Culture Republick Light Ice Cream

[Note: Culture Republick called it quits on 12/16/2019]

Alright Unilever, what are you up to? Are you trying to get a gigantic leap on 2019 or are you just trying to hit us with some options for everyone stuck inside? Wait, should I stop asking questions and recap first? (see how that was a question to end the questions? ha, it won't stop!). So first Unilever hit us with 3 new Magnum tubs, then dished out four more Moo-phoria flavors from Ben & Jerry's, and now we've got probiotic filled....

Culture Republick Light Ice Cream
Get it? repubLICK??

Bart's Peanut Butter Paradise Ice Cream

Over the summer, local company Bart's Ice Cream upgraded their packaging. The old packaging was fine (local, quaint) but there was no differentiation between flavors. Now unfortunately my local Roche Bros. grocery store only stocks their more basic/tame flavors (including the one I tried awhile ago), but on Monday I finally found something new! The only downside is that it's carrying a limited edition sticker label rather than showing off one of their flavor logos.

Bart's Peanut Butter Paradise Ice Cream

peanut butter ice cream, chocolate chunks, fudge brownies & peanut butter swirl

MOOYAH Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Milkshake

Hey, guess who I saw today? Nick! He drives back and forth a bunch between New York and Maine these days, but his passing by doesn't always line up with the chance for us to catch up for a bit. Well, I told him next time things line up, I would buy him a birthday burger and shake at Mooyah (which I've been meaning to try but I hate going in to new places by myself).

MOOYAH Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Milkshake

(vanilla ice cream and Reese's peanut butter cups)

High Road Cinnamon Crumble Ice Cream

[New for 2018] I'm basically addicted to having my afternoon ice cream at work but all three pints in the work freezer have too much chocolate in them and right now I have way too much heartburn. I hate not finishing what I have on hand first, but let's see if we can't find something at Wegman's that will go down a bit easier. Oh yeah, this is both tempting and on sale for just $3.99 a pint.

High Road Cinnamon Crumble Ice Cream

cinnamon ice cream with maple, brown sugar and cinnamon crumb

Uhlman's Pumpkin Oreo Ice Cream

Hey, sorry for the quietness, it's just busy in life but slow in the ice cream aisle. I still have the magnum tubs and some pb world to clear out of the work fridge before I buy anything else... well, unless I decide to make one final trip to Uhlman's before they close for the season. See, my fellow Massachusetts people don't believe much in outdoor ice cream in the cooler months so most places close in Sept/Oct and don't reopen until March/April. I know, it's sad. It was basically empty there when I plopped down five bucks and picked up....

Uhlman's Pumpkin Oreo Ice Cream

(includes pumpkin puree, pumpkin pies spices, and chopped Oreos)

Was it good? Ofcourse. I definitely agree with calling it Oreo and not cookies & cream because there's no little wafer bits everywhere. I also expected it to be a bit more orange though I get that mixing pumpkin with milk and cream will make it less orange. It's just that I wasn't sure if they could have added more pumpkin flavor, or if the Oreos were just balancing out the flavor profile. It was a fun flavor, but I expected PUMPKIN oreo, not pumpkin Oreo. You know what I'm saying?

For the record, Uhlman's has actual cows behind their place. This one on the right looked like they were waiting for me to pet them. If you want to know more about them, click here.

Magnum Milk Chocolate Almond Ice Cream Tub Magnum Milk Chocolate Mocha Ice Cream Tub

[New for Fall 2018] When I saw all those grocery store websites with placeholders for the three new Magnum tubs on sunday, I should have known that they were going to be on shelves sooner than December (which is when the first four came out last year).

Magnum Milk Chocolate Almond Ice Cream Tub
Magnum Milk Chocolate Mocha Ice Cream Tub

Down the Rabbit Hole

I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that Down the Rabbit Hole is ending. The good news is that I got to be on the second to last episode of it. Now the idea of the show is looking up one thing on wikipedia, and then another, and then another until you are very very far away from the thing you meant to look up in the first place. It can get pretty silly. Besides the guest, the show consists of CT and Pax from Nerd Lunch as well as @sommerjam (also from Talkin' Chopp).

The focus of this episode is supposed to be Halloween candy but the discussion quickly goes from my beloved Good & Plenty all the way down to some odd references to Winnie the Pooh. You'll have to listen to understand how that happens and hopefully you'll laugh with us along the way.

Many thanks to these guys for not just this episode, but for all of them. It's been fun.

New Products from Mars & Magnum

Sorry, I forgot to post yesterday! My other two reviews aren't finished, so let's talk new stuff. That's right, talk of the 2019 ice cream season has begun. Now, I don't know where candy hunting gets most of her news, but I do know where the Mars stuff comes from (aka candy bar ice creams and Dove branded frozen treats). So what did they announce the other day?

Images courtesy of Mars, Incorporated

The focus of the press release are the Snickers Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Bar (peanut butter-chocolate ice cream that's dipped in dark chocolate) and the Twix Triple Chocolate Ice Cream Bars (chocolate ice cream, caramel, and crunchy chocolate cookies in a chocolatey coating). I pretty much like all of their other ice cream bars so I can't imagine not liking these as well.

Now if you scroll all the way to the bottom of the press release, there is actually one more product line that is coming up but not pictured. It's Dove Gelato Bars! That's right, they've decided to jump in the the gelato game with the Dove name. There are only two flavors to start: salted caramel and triple chocolate. I will admit that this surprises me a bit in a time when everyone else has been jumping on the sugar replacement bandwagon. Be thankful for small miracles that we weren't give a zero sugar snickers bar or something.

Images courtesy of Magnum Ice Cream

Wait, wait wait, I just did a bit of digging and figured out where the new Magnum tub news came from. It looks like a few grocery stores set the SKUs up a little too early. The three flavors are Dark Chocolate Mint (peppermint ice cream with dark chocolate), Milk Chocolate Almond (vanilla ice cream with almonds and milk chocolate) and Milk Chocolate Mocha (coffee ice cream with milk chocolate). Now remember that these tubs can be found all over the planet so places like Australia already has the almond flavor. That said, it appears the mint and mocha flavors might be something new this year. I wonder if I will find these in December again? 

-UPDATE-  I found these already!!! I ran in to Wegman's this morning (10/8) and found the almond and mocha flavors (with a spot left for the mint). No one so many grocery stores have these posted already... do these even count as a 2019 product then?

Target Caramel Moose Tracks Brownie Ice Cream

Sometimes I worry that you might think that I hate all budget and mainstream ice cream nowadays due to all the food science, additives, and air overrun that can ruin the respectably of a modern ice cream. Thing is, I don't hate all of them, I really don't, I just get mad when they don't remember the secret. What is that secret? Well, you make up for a lighter texture by adding way more flavor. Case in point is this very fun container of....

Target Caramel Moose Tracks Brownie Ice Cream

caramel flavored ice cream with chewy brownie bits,
Denali caramel and famous moose tracks fudge