Hey everyone! We've already covered that sugar replacement is hottest topic on the blog (despite not actually reviewing it), and we've covered what's least trendy on the blog. Now, FINALLY, we'll cover the top ten new reviews of 2017. Are you ready?
Sunday, December 31, 2017
Saturday, December 30, 2017
Magnum White Chocolate Vanilla Ice Cream Pint
[New for 2018] Magnum Ice Cream pints have come to America! Other parts of the world have seen these "tubs" before in three flavors: classic, almond, and white. Ofcourse we have to be different so there are four flavors coming to the U.S. for 2018. A few grocery stores have put them out a little early. I had to choose between dark chocolate raspberry, milk chocolate vanilla, milk chocolate hazelnut, and....
Magnum White Chocolate Vanilla Ice Cream
vanilla ice cream and white chocolate shards
in a cracking white chocolate shell
in a cracking white chocolate shell
Thursday, December 28, 2017
Talenti adding low calorie flavors in 2018
[New for 2018] Well well well, color me (not really) surprised. Unilever has jumped on the low cal (via sugar replacement) bandwagon. It's kind of funny because I feel like Unilever tries to pretend that they don't meddle with Talenti, but then something like this comes out. For all of our friends who prefer low cal stuff, I present to you....
Talenti's 120 calories per serving Gelato
Tuesday, December 26, 2017
Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream Pie
I'm pretty sure that a lot of you have heard me profess my love for ice cream cake. It's a magical thing from the random varieties to your standard version filled with a layer of chocolate crunchies. I don't cover these types of treats a lot (because I rarely see a "new" one around), but it seems these things are always called cakes, not pies. The only "pie" I've reviewed was the cookie dough one my wife brought home from Cold Stone way back in 2011.
Well this was a present from my in-laws yesterday. It's a Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie from New City Microcreamery in Hudson, MA. It's Pumpkin Pie ice cream, whipped cream, caramel drizzle, and something they call a "cone-cookie crust". I didn't have the description when I first dug in, so I couldn't quite place the flavor of the crust at first, but once I was told it had to do with waffle cones then it all made sense. It's unique though I wish that they mixed more little bits with all the big bits to make a crust that was a bit more traditional.
Did I mention that NCMC uses liquid nitrogen in their ice cream making process? I should stop by and see it for myself because I dont know if you are allowed to eat it freshly frozen or if you have to wait until after it spends two hours in the freezer. I bring this up because I had no idea how long to let the pie (and then the slices) temper. The softer the slice got, the more the pumpkin spices came alive. With less tempering, the ice cream was quite dense and also not as flavorful.
They also had an eggnog version (no thanks), a pecan version (not safe to bring home), and an apple version that had some kind of crumb top. Which one would you have brought home? Or for a more general question, have you had ice cream made with liquid nitrogen?
P.S. I hope everyone had a nice Christmas yesterday.
Well this was a present from my in-laws yesterday. It's a Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie from New City Microcreamery in Hudson, MA. It's Pumpkin Pie ice cream, whipped cream, caramel drizzle, and something they call a "cone-cookie crust". I didn't have the description when I first dug in, so I couldn't quite place the flavor of the crust at first, but once I was told it had to do with waffle cones then it all made sense. It's unique though I wish that they mixed more little bits with all the big bits to make a crust that was a bit more traditional.
Did I mention that NCMC uses liquid nitrogen in their ice cream making process? I should stop by and see it for myself because I dont know if you are allowed to eat it freshly frozen or if you have to wait until after it spends two hours in the freezer. I bring this up because I had no idea how long to let the pie (and then the slices) temper. The softer the slice got, the more the pumpkin spices came alive. With less tempering, the ice cream was quite dense and also not as flavorful.
They also had an eggnog version (no thanks), a pecan version (not safe to bring home), and an apple version that had some kind of crumb top. Which one would you have brought home? Or for a more general question, have you had ice cream made with liquid nitrogen?
