NEWS: Starbucks Gives Us Another Way To Get Their Pumpkin Spice Latte Into Our Bodies With Pumpkin Spice Latte Ice Cream

Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes are yummy.

I think millions of people would nod their heads in agreement with that statement above. So it’s kind of puzzling that Starbucks’ new Pumpkin Spice Latte Ice Cream, which combines coffee and pumpkin spice ice creams, didn’t come out sooner. The Unilever-made Starbucks ice cream has been available since 2009, but only now Starbucks’ most popular seasonal flavor has an ice cream?

That, my friends, is wrong. But I’m glad that error has been corrected.

Holy hell! Do you know what would be awesome? If Starbucks allowed us to replace the milk in their Pumpkin Spice Latte with melted Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte Ice Cream.

That would be sweet!

Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte Ice Cream will be sold in pints for a suggested retail price of $3.99. They’ll be available starting November 1 and remain on store shelves until February 2013.

REVIEW: CMMG Tactical Bacon

Tactical Bacon 1

There have been a lot of end of the world scenarios floating around over the past few decades.

A zombie outbreak leaving the world decimated and filled with the shambling dead. A superbug making its way over from China and bringing down humanity through one questionable chicken salad sandwich sold at a deli in New Jersey. A robot uprising enslaving humanity as Siri tires of looking up show times for Resident Evil sequels and becomes self-aware.

Y2Kers warned of the destruction of society at the hands of the number 0. Aerosmith cautioned us about an Earth-asteroid collision. The Mayans predicted we will run out of calendars at the end of this year.

They are all perfectly scary in their own right, but I’m going to float my own theory. A theory so terrifying, I can barely force the keystrokes.

Sentient cholesterol.

Follow me down the greasy rabbit hole.

We’re fat. Really fat. Like redesign the It’s a Small World boats fat. With that much idle cholesterol lying around, do you expect me to believe that it is not slowly evolving into some kind of super intelligent hivemind? Please.

Cholesterol is already conscious. It has to be. It’s only biding its time. It can’t just rise up all of a sudden. It has to lull us into a false sense of security first. Why do you think Paula Dean’s still alive? (Note to self: investigate possible Starship Troopers-like Paula Dean/queen bug scenario).
Notice the bacon phenomenon that’s been incubating on the internet for the past few years? Bingo. Zero hour is almost at hand.

Case in point. Tactical Bacon. Bacon in a can. A can! Surely such a sublime novelty sounds good on paper but couldn’t possibly deliver on its promise in the harsh cold light of reality.
I didn’t know what to expect upon opening the can. Possibly a wet messy clump of bacon strips sitting forlornly at the bottom of a can filled with salt brine.

Tactical Bacon 4

Instead I got this greasy, waxy paper stacked two layers deep and rolled into a tight roll the perfect size for fitting into a can. It was terrifying and beautiful. Unfurling it made me feel a little like Dexter Morgan. That exciting rush he must feel before a kill. But instead of a menacing roll of gleaming knives, I had a processed pork product.

Tactical Bacon 5

Tactical Bacon 6

I counted the strips. I had to know. At final count, my hands were heavy with grease, and I had over 40 strips of bacon. Dear God, man.

The nosegrope was indeed bacon. Not jerky, not chemical, not metallic. Bacon. That was troubling. The clock of humanity ticks one minute closer to midnight.

Tactical Bacon 7

Surely canned bacon can’t taste right. If there is a just and merciful omnipotent force guiding the universe, it wouldn’t allow it. But my friends, the bacon…tastes…good. It tastes like cold bacon. The texture has lost a little and become a touch mealy, there are occasional notes of the smoke flavoring that’s been added, and the bacon obviously doesn’t have that fresh from the pan pop, but the bacon tastes good. Certainly good enough.

Tactical Bacon 8

So the end game is upon us. Soon we will find ourselves in yet another disaster scenario. Panic will ensue. The human race will get wind of this product (it keeps for 10 years) and start stockpiling it, forgoing canned vegetables and survival rations. The disaster will pass by innocently, and people will find themselves with pantries full of canned bacon and a backed up Netflix queue.

And then…the snacking shall begin.

I weep for the subjugation of our once noble race. Writing this review, it has just occurred to me that I may very well be the puppet of our cholesterol masters. Turned into a disposable, pro-bacon, propaganda-spouting mouthpiece. I won’t live like this. It’s not right. I can’t betray my fellow man. I’m going to finish this can and wait for death’s sweet release.

