Sunday, October 7, 2012

Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia Ice Cream Bar Review


[By Nick] So I feel like I was a little hard on Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia in my Edy’s Maxx review. Maybe I just needed to judge their flavor in another form, say an ice cream bar version? Well once again a trip to the gas station left me with a chance to try out something I never had before. I picked up Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia Bar and I was on my way.

Described as “Cherry Ice Cream with Sweet Dark Cherries & a Dark Chocolatey Coating”, B&J’s deviates from their normal formula by removing the chocolate flake component from their hard ice cream in favor of the dark chocolate shell. I never had a real problem with the chocolate flakes so it doesn’t really make much of a difference to me.

Ben and Jerry’s doesn’t mess around when it comes with packaging. They could’ve just called it a day by having the custom box for the bar but they also made sure to put a label on the wrapper of the bar as well. That’s always appreciated in my book. The box is also made out of paperboard that’s produced without chlorine bleach which I guess is better for the environment or at least the box says it is.

Coming in at 3.7 fl oz, it’s slightly bigger than your standard Magnum bar. Taking my first bite, I was taken back at how soft the shell was. I’m use to ice cream bars having a crunchy shell but this one was more akin of fudge in consistency. I didn’t detect any hints of dark chocolate in the shell but just like the consistency reminded me of fudge, the flavor reminds me of milk chocolate fudge as well.

The shell was definitely my favorite part of the bar. The cherry ice cream base is the same you’d find in a pint of Cherry Garcia and so it still seems lacking to me. The cherry flavor is still way too reserved and even a bit artificial to me. The bits of cherries throughout the bar weren’t juicy like I had in the Edy’s pint but were rather icy. This definitely didn’t help to change my opinion of this flavor.

I guess I’ll just never be a true fan of Cherry Garcia. I’m glad I gave the bar a shot though because now I’m curious to try the other Ben & Jerry bars.

Verdict?  A unique coating but the ice cream detracts from it
Buy Again?  Nope

4 comments:

  1. Okay, I am not as much of an ice cream fan as 'you'.. but I found this ice cream bar to be the best that I've ever had. During the summer, the biotech firm that I worked for actually had the ice cream truck stop outside our building each week so that all 34 employees could savor their favorites. Week after week, this particular cherry garcia bar was my pick!! I think it's terrific... but then this is also my favorite flavor of ice cream. Go Ben & Jerry's !!!

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    1. To each their own my friend. I could have easily gotten a bad bar as well. You never know how long these things have been in a gas stations freezer while I'd imagine the ice cream truck inventory turned over quite frequently. Still I wouldn't say this was a terrible treat, it's just more on the meh side for me.

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  2. Ive always steered clear of BnJs ice cream bars. They always seemed like they would be pretty crappy and your review only further proves my suspicion. I just realized ive never even had cherry garcia from the pint, but it seems so "meh" ill probably stay away for now. Really trying to find the new cannoli flavor but it hasnt turned up yet....also, I just checked and they have a half baked ice cream bar too, and since that is one of my fallback flavors of theirs maybe its a bit better. If I see it in my gas stations novelty freezer maybe ill pick it up and review it.

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    1. I do have an eye out for their other bars. They sound so much more appealing but the gas station I was at only carried the cherry garcia bar.

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