Steve's Bklyn Blackout
As you all know, both Madeline and I are home in St. Louis for winter break. It is very exciting. So much ice cream to be consumed. Madeline has never tried any Jeni's ice cream so we had decided one of the $9.99 pints would be a nice holiday treat. The Dierberg's in Fenton sells Jeni's ice cream, so we went to check it out. However, they only had Whiskey & Pecans and Dark Chocolate. We have heard really good things about Jeni's Dark Chocolate, but we just aren't ready to spend that much money on a plain dark chocolate ice cream.
So instead of buying Jeni's we bought a pint of Steve's which they sell at Dierberg's. In addition, this pint is definitely cheaper than Jeni's, although still pricey at $6.99 a pint. Steve' is relatively new on our ice cream radar, and we had heard really good things and we'd seen some really unique flavors, like Strawberry Ricotta and Sunday Morning (maple syrup ice cream with waffle pieces). They didn't have either of those at this store, so we chose Bklyn Blackout. Steve's might be a new brand to us; however, they are not by any means a new brand to the scene. Steve's has been around since 1973 with scoops shops in Massachusetts and this was the brand that INVENTED mix-ins. Yep, these guys basically revolutionized the ice cream game. In the 1980s, the brand started selling pre-packaged ice cream in stores, causing disagreements in the company and leading eventually to it shutting down. David Stein, an original employee of Steve's, revived the brand in 2009 and moved it to Brooklyn. Expectations are high for this flavor.
This flavor is described as Milk Chocolate Ice Cream Swirled with Chocolate Stout Cake Pieces and Dark Chocolate Pudding. The Chocolate Stout Cake, also called Brooklyn Blackout is made by the New York Bakery, Ovenly and they make this cake with Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout. So this cake is all Brooklyn, all black, all chocolate, all yum.
Lizzy's take: The base ice cream is pretty standard, although very good. The texture was very dense and creamy. The chocolate pudding swirl was definitely dark chocolate, but it was kind of difficult to distinguish between the base ice cream and the swirl. The difference in their flavors wasn't that significant. I ended up kind of tasting milk chocolate with a dark chocolate after taste. The swirls was relatively thin through out so it was difficult to taste a good chunk of it without the ice cream. The best part of this flavor was the cake. The chunks were huuuge. It was also sooo dense and thick; it almost reminded me of flourless chocolate cake. My roommate introduced me to chocolate stout cake this year, and it is an amazing thing. This cake in particular was the bomb.
Madeline's take: At the grocery store, there were several Steve's flavors we were choosing between, but finally selected Brooklyn Blackout. You can't go wrong with chocolate on chocolate on chocolate, or so I thought.
I was actually incredibly disppointed with this ice cream. I didn't think the texture was that great. It was too frozen, and was crunchy with ice crystals. Granted, my parents keep their freezer much colder than I keep mine, but if you are selling ice cream by the pint in a grocery store, your ice cream should be able to stand up to the normal consumer's freezer. I don't think the milk chocolate base was anything to really write home about. The taste/texture honestly reminded me of a fudgesicle. Not that fudgesicles are bad, but if I want something that tastes like a fudgesicle I will buy a fudgesicle. There are better milk chocolate bases out there (Ben and Jerry's comes to mind).
Pudding swirls in ice cream are normally amazing because they provide a great textural contrast to the ice cream. The dark chocolate pudding, in theory, would have also provided a contrast to the milk chocolate flavor of the base. Unfortunately, you couldn't really differentiate the chocolate pudding from the base ice cream.
The stout cake somewhat redeemed this pint. It was thick, and dark, and chewy!
I would definitely be willing to try another pint of Steve's as I am unwilling to write off a brand based on a single pint, especially a brand that creates incredibly adventurous flavors. I just hope my next pint of Steve's is better.
Chocolate sauces:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve%27s_Ice_Cream
http://www.oven.ly/sweets.php
http://stevesicecream.com/our-story
So instead of buying Jeni's we bought a pint of Steve's which they sell at Dierberg's. In addition, this pint is definitely cheaper than Jeni's, although still pricey at $6.99 a pint. Steve' is relatively new on our ice cream radar, and we had heard really good things and we'd seen some really unique flavors, like Strawberry Ricotta and Sunday Morning (maple syrup ice cream with waffle pieces). They didn't have either of those at this store, so we chose Bklyn Blackout. Steve's might be a new brand to us; however, they are not by any means a new brand to the scene. Steve's has been around since 1973 with scoops shops in Massachusetts and this was the brand that INVENTED mix-ins. Yep, these guys basically revolutionized the ice cream game. In the 1980s, the brand started selling pre-packaged ice cream in stores, causing disagreements in the company and leading eventually to it shutting down. David Stein, an original employee of Steve's, revived the brand in 2009 and moved it to Brooklyn. Expectations are high for this flavor.
This flavor is described as Milk Chocolate Ice Cream Swirled with Chocolate Stout Cake Pieces and Dark Chocolate Pudding. The Chocolate Stout Cake, also called Brooklyn Blackout is made by the New York Bakery, Ovenly and they make this cake with Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout. So this cake is all Brooklyn, all black, all chocolate, all yum.
Lizzy's take: The base ice cream is pretty standard, although very good. The texture was very dense and creamy. The chocolate pudding swirl was definitely dark chocolate, but it was kind of difficult to distinguish between the base ice cream and the swirl. The difference in their flavors wasn't that significant. I ended up kind of tasting milk chocolate with a dark chocolate after taste. The swirls was relatively thin through out so it was difficult to taste a good chunk of it without the ice cream. The best part of this flavor was the cake. The chunks were huuuge. It was also sooo dense and thick; it almost reminded me of flourless chocolate cake. My roommate introduced me to chocolate stout cake this year, and it is an amazing thing. This cake in particular was the bomb.
Madeline's take: At the grocery store, there were several Steve's flavors we were choosing between, but finally selected Brooklyn Blackout. You can't go wrong with chocolate on chocolate on chocolate, or so I thought.
I was actually incredibly disppointed with this ice cream. I didn't think the texture was that great. It was too frozen, and was crunchy with ice crystals. Granted, my parents keep their freezer much colder than I keep mine, but if you are selling ice cream by the pint in a grocery store, your ice cream should be able to stand up to the normal consumer's freezer. I don't think the milk chocolate base was anything to really write home about. The taste/texture honestly reminded me of a fudgesicle. Not that fudgesicles are bad, but if I want something that tastes like a fudgesicle I will buy a fudgesicle. There are better milk chocolate bases out there (Ben and Jerry's comes to mind).
Eww icyness.
Pudding swirls in ice cream are normally amazing because they provide a great textural contrast to the ice cream. The dark chocolate pudding, in theory, would have also provided a contrast to the milk chocolate flavor of the base. Unfortunately, you couldn't really differentiate the chocolate pudding from the base ice cream.
The stout cake somewhat redeemed this pint. It was thick, and dark, and chewy!
I would definitely be willing to try another pint of Steve's as I am unwilling to write off a brand based on a single pint, especially a brand that creates incredibly adventurous flavors. I just hope my next pint of Steve's is better.
Chocolate sauces:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve%27s_Ice_Cream
http://www.oven.ly/sweets.php
http://stevesicecream.com/our-story
This is indeed terrible. Terrible, unbalanced flavor and horrid texture.
ReplyDeleteUgh, yes. I definitely didn't like this ice cream, but what got me even more was that the flavor/description had so much potential, but Steve's just majorly failed to live up to that potential.
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