Arctic Zero Light Ice Cream Review

[New for 2018] So, are you surprised at how many companies have jumped on the (ultra) light ice cream bandwagon? I don't know if I am or not, but what did surprise me was when Arctic Zero decided to jump on this bandwagon with 7 new light ice creams. While most companies are reducing down to light ice cream,  the people behind a frozen dessert actually went up the ice cream food chain. Let's see if it's going to work out for them.

Arctic Zero Cookies & Cream Light Ice Cream

"creamy vanilla flavor with chocolate sandwich cookies"

My Stop & Shop also had chocolate chunk and then the other five flavors that you might find are peanut butter & chocolate cookies, mint & chocolate cookies, vanilla bean, cookie & brownie dough, and toffee crunch.

After removing the plastic seal, I see a fairly normal looking like ice cream in front of me. Yes you can see tiny air bubbles here and then but it's nothing like the shock of the first time I opened a regular pint of arctic zero. This has an actual white base with cookie bits strewn about and some of the bits are a decent size.

I take my first few bites and it's not bad. While I got a strong skim milk vibe from the C&C of a new Breyers 2n1 flavor, I don't get that here (which I greatly appreciate). I'm not saying it tastes like straight up ice cream, but I'm not shocked in any particular direction. I can tell it's different, but I'm not afraid. The cookie bits are actually pretty good, the big ones in particular of course. They are fairly soft but solid and deliver good flavor.

After I had gotten fairly in to the pint, I realized that some spots had more cookie factor than others. What I mean is that while many early bites had a little bit of cookie flavor to them, I started hitting bites that were straight white base with almost no cookie factor. Arctic Zero seems to have a decent thing going here, and results will vary from pint to pint probably, but it would be nice to see the cookie vibe be a little stronger and consistant to help me focus on the cookie flavor rather than on how light the ice cream is.

Wait, to clarify that last point, this stuff isn't crazy light, nor is it super gummy or just odd. It does seem to melt (look) a little funny on the edges, but I get that we are dealing with just a handful of calories per serving so there has to be differences here.

Overall, AC makes a respectable first impression without relying on any sugar alcohols. You all know how I hate sugar replacements and their effects of many of us. My biggest parting thought right now is the fact that I have to shell out $5 a pint but only get 360 calories in return. That's a pretty low calorie to dollar ratio.

On Second Scoop: I accidentally let this temper a bit too long so the difference was a little more obvious in regards to light/water factor. It's still not bad, but I recommend keeping it colder. It's definitely good enough to make me curious about the other flavors at some point, like when they are on sale (if that ever happens, iunno). I'm curious what the arctic zero and #iifym fans out there think. Oh, and not to be weird, but I didn't mention the prebiotics which I think gave me a little indigestion but nothing too serious (I haven't really been eating yogurt since they killed Oh My Yog! so that's not helping)

Verdict?  not bad!
Buy Again?  I'll try the other flavors