Vice Cream Breakfast in Bed Ice Cream

[New for 2016] Time to get a new ice cream company on the blog, and when I say new, I mean that they just came to market this month. Their name is Vice Cream and it sounds familiar right? I thought so too and did a search but only dug up that wacky Licktators product from last year (look up at your own discretion). Vice Cream is based in Boston and makes "unapologetically indulgent ice cream". They have started off with five flavors available at Roche Bros and Tedeschi. I took a few minutes to decide which one I wanted to try first and then plopped down $5.99 for...

Vice Cream Breakfast in Bed Ice Cream

maple ice cream, sticky bun dough, pecan praline,
maple syrup and cinnamon cream cheese ripple

Not much going on at first.

I take a bite and it's definitely maple, but in a more complex way. I take a few more bites and I'm having trouble deciding something. The base either tastes like it has a strong, brown sugar undercurrent to it or a very mild alcoholic complexity to it. Not a typical burn or bitterness mind you, but this certain small note that reminds me of the occasional alcohol inspired flavors we have had on the blog now and then. I don't see any "special" ingredients listed, so I think it's just the way everything has come together.

Now it's not just the base we bought this for, it's the "promise" of mix-ins and a swirl (ripple) that we have to dig for. The problem is that I didn't hit the mix-ins until I was basically done with my first serving. I did get one sticky bun dough bit which seemed nice, and I got one nice flavorful pecan bit, but that was it. The good news is that I've set myself up nicely for round two.

On Second Scoop: See, I told you I set myself up nicely, except for the swirl maybe, so let's start digging. I liked this yesterday and I like it even more now that the mix-ins have kicked in. The sticky bun dough is pretty good (though it could use a little more sweetness in my opinion) and the pecans are nice if not particularly huge. Yesterday I thought my pint might be a little freezer burned but I realize that it's actually tiny puddles of the ripple praline that have a little bit of texture to them, something akin to still being a little frozen.

Anyway, I do like this, but I had a thought. I realized this is very similar to the new B&J's Pecan Sticky Buns flavor. The technical difference is that vice cream has added maple in to the mix. The real world difference is B&J's uses larger pecans and has a more noticeable cream cheese factor. This translates to the B&J's version having more of a butter pecan vibe while this has more of an air of a breakfast treat to it. So is it really "Breakfast in Bed"? I say mission accomplished.

Parting notes: I'm not really sure how I feel about the marketing on this one. On one hand, it's trying to be bold and clever and aim for a particular crowd. On the other hand, it feels like something out of the 80s... or even more specifically it looks like a webpage I designed in mid 90s. Yes it stands out on store shelves (unless they sell it at Walgreens at some point), but I'm not sure it clicks with me yet though maybe I'm just being an old fuddy duddy. Maybe it's about time we have a marketing campaign that's a bit more brash in my area. I will definitely keep my eyes on Vice Cream and try a few more flavors as the year goes on. Let me know your thoughts in the comments and which flavor you would try first: this one, choc of shame, higher grounds, bourbon mash or afternoon delight. (for some reason their website lacks flavor descriptions, but you can see them in this tweet)

Final Scooping: I found the swirl! I big ol' puddle of goo at the very bottom of the pint. I take a spoonful and it's got a bit of fireball kick to it. Eating it with a few dough chunks does help balance it out, but it's still fairly strong. I don't even know what to do with all of it, there's just not enough ice cream left to mellow it out (but I eat it anyway). It basically looks like a grayer version of cookie butter. Oh, for the record, it doesn't taste like cream cheese, at least not very much.

If this was an established company, I would pick on them for the settling of the swirls and mix-ins, but I get that they just started production and they need time to work out the kinks. We can't expect perfection on day one. It's not like that have the budget to throw out an entire run of ice cream. That said, I don't know how to feel about this flavor anymore. The existence of the potent swirl changes things. I don't think I would have enjoyed this flavor as much if the cinnamon had been constantly messing with the other components.

Sept 2016 Update: Dan from Vice Cream left a nice long update over on my Choc of Shame review. They are very much aware of the sinking mix-ins and are addressing the issue!

Verdict?  fun interesting morning flavor
Buy this brand Again?  sure