Perry's Escapes Fireball Ice Cream and Perry's Escapes Mexican Chocolate Ice Cream

Welcome to the Friday Night.... Spicy Fight!

[Both New for 2015, but MC disappears for 2016 and fireball loses escapes branding]
Yes, I thought way too much about that headline. As you know, Perry's ice cream (out of Buffalo) sent Nick and I a bunch of samples. Nick is covering some nutty products, but in my batch I got not one but two spicy flavors. Well, I assume they'll both be spicy anyway, how could they not be right? One is called fireball and other has pictures of peppers on it.

Perry's Fireball Ice Cream and Perry's Mexican Chocolate Ice Cream

Ok, before we even start, which one has you most excited? Which one do you hope wins. I have two questions really. One, how spicy is the chocolate? Two, how spicy is the fireball? Wait, is that the same question?

Oh, not sure why some flavors and quarts and some are pints... though I guess I could ask. It must be based on something. I do appreciate the seals to keep things fresh.

Bahahahahaha, oh man is firewall pink! I mean, we knew it would be some shade of red, but for some reason that just puts a smile on my face.

So afraid to try a bite.... Ok, not terribly afraid because I can start with a small bite.... very very small bite... oh man, it even smells like a fireball, i'm afraid! aiming for the pink base. Two tiny bites in and I'm not dead yet. There's no denying it tastes like fireball. It's a very light fluffy texture. The swirl is.... surprisingly not a blast of heat. There are tiny pieces of.... whoa, yeah, those are fireball pieces, but the swirl, I think it might be sweet.

I didn't think I'd get very far here, but it's not bad. It's nothing I would ever buy personally, but from a reviewing perspective, I've had much worse. There is a balance to the heat since it's not a straight pepper burn, it's cinnamon. Yeah, this is weird for me that I don't hate that (hope that sounds like a compliment because it is). There is enough milk and creaminess to balance it out. I'm not getting spikes of craziness, at least not from the base. I mean, technically I am cheating by eating the softer (melty) sides to keep things easy on myself, but I think I might get a whole serving in.

Oh, wait, there's a bit of burn, I just had stopped long enough to notice.

Side note: the fireball-like pieces melt a bit, so you will find them in little spots of gloopiness. It's funny because when you first bite the shards, you almost think you are biting a peppermint piece. The swirls are a little more gel like compared to the candy.

Ok, time to stop. The melted sides are definitely a non-offensive spot to aim for. The fireball profile is interesting in this form. They called it fireball and they nailed it, but it's still ice cream too.

Despite a bit of lingering aftertaste, you know what I really like about this ice cream? It's gutsy. It's not toying with the idea of being a hot or not, or cinnamon or not. No, they said "hey, let's go for the gutso, let's go straight fireball" and they did that. I have to give them props for that.

Now on to the other flavor which looks like plain chocolate.

I take a whiff of the Mexican chocolate.... WHOA! that is one lively smell. It's very robust and layered and it reminds me of something. My daughter says it smells like Italian ice but I don't really know what that means. It's not chocolate, it's.... it's...   oh that's bugging me.

I'm scared and a take a bite... oh, oh my that is unpleasant. Yeah, I'm not eating this one, sorry. No chance. I mean maybe I can turn it in to a shake?

The weird thing is that the back end of this one burns like an atomic fireball. In other words, I thought the straight fireball flavor was decent, but this one has the burning side of the fireball equation and that is something that I have never liked. There's this cinnamon peppery robustness that kind of flares up on the aftertaste and it's just.... I never want to eat this one again. I feel like I should to be fair, I want to review it until I nail down what it reminds me of, but oh man.... is my nose running now? No, that's gotta be my imagination.... Man that is one robust flavor.

Now, in their defense, no non-spicy person is every going to grab this quart that has a bright red pepper on it. I'm just here to warn you that if you think this might be one of those "mild" Mexican chocolate, well, not so much.

And tonight's winner is...

I'm guessing it's pretty easy to tell who I think the winner should be, but like I said, a non-spicy consumer isn't going to grab and ice cream that has pictures of peppers on it. It's one think to call it Mexican Chocolate, but it's another when you bring in the pepper pictures.

That said, for me, fireball is the winner. It's got fun factor written all over it. The pint is eye catching, it's a good looking ice cream, and it's got a fun candy vibe that even I enjoyed. I wouldn't run out for it, but I work with a ton of people who loves fireballs and would totally scoop this one up.

And so ends my adventures with the new Perry's escapes line up, but stay tuned for a few more reviews from Nick. If we've learned anything, it's that Perry's hasn't messed around on this new line up. They've done a really nice job with these new flavors. Grasshopper pie was easily my favorite, but I can't imagine all of these flavors not doing well to their target audiences. Well played Perry's, way to not hold back.