Ben and Jerry's Limited Batch: New Belgium Salted Caramel Brown-ie Ale ice cream!

It's been a while since we've been able to get our hands on a limited batch Ben & Jerry's. So long, in fact that when I saw this one in the freezer section I plucked it out so fast that I hadn't even really registered what it was. "SALTED CARAMEL BROWNIE....Wait...BROWN-IE...ALE?" Yep. This is the latest from those insane flavor wizards in Vermont and this just might be THE weirdest flavor they have ever done. But is it good weird, or bad weird? Let's find out. Ladies and Gents, I give you, The Ben and Jerry's New Belgium Salted Caramel Brown-ie Ale ice cream! 

There's a lot going on with this label. Soak it all in. BEER ICE CREAM. 

The idea of beer flavored ice cream is not one that excited me at first. I just couldn't imagine a way that it could be good. I've never taken a sip of a beer and said to myself, "Damn, imagine if there was ice cream flavored like this?" It's just unnatural. But I guess that's what makes ol' Ben and Jerry special because they know how to think outside the box. So they teamed up with Colorado based New Belgium Brewing and created one of the weirdest ice creams ever. This has New Belgium Brown Ale ice cream with fudge brownies and salted caramel swirls. There's a lot going on here and I have to tell you...it's pretty damn good. 

Irwin was unsure about it, but in the end he wanted to taste that caramel swirl. 

 When you first taste the ice cream you really don't taste much of the beer flavor. But a few moments later it hits you as a pleasant aftertaste. Seriously, it's great. Just tasting the ice cream part, it's basically what I would imagine a beer ice cream float would be like. I know people do this, but I have not had a chance to try it so this is a foreign concept to me. Right off the bat I was sold on at least the ice cream itself. Like sweet beer you eat with a spoon! I think this was a great way to do this ice cream because I think beer lovers will enjoy the flavor, but I don't think it's so strong that if you don't enjoy the flavor of beer, you might still REALLY like it.

 The Brownie chunks are nothing special. They are those weird, fake, tiny brownie rectangles that you can find in other Ben and Jerry's ice creams.  More like little chewy blobs. But the real star of this show is the Salted Caramel Swirls. Notice that it's "Swirls", plural. Because this ice cream is LOADED with gooey liquid caramel with that noticeable salty tang. Some parts had such massive deposits of it that I had to put some back otherwise entire spoonfuls would have been just that.  Yup, this isn't one of those ice creams that hold back on the ingredients, there's a bounty of brownie chunks and salted caramel to be found in here!

FYI: That caramel goes alllll the way down. 

I gotta say, every time I doubt Ben & Jerry's, they somehow blow my mind. I would have liked to have other pictures to go along with this review, but to be honest, I was so into it that the second time I sat down with this pint I finished it off and never looked back. It's that's good! That's why I'm giving it an A! I was weirdest out at the thought of it, but it ends up being a very complex, multi flavored medley that works on every level. I bow to the greater wisdom of the Ben and Jerry's flavor wizards.

Now for those of you who ARE into beer, don't forget the flip side of this! New Belgium actually made the beer version!

This team up between the two companies was to help raise awareness of climate change among the snow sports community through an organization called Protect Our Winters. Sounds like a worthy cause and just shows how awesome both of these companies are. Trying to make the world a better place while taking our taste buds on one hell of a ride. You can bet that the second I spot New Belgium Salted Caramel Brownie Brown Ale, I'll be picking up a six pack. How could I not?

To keep an eye on what Ben & Jerry have going on, check out their: website: http://www.benjerry.com/
And for you beer fans, don't forget to visit New Belgium online: http://www.newbelgium.com/

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REVIEW BY RICH!

I heard you liked Treats? TryTreats.com

In the ever expanding world of box deliverables, there's so many cool things you can get sent to you on a reoccurring basis, that it's hard to decide WHO exactly to give your hard earned, factory sweat soaked money to. So when Treats contacted us and told us what they offered, the Fat Guy Food Blog excite train got an extra heaping of coal jammed into it's fires, chugged right along into Pumped Town, and came to a screeching halt into Stoked Station. 

TryTreats.com is a box deliverable site, where once a month (for a tiered subscription price) you get snacks from all around the world sent to you. Sounds pretty cool right? Global treats to your doorstep without having to find a shirt that DOESN'T have a stain on it. There's 2 different boxes right now, and luckily for us, we got the larger one!

Treats has the presentation down. A slick, classy and a welcoming box display which ushers it's excited new subscribers to enjoy the snack journey, and shows you that not only does the food matter, your experience matters.

I'm going to be honest with you. When I opened the box, I wasn't excited at all. A box filled with brightly colored Japanese rice based snacks? EEESSSSSSSSSSSSSH. Where's the Canadian and Dutch chocolates? Where's my German Euro cakes and Italian off coffee flavored weirdness? So, what I did, like any true Food Blogger would do, I pushed aside my biases, brushed away my ignorance and exposed my mouth, to another realm of snacks. Even if some of them were, of questionable flavors.

cool. Kaki no Tane, a soy flavored rice cracker.....

 

In the interest of brevity, I'm not going to be reviewing each snack in this box, but after going through this box, and seeing what it had to offer,  I do have to say, that most of the treats in this box were pretty decent. From Jagabees, a buttery flavored soy french fry chip thing, to a strawberry Caplico, which was a fake, creamy candy ice cream wax on a waffle cone, these snacks opened up my eyes to what is actually possible within the snack realm.

And isn't that what this is supposed to do? Expose us to things, broaden our minds and let us take a lesson from a different fat culture and demand something more from what we have here in the states?
I think this idea, and the exposure to these off branded items, is a smart play for the entire snack spectrum. A rising tide lifts all boats.  Although a collection of these weren't incredible, for the most part, each separate snack had something to offer.

One thing I absolutely will NEVER demand, are these:

these are absolutely disgusting and should be banned from shelf space

 WHO THE HELL WANTS SHRIMP FLAVORED CHIPS?!?!?!! NO ONE IN THE GOD DAMNED WORLD!

Treats, and you can find them over at http://trytreats.com is a cool service, and I think that if my highly ignorant snack mind can be changed from just a few different samplings of treats from a foreign snack landscape, I think peace in the middle east is right around the corner.

  I give Treats a B
Not just for this box but the excitement

of where the snack experience will take me.
Perhaps to a far off land, where I'll sample flavors
that simply cannot be obtained 

at my local gas station. 

Good Job Treats, what's next?

-Review by Josh

 

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