Saturday, May 21, 2016

Yeti Frozen Custard Review


So, this review is going to start with two apologies. One is to Yeti Frozen Custard as they sent these free samples over five weeks ago (their website is here). I was fairly quick to try them but logistics got in the way of the actual post. The second apology is to everyone who grew up with frozen custard because frozen custard just isn't really a thing in the northeast. I know eggs are a factor and that it shouldn't be drastically different from other things I've tried for the blog, but please forgive my lack of experience here. Now, without further ado, let's try....

Yeti Frozen Custard : currently available in eight flavors, I tried four of them


I wound up trying the Yeti Blueberry Pancake first.
Can't say I was expecting the swirl to be that bright blue.

I adore fresh blueberry pancakes with a passion and was wondering how they would achieve the pancake flavor. Well, they did it with maple. I suspected this might happen after stop & shop offered something similar several months back. Now I've had this a few times, including as a milkshake, and it's just not my thing. It's not bad but I just can't get in to it. It's not a crazy strong maple base or a crazy strong blueberry swirl, they blend / coexist pretty well and never overwhelm with sweetness, but... I just haven't craved this one, that's all.

Have I mentioned how much I love the packaging yet? It's a simple two color scheme but it's just so clever. It's friendly, it's catchy, and it's different. I commented on instagram that Yeti gets that in today's fast moving, social media influenced world, you can't wait to brand yourself. The sooner you start, the better. So many small ice cream companies could learn a lesson from Yeti.

Sorry, tangent, let's dig in to Yeti Roasted Strawberry frozen custard. It's very dense and there is something to it that I can't place on the first few bites. This will sound dumb, but I almost think I taste caramel popcorn. Wow, it's really unexpected and definitely not what you would expect of a strawberry flavor. I can't think of anything comparable. Man, what a neat flavor. If you blindfolded me, I would not know this is a strawberry flavor. It tastes like fresh caramel popcorn. I don't get it and I don't care. Very cool.

To prove my point, I will now make my wife taste it.... and she had no idea it was strawberry. Awesome trick Yeti.

Yeti Bourbon Vanilla frozen custard next. At first, I think I almost get that caramel note that I found yesterday in the strawberry, but as I get more use to this dense custard, I realize that it's an awful lot like white chocolate. It's kind of amazing in that sense. I finally get why some people are all about custard. I've just never had a nice, high end frozen custard apparently. Yes, for those of us raised on ice cream, there's going to be a little bit of a hiccup adjusting to the texture difference. But once I really started settling in, once I started to appreciate the unique, rich, sweetness you don't get in a non-egg ice cream, I finally get it.

See, if you are patient, you can teach an old east coast boy like myself a new trick. I think this is a good point to thank Yeti for introducing me to such a product. Ahhh, fun times!

The freezer was on a defrost cycle so I decided to second scoop the strawberry, the oh so amazing strawberry. It's kind of magical you know. Yes, I should probably complain that it doesn't really taste like strawberries, but it's just so... dialed in to whatever sorcery is going on here. I don't mean to gush, but it's just such a unique flavor/texture combo. It's almost cheesy. I meant to buy some strawberry sauce from the store the other day just to see what would happen when I mixed the two together. At the moment I think it would taste like a strawberry danish if I mixed the two.

Might be my favorite lid ever.

Ok, who lost my Yeti Lemon Lavender notes? Wait, I didn't write them down you say? Yup, that's sounds like me! Anyway, I didn't expect to get more than one or two bites in to this one but it's not bad. It's got this familiar fruity / flowery flavor that I recognize but can't name. I think I kind of expected this one to taste like soap or hand cream, but it's really not bad. That may sound like a slight but I mean it as a total compliment. They went fringe here and pulled it off.

Let's dig in to the LL again to be safe. If I had to imagine what a lemon creamscile would taste like, I think this would be similar. Not some artificially flavored one mind you, but a nice high end one. The lavender takes the edge off the lemon and gives you a more well rounded flavor. Actually, the custard's egg component is part of that profile as well. I'm glad I let it temper because it's really brought this one alive and it's found this really nice middle ground to stand on.

Yet again I find myself impressed with Yeti's creativity. Actually, let's end on that note shall we. If you happen to be in their distribution area, give them a shot. I send them my thanks for the samples and wish them the best. Count me as their newest fan.

Verdict?  I approve
Buy Again?  if I could


24 comments:

  1. I have tried the same four. I liked the lemon lavender the best. Weirdly, my pint of blueberry pancake had no swirl. It didn't taste of blueberry or maple. Everyone who tried it agreed that it had no flavor. It just tasted cold. I am going to buy another pint to see if it actually has blueberry in it.

    I also tried mint chip. It was really good.

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  2. I would like to know where I can find Yeti Frozen Custard so I can try for myself. Many people don't know the difference between Frozen Custard and Ice Cream. For one, Custards are mainly made up of Milk or Cream, egg yolks and sugar. Ice Cream is mainly made up of Milk or Cream, sugar and other additives. So as a whole Custards usually (tongue in cheek) contain less fat per cup then Ice Cream thus considered slightly healthier then ice cream. For me it doesn't matter, just give me a bowl of frozen deliciousness.

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  3. @Anon: that's gotta be a fluke, give it another shot!

