Tuesday, December 28, 2021

Top Ten New Reviews of 2021


It's been kind of a rough year hasn't it? 2021 was supposed to be better than 2020, and it some ways it was, but in many ways it wasn't. Anyway... as expected, blog traffic is down another 20%+ as people move to more doom-scrolling-friendly platforms. In unexpected news, Instagram decided that I was no longer worthy of their love and has relegated me to the non-viral bin. Something happened in early June and since then it has been near impossible for me to get any of my posts seen by non-followers... in fact, many posts don't even get seen by my followers. Fun times....  but let's get to the top ten list which thankfully has a clear cut winner.


#10 needed a tie breaker, so I'm unfortunately giving this spot to the fairly terrible Klondike Kones that came out this year. They tied with two other products but the overall search interest was higher than the other two.

#9 is Magnum's only entry in the list this year. Their new red velvet tub was apparently a lot more interesting then the new mini berry truffle bars I reviewed.

#8 belongs to Ben & Jerry's Totally Unbaked. While possibly seemingly unoriginal, one could argue it's more fun than the original. I picked up two of these pints.

#7 belongs to B&J's again with Strawberry Topped Tart. It's fun and I need to pick it up again.

#6 is a non-frozen entry actually. The Colliders review sneaks in here despite me not enjoying them or picking any more of them up to try.

#5 Oh Talenti, you and your fun gelato layers. Confetti Cookie is coming in at #5. Technically I think this one was more searched than the other Talenti flavor that made the list, but while it is certainly more eye catching, I am ok with it being #5 and....

#4 One of my favorite new flavors of the year comes in at #4. Talenti's chocolate pretzel flavor was the new product that I picked up more than any other 2021 product. You know I love pretzels and I just love the way they dialed this one in. 

#3 One more B&J's topped flavor coming in at #3. Granted I didn't have the urge to try all of them (either due to flavor or allergen cross-contamination).. Maybe if I had, the top ten list would look a little different. Anyway, PB Over the Top relies on the topped part to keep it interesting.... so don't drop the top part on a dirty surface like I did!

#2 sadly goes to Klondike Shakes. They aren't terrible, but for those that bought these, I can't imagine a lot of you will buy them again. I would hazard a guess this spot goes more for people wanting to learn about them and less about people going out and buying them.

and #1 is....

Dolcezza Gelato! and by a landslide no less! They absolutely crushed the competition, even doubling the numbers that #2 put up. I'm a big fan of Dolcezza's flavors and packaging, so I was super stoked to get these free samples earlier in the year. Should I email them and tell them that they had the most popular review of the year? I think I might!

Parting thoughts: I'm a little sad that Baskin-Robbins didn't make the cut. I've been enjoying their monthly sampler and it's great packaging so I'm giving them an honorable mention here.

Dumb thought: of the 9 pictures in the On Second Scoop header image, 4 made the top ten list! 

So, did any of your 2021 favorites not make the list? I know what I could pick up was limited this year. I continue to work from home which means no more running to a different subset of grocery stores to pick up whatever I want (including any nut based flavors that I never buy for home use). Occasionally I venture out to a different store, but it's rare. Unfortunately this will probably continue in 2022, at least for the first part of the year.

Actually, feel free to chime in with your thoughts on 2021 in general as well. I feel like mainstream ice cream continues to be a disappointment. Budget ice cream is just sad, mainstream ice cream is the new budget ice cream, and premium ice cream is now getting closer to what mainstream ice cream used to be. I get it, it's all about money and staying profitable, but that doesn't make the changes any less saddening. There are several brands that were big to the blog in 2008 and now I don't even want to bother eating them because the quality has changed so much. For me, the first half of the year rotated around Turkey Hill's all natural lineup (the only mainstream ice cream I still enjoy) and then the second half of the year was all about running through the Haagen-Dazs line up (not sure why, but I totally prefer H-D over Ben & Jerry's right now). I still eat ice cream everyday, but my consumption is definitely down overall.

Have a happy new year everyone!

13 comments:

  1. Klondike shakes making the number 2 spot?!? Crazy!

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  2. I'm sad because HD hasn't really had anything new for the last year or so. As for premium ice cream becoming more mainstream to save $$, people complain about the high cost of brands like Jeni's but if you want to savor your ice cream as opposed to just eating it, perhaps $10 a pint isn't really that bad. My 2 cents.

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  3. @Mark: agreed!

    @I: I agree with this too. There was no fun limited line up this year. Hopefully they'll give us something in 2022 (especially if spirits and heaven disappear). I'm definitely cool with mixing in $6 pints (and I do appreciate that Jeni's is down to $8 in our area)

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  4. I had a follow-up thought. Several years ago, I feel like the pint pricing break down was more like $3 $5 and $10 (when Ben & Jerry's was $3.18 at Walmart and Jeni's being the $10). Why buy 1 pint of Jeni's when I could buy 3 pints of B&Js?

    Nowadays, the price breakdown feels more like $4 $6 $8 (with B&J or H-D being around 4, something like milk bar around 6, and Jeni's and McConnell's at 8). That pricing makes shopping more fun because now it's easier to justify one of those special pints.

    What does everyone else think?

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    Replies
    1. I agree IF I know I'm going to love a flavor. At the 2-3x price point I need to love it though, "really good" isn't enough. So, it's unlikely I'll ever fall in love in the first place if I know I can get get two B&J pints I already adore.

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  5. Why have a Ruth Chris steak when I can have several Ponderosa steaks? Same concept. Anyway, I personally wouldn't put McConnell's up with Jeni's. I think Jeni's is almost in a class of their own. In my mind Jeni's is worth the money because I can just have a small scoop, eat it slowly (well, as slowly as ice cream allows) and really taste the ingredients.

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  6. Curious, where would you put Van Leeuwen in the "worth it" scale? I keep eyeing them, close to the Milk Bar pints at my Target... though they're priced about 50 cents higher, and I don't think my last MB try (the bday cake flavor) was worth the $6.

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  7. I would give them a try, even if it's only one pint
    https://www.onsecondscoop.com/search/label/van_leeuwen

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  8. “20% down?” Please. I don’t need a 15 second Tik Tok review. I’ll still follow you Dubba. How else would I have found about Mad Minis at Walmart and then after driving to three different outlets, only came to find that Jermaine Dupri has a vegan ice cream? May your New Year be blessed with falling ice cream prices (I know: not going to happen).

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  9. I think my favorites this year were (1) Ben & Jerry's Change Is Brewing, because marshmallow swirls call my name and coffee ice cream is the only way I like coffee; and (2) Truth & Dairy Orange Gelato, which surprised me since I usually don't like orange flavors, but it was so creamy! Neither made the list, but I was happy to see Talenti's pretzel layers flavor up there. I could honestly just eat a tub of the pretzel layer!

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  10. when pricing, do you take into account the fake pints, like Haagen Dazs

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  11. 2021 has been kind of rough for me, tbh. I've mostly been sticking to generic mint chip ice cream since it's cheaper. I just don't have the money to be wasting on things that I might not like, so your reviews have been a godsend in helping me occasionally find new favorites.

    Happy New Year! :D

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  12. A little surprised one of the oat products, or another dairy alternative, didn't make the top ten, but that just proves we still prefer real ice cream. 2021 came up with some nice new stuff, from Talenti especially, but we need to get back to the "old normal" and bunches of new products. No Blizzards in the top ten either, step it up dairy queen.

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