2018 Frozen Product Guide

Ok, I now this is supposed to go up at the beginning of the year, but I had this dumb idea to try and work really hard on it this year. What happened was that I kept gathering more and more pictures which made the task of finishing this guide harder and harder. I'm not even sure it's done now. Next year, I will just post it as soon as it's started and then I can update according. It's much easier that way. I meant well I swear. Click past the break to get started.

Magnum struck the 2018 US market first with a product that other parts of the world have already seen. The new Magnum tubs are definitely fun though your appreciation for them will depend on how much you enjoy their actual ice cream. They also released a new Double Cherry Truffle bar (review here).

Magnum White Chocolate Vanilla tub (review here)

Magnum Dark Chocolate Raspberry Tub (review here)

Magnum Milk Chocolate Vanilla Tub (review here)

Magnum Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Tub (to be reviewed at some point)

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Next up we got new a bunch of new stuff from Haagen-Dazs. Most importantly (to me), they continue to tweak their Trio branding and added three new flavors but this time there is also a gooey sauce factor (so is it still a trio?). We're also working on the third iteration of the Trio branding with more colorful containers and the expanded name of "crispy trio layers". To be honest, I don't even know what to call them other than sticking with Trio because it's catchy and easy.

    Coconut & Chocolate Trio (review here)
    Vanilla & Caramel Trio (review here)
    Lemon & Raspberry Trio (review here)

H-D has gotten in a cycle of releasing a limited line up each year and the 2018 version is called the "Decadent Collection" and it lives up to the name. We see the debut of the overall amazing Honey Salted Caramel Almond (review here), Banana Peanut Butter Chip and it's amazing peanut butter swirl (review here), as well as the return of midnight cookies & cream.

There's also the new chocolate covered cookie squares as well as new bars. For the squares, there is a vanilla version (review here) and a dulce de leche version which I still need to try.

And if that's not enough, they really widened their non-dairy offerings with two non-dairy Trios and two non-dairy bars. It makes me wonder if we'll see a non-dairy pint slice from Ben & Jerry's next year. The specific flavors are peanut butter chocolate fudge (bar, reviewed here), coconut caramel dark chocolate (bar), crunchy peanut butter (trio) and coconut cookies & creme (trio).

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Speaking of Ben & Jerry's, they got a pretty early jump on their announcements this year. The biggest thing is probably the three new Truffle flavors... or would the new "Moo-phoria" lineup be the biggest anouncement? Moo-phoria is basically B&J's light ice cream. You save calories but not dollars. I've tried two and have no urge to try the third. There are also three new pint slices as well as an assortment of new (sometimes limited, sometimes exclusive) pints.

Caramel Chocolate Cheesecake Truffles (review here)
Chocolate Shake It Truffles (review here)
Chillin' the Roast Truffles (not my style)

P.B. Dough Moo-phoria (review here)
Caramel Cookie Fix Moo-phoria (review here)
Chocolate Milk & Cookies Moo-phoria (don't care anymore)

The Tonight Dough pint slice (review here)
Cherry Garcia pint slice (in the freezer)
Coffee, Coffee, Buzz Buzz Buzz slice (not my style)

Gimme S'mores! ice cream - limited edition (review here)
Glampfire Trailmix ice cream - Target exclusive (review here)
It's Ice...Cream ice cream - Special Stash (limited access)

2 New Non-Dairy Flavors: Peanut Butter Half Baked and Cinnamon Buns

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Let's start mainstream stuff by talking about the "Trio'politan" flavors from Turkey Hill. Basically three flavors (not swirled) in the same container. There are four regular flavors and one all natural flavor [aka their is only one new all natural flavor this year]. They also have a new "decadent delights" lineup. It comes in both bars and parfait formats and I've only seen the bars at Wegman's.

American Dream (review here)  --  Coco Loco (skipping)

Mint Cookie (review here)  --  Triple Chocolate (review here)

All Natural Chocolate Raspberry Bliss (review here)

Decadent Delights (I've only seen them at Wegman's)
Cherry  -- Chocolate Covered Strawberry  --  Coconut -- Tropical Mango
(note: apparently there were 6 bars including 2 trio'politan versions!)

Only the July-Sept Limited flavors were "new" this year: Caramel Brownie Overload (review here) and Caramel Hot Chocolate (spicy!). I say it that way because CBO was based on a retired flavor that won last year's flavor tournament.

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Is Breyers up to anything new? Ofcourse they are. Their gelato lineup got tweaked as always with a few subtractions and the addition of Brownie Batter Swirl and Chocolate Fudge Truffle, but more importantly was the change ups to the BLASTS! line up. Basically the BLASTS name is gone. Some flavors live on without the BLASTS branding (like Oreo and Reeses), but several other flavors live on in the swirled up world of Breyers 2in1. There are four "new" flavors and each one is basically a mix of two blasts flavors:

Oreo & Chips Ahoy! (review here) --  Heath & Waffle Cone

Reese's & Reese's Pieces  --  Snickers and M&M

side note: two Breyers delights flavors now come in "mini-pint" sizes aka 4oz cups aka I am bothered that they call it a mini-pint instead of a cup. I am also distrustful when they put out new sizes instead of new flavors. Maybe delights aren't selling as well as they hoped?