P.S. I hope everyone had a nice Christmas yesterday.
Friday, December 22, 2017
Least Viewed Reviews of 2017
Labels: top_ten
I like doing the top ten most viewed reviews list every year because it's both interesting and easy to compile. Doing the top ten least viewed reviews requires a bit more effort, but I did sit down and manage to get a list out of google analytics, but I'm not sure a direct list is the best way to describe what I am seeing, so let's do things a little differently.
The first big surprise was finding all of my Perry's reviews in the bottom 25% of the 2017 reviews and taking up 3 of the 10 bottom spots. On one hand, this seems unfair because they make fun flavors. On the other hand, they are just a small company out of Buffalo and so their appeal to most of you is very limited.
Not surprising is finding all but one of my local Cumberland Farms reviews in the bottom 20 reviews. Again, we are struck by limited interest because of limited exposure. Thankfully for them, their flavors and packaging make for catchy instagram photos. (if you are curious, it was the Toasty S'mores review that did best)
The next big surprise is finding my Baskin-Robbins reviews near the bottom of the list. Not a single review breaks in to the top half of reviews and the worst one clocks at #10 on the least viewed list. It figures that the one involving Reese's was the most viewed of the bunch. I know this is a freezer aisle blog but ouch... apparently I should stick to DQ reviews which do way better.
The last surprise was how badly my fast food shake reviews do. The Hardee's Milkshake review clocks in as the worst review of the year. Maybe there's just too much online competition for things like the BK cereal shakes and such? The Arby's Cookie Butter Shake, while disappointing, made the best showing yet still didn't break in to the top 50 reviews.
The rest of the list is basically just low end or limited availability stuff, but at this point, I think you get the idea of what the stats say. I also don't want to dig too deep and bore everyone. Now, ofcourse stats aren't everything. Just because my review hasn't been seen a ton doesn't mean the product isn't popular, this is all about recapping my reviews that were actually opened in someone's web browser. We might need to factor in frequency as well. Maybe if I had done 6-8 Baskin-Robbins reviews instead of 4, maybe Google would rank my reviews higher and I would get more traffic for them overall. For example, I do lots of B&J's reviews so I get lots of B&J's traffic.
Ok, your turn to chime in. Do you find this list amusing? Do you think something is missing from it? I just had the crazy idea to re-examine this list from a flavor perspective but that will have to wait until another night. Leave your thoughts in the comments and have a nice weekend!
The first big surprise was finding all of my Perry's reviews in the bottom 25% of the 2017 reviews and taking up 3 of the 10 bottom spots. On one hand, this seems unfair because they make fun flavors. On the other hand, they are just a small company out of Buffalo and so their appeal to most of you is very limited.
Not surprising is finding all but one of my local Cumberland Farms reviews in the bottom 20 reviews. Again, we are struck by limited interest because of limited exposure. Thankfully for them, their flavors and packaging make for catchy instagram photos. (if you are curious, it was the Toasty S'mores review that did best)
The next big surprise is finding my Baskin-Robbins reviews near the bottom of the list. Not a single review breaks in to the top half of reviews and the worst one clocks at #10 on the least viewed list. It figures that the one involving Reese's was the most viewed of the bunch. I know this is a freezer aisle blog but ouch... apparently I should stick to DQ reviews which do way better.
The last surprise was how badly my fast food shake reviews do. The Hardee's Milkshake review clocks in as the worst review of the year. Maybe there's just too much online competition for things like the BK cereal shakes and such? The Arby's Cookie Butter Shake, while disappointing, made the best showing yet still didn't break in to the top 50 reviews.
The rest of the list is basically just low end or limited availability stuff, but at this point, I think you get the idea of what the stats say. I also don't want to dig too deep and bore everyone. Now, ofcourse stats aren't everything. Just because my review hasn't been seen a ton doesn't mean the product isn't popular, this is all about recapping my reviews that were actually opened in someone's web browser. We might need to factor in frequency as well. Maybe if I had done 6-8 Baskin-Robbins reviews instead of 4, maybe Google would rank my reviews higher and I would get more traffic for them overall. For example, I do lots of B&J's reviews so I get lots of B&J's traffic.
