Coolhaus Campfire S'Mores
S'mores is the flavor of summer! At the beginning of May I raced (and won! - it was a very small race) a 10K in White Bear Lake, a northern suburb/exurb of Minneapolis. As I was on my way home, I spotted Fresh Thyme Farmer's Market. A new location just opened up very close to the University of Minnesota, and I'd been meaning to go, especially after I heard from David at David's Ice Cream Reviews that they carry Coolhaus!
He was not kidding! They had so many flavors! I limited myself to a few pints and a few ice cream sandwiches, but made sure to pick up the summery-sounding Campfire S'mores - Salted Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream, graham cracker cookie butter marshmallow swirl, dark chocolate squares.
Since I haven't reviewed much Coolhaus in the past, I want to get something out right up front: I didn't like this flavor that much, but that doesn't reflect my opinions on Coolhaus as a brand. Their ice cream sandwiches are great and they have some absolutely amazing flavors. I don't want one review to turn you off of trying the brand.
First the good bits. The Tahitian vanilla base is superb. I believe Coolhaus started exclusively with ice cream sandwiches, which is reflected in the execution of their vanilla base. To stand up to the flavor and texture of a cookie, a vanilla ice cream needs to have a strong flavor without tasting fake or like alcohol from vanilla extract. The base here checks all of those boxes. The vanilla flavor is quite strong, but it's a natural vanilla. We don't typically think of vanilla as a deep or dark flavor, but the vanilla here was warm and complex enough I would almost describe it as deep. It had hints of floral notes to lighten things up. The saltiness wasn't a separate element, but instead served to showcase and intensify the vanilla flavor and sweetness of the base.
Now the not so good bits. Coolhaus' philosophy on mix-ins seems to be the exact opposite of Ben and Jerry's. Their mix-ins are typically smaller and designed to blend with the base to create a single ice cream experience. This works very well in some flavors (for example, Dirty Mint Chip) but in Campfire S'mores, the mix-ins were subsumed by the base. A 'graham cracker cookie butter marshmallow swirl' sounds PHENOMENAL, but it fell flat. I don't think my pint had much swirl, and the swirl I did taste didn't have a particularly strong flavor.
The chocolate squares were nice, but with the lack of impact from the graham swirl, this was basically and vanilla ice cream with chocolate mix-ins. Meh.
I'm rating this š¦š¦/4.
Our rating system:
š¦ - You couldn't pay me to eat this again
š¦š¦ - I would eat this again, but not buy it
š¦š¦š¦ - I would buy this again
š¦š¦š¦š¦- I need this in my apocalypse bunker
He was not kidding! They had so many flavors! I limited myself to a few pints and a few ice cream sandwiches, but made sure to pick up the summery-sounding Campfire S'mores - Salted Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream, graham cracker cookie butter marshmallow swirl, dark chocolate squares.
Since I haven't reviewed much Coolhaus in the past, I want to get something out right up front: I didn't like this flavor that much, but that doesn't reflect my opinions on Coolhaus as a brand. Their ice cream sandwiches are great and they have some absolutely amazing flavors. I don't want one review to turn you off of trying the brand.
First the good bits. The Tahitian vanilla base is superb. I believe Coolhaus started exclusively with ice cream sandwiches, which is reflected in the execution of their vanilla base. To stand up to the flavor and texture of a cookie, a vanilla ice cream needs to have a strong flavor without tasting fake or like alcohol from vanilla extract. The base here checks all of those boxes. The vanilla flavor is quite strong, but it's a natural vanilla. We don't typically think of vanilla as a deep or dark flavor, but the vanilla here was warm and complex enough I would almost describe it as deep. It had hints of floral notes to lighten things up. The saltiness wasn't a separate element, but instead served to showcase and intensify the vanilla flavor and sweetness of the base.
Now the not so good bits. Coolhaus' philosophy on mix-ins seems to be the exact opposite of Ben and Jerry's. Their mix-ins are typically smaller and designed to blend with the base to create a single ice cream experience. This works very well in some flavors (for example, Dirty Mint Chip) but in Campfire S'mores, the mix-ins were subsumed by the base. A 'graham cracker cookie butter marshmallow swirl' sounds PHENOMENAL, but it fell flat. I don't think my pint had much swirl, and the swirl I did taste didn't have a particularly strong flavor.
The chocolate squares were nice, but with the lack of impact from the graham swirl, this was basically and vanilla ice cream with chocolate mix-ins. Meh.
I'm rating this š¦š¦/4.
Our rating system:
š¦ - You couldn't pay me to eat this again
š¦š¦ - I would eat this again, but not buy it
š¦š¦š¦ - I would buy this again
š¦š¦š¦š¦- I need this in my apocalypse bunker
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