Breyers Gelato is losing five flavors while on gaining the new Brownie Batter Swirl flavor. The cancelled flavors are strawberry truffle, tiramisu, chocolate caramel, chocolate hazelnut, and the 2017 release cinnamon roll.

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I can't forget about all the new treats coming from Blue Bunny. The best part about Blue Bunny and 2018 is that they have a new PR rep! YAY! I've seen plenty of ice cream relationships come and go over the last decade and it was nice to finally get an email from Blue Bunny again, especially now that it has become much harder to find their newer ice cream containers in my area. The new options are four new bunny snacks, two new cones, 8 load'd sundaes and then a few new flavors.

Bunny Snacks: vanilla fudge brownie (review here)  --  strawberry cheesecake (review soon)
chocolate hazelnut (review here)  --  mint chocolate twist (in the freezer)

Mini Swirls: cinnamon cereal (review here) --- mint cookie crunch (review here)

8 Load'd Sundaes in all!!! chocolate brownie bomb, bunny tracks, cookie dough co., cookie crunch 'n fudge, mint chocolate chunk, peanut butter bunny, salted caramel pecan, and strawberry shortcake.

new 1.5qt flavors: blackberry crumble rumble, chocopolitan (review here), and caramel butter pecan praline.

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In other mainstream news, Edy's (Dreyer's for you west coast people) has thrown the Triple-Filled lineup at us. Each container of so-so ice cream containers three "cores" of either fudge or caramel for a total of four flavors available everywhere. There is also an exclusive dollar general flavor. I have been unimpressed with the first two I tried and the third is just laying about in the basement freezer.

1-2-3-4 & DG5

A big thing that Nestle (Edys/Dreyers) is doing this year is putting out un-branded pints. In particular is the three super hero flavors but they are also messing with the candy flavors they put out last year. So you can now buy Butterfinger ice cream rather than Edy's with Butterfinger ice cream. I guess whatever gets our attention in a short attention span world right? If you can't make something new, just make it look new and hope it gets seen by people who don't notice it's the same thing. Wow that sounds cynical (because it is. Don't get me started. It never goes well).

Krypton Cookie Dough - Dark Knight Brownie Bite - Golden Lasso Twirl (review here) 

Rolo sandwiches and cones. The cones scare me with thoughts of last year's Oreo cones, but I've had the sandwiches and they are good (review here).

Nestle is also throwing the outshine pint lineup at us. 4 of them use a banana base and three use a dairy base and include granola. I tried one of the dairy ones (strawberry review here) and it tastes like literal frozen yogurt (that is an insult, not a compliment).

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I always forget to mention Blue Bell because I don't have any access to them. They released Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Dough in March and Key Lime Mango Tart in July. They also finally built a new website.... it's about scoopin' time!

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Back to the higher end stuff, can't forget to mention Talenti. They've released three new flavors (so far) but also three low sugar flavors. That's right, they to have jumped on the replacement sugar bandwagon (man this trend is out of control). I actually found these very early on (at the end of December) but never got past just sampling the vanilla cinnamon. You can read the low cal recap here. (the Talenti numbered flavor list is here)

48  Chocolate Caramel Blondie gelato (review here)

49  Almond Butter & Honey gelato (review here)

50  Vanilla Cinnamon (120 cal)

51  Cold Brew Coffee sorbetto

52  Mint Cookie Crunch (120 cal)

53  Chocolate Fudge Swirl (120 cal)

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Since we are talking gelato, let's talk about new offerings from Gelato Fiasco. Always fun, always different, and always happy to get free samples of what's new:

Sunken Treasure (review here), Double Caramel Cookies & Cream (review here), Deep Maine Woods, and then four nutty options all reviewed together: Doughing Me, Doughing You, A Big Ol' Peanut Butter Pint, Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup, and Bourbon Putter Pecan.

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Coolhaus has several new flavors though they are hard to find. I saw two at Wegman's and then later on I saw the same two flavors plus one more at Roche Bros.

Milkshake & Fries (review here)

Best Of Both Worlds Vanilla

Buttered French Toast 

Street Cart Churro Dough 

Midnight Munchies 

Farmer's Market Strawberry Cheesecake 

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Having been "rescued" by Dean Foods, Steve's Ice Cream is back on store shelves. The lineup is fairly limited but there are a few flavors that I've never tried.

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It's not new-new, but pints from Big Gay Ice Cream have expanded distribution in to my area. So far I have reviewed American Globs and Birfdae Cake from Price Chopper and will pick up some others from Shaw's as well.