    @Octavia: I updated the review with a couple of links but you can search for stores here http://www.yetispot.com/#!find-your-yeti/rrpnt (they are based in Austin, TX). I should probably update the review to say that I do understand that it's egg based, I meant more in the sense that I almost never get to try frozen custard. Plus healthy is relative with the added cholesterol :)

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  4. Closest retailer is 829 miles away from me :/

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  5. The Yeti on the pint and the lid have major fun factor points in my book.

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  6. I just bought a second pint of blueberry pancake since my first lacked a swirl. The new one is identical to my first. Light blue/gray color, no swirl, no flavor.

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  7. I tried the mint chip and it was tasty. appreciate the review, I will try another flavor over the holiday weekend

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  8. @Anon: please contact the company, I'm sure they would be happy to help and figure out what is going on.

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  9. That's a good idea. The other flavors are good - it's just that one.

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  10. Adding maple syrup to something and calling it "pancake" flavor is so common these days, and quite frankly, it's lazy. I wish a company would actually try and execute a pancake flavored ice cream.

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    1. My BBPancake had no maple, but a very faint pancake taste. I could be forcing that flavor, but I felt it.

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  11. @ the toy box I agree. Many companies do this now adays. I say to my wife this is exactly the same flavor as another they just changed the name to bring in more business. Can't fault them if it works and we buy it. One month something is cinnamon swirl. Next month they call it french toast.

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  12. I'm not sure why my comment wasn't posted.

    I bought the Blueberry Pancake 5 weeks ago or so. It literally looks like your Starwberry image but a shade of blue very light in color.
    It has 0 swirl. 0 maple flavor. A faint blueberry, faint pancake flavor.

    I have to wonder which version is the new real version. But I feel it has happened to multiple people so it should be posted to let people know.
    I purchased at an OK Sprouts.

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  13. Settled down anonymous. You posted a similar comment three times at 12:21, 12:22, and 12:23, why would I post all three? I left the one from 12:23 as once is enough to prove your point.

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    1. Because I hadn't finished reading all of the comments at that point. And I was replying to multiple comments about what the flavor actually was (blogger doesn't have a multiquote reply option for discussions as you yourself pointed out recently).
      And the only reason I felt the need to repost was the last post did not mention that my batch had no swirl and was nothing like the one you received.

      I admit had I read all of the comments before trying to post, I may have changed my overall posts. But at the same time people need to know the batches are different, and you just saying no our batches our wrong isn't fair. I wanted to reaffirm that the guy who had TWO swirless batches wasn't just some random bad luck. It was an actual flavor.

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  14. please keep in mind that people often post a comment two or three times because they don't realize comments are moderated (to keep out spam and unnecessary words/attitude). on top of that, I don't know if it's one person or five that are complaining about having no swirl as they are all listed as "anonymous". I'm sorry you had trouble and I thank you for sharing your experience, but it's the company that needs to hear from you. They may know they had a bum run, or they may not, but I can't think of any reason why they would run a flavor without maple or blueberry in it. Maybe the machine ran out of swirl or blueberries early, who knows for sure, but that's why you help the company out by reporting the info from the pint and then most companies will compensate you for the trouble with a couple of coupons.

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  15. I picked up two. Roasted Strawberry and Blueberry Pancake. I'll keep this short and sweet Dubba.I hated them both. Both were void of any identifiable flavors. The only flavor I could discern was what I'd liken to Vanilla Soy milk. I like soy milk, not in the flavor of my Ice Cream. I actually thought it was the most terrible custard I've had in my entire life. Wow!

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  16. @Jeremy: did you get one of the maple-less, blueberry-less pints? and how recently? all I can say is... weird! you should contact them too, hopefully they can find a pattern or maybe they've already resolved it.

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  17. So I seen the Yeti Blueberry Pancake at Sprouts in California and decided to give it a shot. I'm sorry to also report that there isnt much of a taste to it at all. Its strange but I'm not event getting a hint of a Blueberry Pancake taste. The frozen custard has a gray/white color to it without any blue swirl.

    I never bother posting things on blogs but felt compelled after tasting this. When i decide to splurge with my dessert, I want to make those calories count. All the creamy, sugary sweetness is supposed to be there according to the label but I assure you its not there. Havent tried any other flavors other than the Blueberry Pancake.

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  18. email info at yetistop.com and let them know!

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  19. Hey guys. First of all, thank you for the reviews and secondly for the heads up in the Blueberry Pancake run. We found what happened and have quickly resolved it. Thankfully this only existed in a very small number of cases where unfortunately the machine did run out of swirl. We have upped our game on quality control and apologize for anyone who didn't get the full blueberry pancake experience. It won't happen again and we appreciate you letting us know.

    - The Yeti Team

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  20. I think it's very 21st century for a small company to listen and take the time to try and respond to it's base and audience. I see Yeti did that. The issue I have is two part and unfortunate. Yeti was new to me and it was the review by DUBBA that led me to this product here in Scottsdale, AZ. The cost is quasi in-line with other "premium" products, if not actually higher! To try this, as I don't eat this kind of junk food often, as a treat was something I looked forward to and I was let down tremendously in terms of what I had imagined the taste to be like. The second part is that I will not try a YETI custard again. Even after they've said they "upped" their game. So many times companies have said "New and Improved" and I've been let down. I don't think the lack of a swirl was the entire reason YETI blueberry maple pancake was the worst custard I've had in my life. It was flavorless all around the horn and the color was so Stephen King! So I say say sorry to YETI, I appreciate you reaching out but you're like a crazy ass first date and we're not doing round two.

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