Ok, your turn to chime in. Do you find this list amusing? Do you think something is missing from it? I just had the crazy idea to re-examine this list from a flavor perspective but that will have to wait until another night. Leave your thoughts in the comments and have a nice weekend!
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Are you afraid of 2018?
Labels: life - replacement_sugar
Geez, could I make that headline sound any more like clickbait? Thing is, I do have something to discuss. I usually do a preliminary check on what the top ten new reviews of the year will be sometime in early December. Things don't change much at the end of the year so it gives me a sense of where we have been and where we are going. For the past 9 years, the top ten has effectively been "what has Ben & Jerry's been up to?"
Well, not this year. The #1 post of the year is my end of 2016 review of enlightened ice cream with a healthy 30% margin over it's nearest competitor, my mid summer post about Breyers going after Halo Top. That post has a 60% margin over what will be my number one new review of 2017. In other words, "healthy" ice cream is the most popular topic on a blog that has spent almost a decade enjoying premium and super premium ice cream. It also means that the most popular topic is something I can't eat because it doesn't make me feel well. This is not good.
Am I saying I'm giving up? No, that's not it. The blog still had a respectable half a million pageviews so that's reason enough to press on, but I have been using this downtime to think about how to handle 2018. Well, that and a boatload of work to do in the real world that will keep me busy for at least another month. In 2018 I want to try harder to adapt to our modern world but I don't want to be here just to add noise in the background, I want to continue to be a reliable (and relevant) place to get freezer aisle ice cream info to you, my fellow ice cream enthusiast.
Alright, time for some reading and then off to bed. Top ten will be up next week.
Well, not this year. The #1 post of the year is my end of 2016 review of enlightened ice cream with a healthy 30% margin over it's nearest competitor, my mid summer post about Breyers going after Halo Top. That post has a 60% margin over what will be my number one new review of 2017. In other words, "healthy" ice cream is the most popular topic on a blog that has spent almost a decade enjoying premium and super premium ice cream. It also means that the most popular topic is something I can't eat because it doesn't make me feel well. This is not good.
Am I saying I'm giving up? No, that's not it. The blog still had a respectable half a million pageviews so that's reason enough to press on, but I have been using this downtime to think about how to handle 2018. Well, that and a boatload of work to do in the real world that will keep me busy for at least another month. In 2018 I want to try harder to adapt to our modern world but I don't want to be here just to add noise in the background, I want to continue to be a reliable (and relevant) place to get freezer aisle ice cream info to you, my fellow ice cream enthusiast.
Alright, time for some reading and then off to bed. Top ten will be up next week.
Tuesday, December 12, 2017
Hostess Ding Dong Frozen Sandwiches
[New for 2017] I realized that I forgot to actually try any of the treat versions of the new Hostess ice creams this year... ofcourse, the ice creams say "Limited Edition" but the treats do not.
Hostess Ding Dongs (Frozen Sandwiches)
vanilla frozen dairy dessert sandwiches with chocolatey coating
Wednesday, December 6, 2017
Revelé Whipped Gelato
Labels: container - discontinued - gelato - replacement_sugar - review
[seems to be discontinued, website & social media offline - 12/2020]
Revelé Whipped Gelato
Friday, December 1, 2017
Blue Bunny Peanut Butter Party Ice Cream
Labels: blue_bunny - container - nutty - review
It's now the end of 2017 and I've still seen very few new containers from Blue Bunny, so let's pick up something from 2016. At one point, someone left a comment that this one is a failed imitation of Blue Bunny's earlier "Peanut Butter Panic" which had the same basic components.
Blue Bunny Peanut Butter Party Ice Cream
Peanut butter ice cream, fudge and peanut butter swirls, and peanut butter cups