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I haven't seen a ton of activity in the Friendly's section this year, but I have noticed three things. One, they released Nor'easter Pothole which was fairly disappointing. Two, they slightly tweaked their Naturally line up by replacing chocolate fudge with vanilla bean chocolate  -- the other seven flavors have stayed the same. Three, they didn't add any new sundae containers which makes me sad because they are a pretty fun snack (and big enough that you can spread them out over a few days).

Wait, there are four things. Friendly's has put out the "Big Friendly" novelty line which swipes ideas from both Fat Boy and Chipwich. Granted Chipwich is a fairly common idea at this point, but the thick square ice cream sandwiches are definitely a riff of Fat Boy sandwiches. That said, the really annoying part here is that all three varieties are just labeled as "Big Friendly" at the top and then the flavors at the bottom: Vanilla, Fudge Swirl, and Chocolate Chip (reviewed here). This bothers me and my need to properly label and organize things.

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Buffalo based Perry's Ice Cream actually re-released four retro flavors to commemorate their 100th birthday. I've ranked the reviews here with Parkerhouse being my favorite: Parkerhouse - Malt Shoppe - Heavenly Hash - Butterscotch. Around memorial day, they also released the new limited edition Star Spangled Cookie which was sugar cookie ice cream with sugar cookie dough pieces and sprinkles. Sounds awesome.

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You may have noticed I didn't mention Yuengling's Ice Cream and that's because apparently they are not doing anything new this year according to their PR people. However, they are going to have out a new product line next year so we'll just have to wait and see what's in store with that (feel free to take a guess on that).

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That's about it for around these parts except maybe Hood ice cream which has already disappointed me with both their Purple Panda flavor and their Chocolate Churro flavor. I'm sure we'll see a few more new things from their New England Creamery line this year but I certainly won't be holding my breath for them.

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Purveyors of the never ending and always rotating fro-yo, Kemps is throwing JoyFULLS at us. It takes their love of froyo and mixes it with the annoying trend of sugar-replacements. I have no intention of trying this lineup (for fear of bathroom related consequences). I wrote a news post about all four flavors here.

While I've never been a fan of regular Arctic Zero, my one sampling over their new light ice cream lineup was surprisingly not that bad. I will try to cover more of these flavors if they ever actually show up in my area because I appreciate that they don't rely on sugar replacement. Seven flavors in all: You can see my review of cookies & cream or you can check out the roundup review of all but one of the flavors.

Speaking of evil sugar replacements, Skinny Cow also jumped on the ultra-light ice cream game. Yes, that's what I call all the Halo Top competitors. There are seven flavors and I won't be trying any of these Stevia infused products.

Ofcourse, there's also chillycow in the ultra light game thanks to Wells Dairy (the blue bunny people). It uses both erythritol and stevia to replace real sugar. One thing that sets them apart is instead of buying one full pint, it comes packaged as two half pints (or "tubs"). I will give them props for that because I really don't like how Halo Top pushes eating the whole pint (feel free to comment on this as well). Like Skinny Cows line up, there are seven flavors in all: brown butter salted caramel, chocolate brownie batter, chocolate chip cookie dough, cookies 'n cream, mint dark chocolate chip, sweet cream peanut butter, and vanilla graham swirl. I actually accidentally bought that last one and it sat for months in the freezer before I finally did a post on it. (four of the flavors also come in bar format).

While officially announced at the end of 2017, Slim Twin by three twins ice cream didn't become widely available until 2018 (and by widely available, I mean whole foods and I'm not sure where else). It's another ultra light ice cream courtesy of erythritol. The flavors are vanilla, chocolate, mint chip, coffee, cookies & cream, lemon cookie, and cardamon. CT from Nerd Lunch did a recap review for us of all seven flavors.

I was surprised to see Baskin-Robbins "at home" back in my area, but not only that, they finally did something they should have done a long time ago by releasing Dunkin Donuts themed flavors. Baskin and Dunkin are owned by the same people so I have no idea why they didn't do this sooner. The flavors I saw are coffee, french vanilla coffee, and coffee chocolate chip. That means they now offer 21 flavors in all. Apparently they also have five ice cream sandwiches which includes the new Chocolate Chip version.

Chipwich is back. They promised me samples for months as part of their social media blitz and eventually they did arrive. They are tasty ofcourse and you can read more here.

Good Humor gives us the Reese's Frozen Peanut Butter Dessert Bar for 2018. It's probably terrible. Also, I'll probably give in and buy it anyway (when it's on sale).

Much more tempting is the new Chocolate M&M cookie sandwiches from Mars and indeed they are tasty. My review is here. Mars two other new treats are the M&M minis ice cream bars as well as the DOVE Mango Sorbet with Dark Chocolate bars.

Make a mid year introduction is Museum of Ice Cream with seven flavors found exclusively at Target. I tried the Vanillionaire and it wasn't bad, but not sure it's worth $4.99 for fairly basic flavors and so-so quality. It tasted more like $3.50 a pint ice cream. (fancy marketing alone does not justify higher prices).