben & Jerry's sourced another company for this flavor. I just don't understand that move at all. Why mess with something that's not broken? I could see if they went with a different type of brownie, they would go outside of Greyston. When it comes to fudge brownies though, Greyston should be the only source they even consider.

The brownies turn this flavor from being easily a Top 5 or 10 to one in barely in my Top 20. Sure, I've tried 72 flavors from them and that's still a great ranking. This one could've been so much better and it's lucky it has the crunchy peanut butter swirl to make up for that crumbly texture in the brownies.

Dear Ben & Jerry's, please consult me before you decide to use any brownie that isn't Greyston's. I know this isn't a permanent thing but I think this would cause a bigger backlash than the toffee fiasco from last year if you were to go away from them more. #greyston4life #thatwasnecessary

Verdict?  Buy it for the swirl, not the brownies
Buy Again?  I'll give it another shot before it's gone to confirm that the brownies are indeed always that dry