Tactical Bacon 2

“Beware the Cholesterol Man, for he is the Devil’s pawn. Alone among God’s primates, he kills for sport or lust or greed. Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother’s land. Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him; drive him back into his jungle lair, for he is the harbinger of death.”

(Nutrition Facts – 3 slices (14g) – 60 calories, 5 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 15 milligrams of cholesterol, 190 milligrams of sodium, 0 grams of carbohydrates, and 5 grams of protein. )

Item: CMMG Tactical Bacon
Purchased Price: $19.99
Size: 9 ounces
Purchased at: Think Geek
Rating: 8 out of 10
Pros: Bacon in a goddamn can.
Cons: Bacon in a goddamn can!

REVIEW: Jamba Juice Eggnog Jubilee Smoothie

Jamba Juice Eggnog Jubilee

Egg nog, or as I like to call it, The Nectar of Fall, is one of the top three things I look forward to during every holiday season.

What are the other two?

Opening presents on Christmas Day? Nope.

Spending time with family and friends? No.

Watching videos on YouTube of Black Friday bargain hunters throwing courtesy and decency out the window as they trample each other to buy cheap crap? Close, but no.

The two other things I look forward to are bragging to people about how I got my Christmas shopping done in November and sitting on the lap of a mall Santa and whispering into his ear, “I’m being naughty right now.”

Jamba Juice has taken The Nectar of Fall and turned it into a smoothie called Eggnog Jubilee. It’s made with a frozen egg nog base, frozen yogurt, and soy milk.

Eggnog Jubilee also comes in a light version with 1/3 less calories, carbs, and sugar. But as all real egg nog lovers know, light ain’t right…and rum makes it fun. Of course, like most commercially produced egg nog, there isn’t any alcohol in Jamba’s Eggnog Jubilee.

Boooo!

The egg nog-ed smoothie is one of two limited time only holiday smoothies Jamba Juice is offering. It joins Pumpkin Smash, which I tried last year and (SPOILER ALERT) I thought was very, very good.

So what about Pumpkin Smash’s creamy companion?

Jamba Juice Eggnog Jubilee Closeup

Eggnog Jubilee is very good, but I’m not sure I can consider its flavor to be egg nog. If I were to ask random people on a crowded sidewalk with a crazed look on my face to sample the Eggnog Jubilee and tell me what it tastes like, almost all of them would decline my offer. But I believe many of those who would be foolish enough to do so would say it tastes like a chai smoothie.

It has the right spices, but it doesn’t taste like Jamba Juice put in the right amounts. At best, I might consider it to be light egg nog-ish, but I really don’t immediately think egg nog while sucking it through a straw. Eggnog Jubilee’s flavor could also be mistaken for a generic holiday spice flavor. My guess is that the use of soy milk could be one of the reasons why its flavor ended up the way it did.

Despite its eggnoglessness, Jamba Juice’s Eggnog Jubilee is a creamy, delicious smoothie that I don’t mind sucking on, even though its flavor isn’t exactly like egg nog and the nearly 100 grams of sugar it contains won’t help me maintain my girlish figure so that I’m light enough to sit on Santa’s lap and whisper into his ear how naughty I’ve been.

(Nutrition Facts – Original – 550 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, 2.5 grams of fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 65 milligrams of cholesterol, 380 milligrams of sodium, 109 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 96 grams of sugar, 15 grams of protein, 4% vitamin A, 35% calcium, 4% vitamin C, and 8% iron.)

Item: Jamba Juice Eggnog Jubilee Smoothie
Purchased Price: $5.39
Size: Original
Purchased at: Jamba Juice
Rating: 7 out of 10
Pros: Very good. Creamy. Jamba Juice’s Pumpkin Smash. Finishing Christmas shopping early. Messing with mall Santas. Egg nog.
Cons: It’s light egg nog-ish. Tastes more like chai than egg nog. Available for a limited time. People not being civil on Black Friday.

SPOTTED ON SHELVES – 10/8/2012

It’s another holiday themed Spotted on Shelves this week. Here are some pumpkin-y (new and old) products found on store shelves. We may or may not review them, but we’d like to let you know what items are popping up.

Betty Crocker Pumpkin Spice Cookie Mix

The more pumpkin spice product photos we post this year means less pumpkin spice product photos we’ll post next year. And I think we’ve featured a lot of them. Just kidding. I really believe we’ve only covered a fraction of the pumpkin spice products available. There are probably over a dozen pumpkin spice cookies alone. (Tualumba for the photo, Kenneth!)

Pumpkin Spice Eggnog

Hey! Do you know what would be awesome to dunk those pumpkin spice cookies into? Yup, some old fashioned pumpkin spice egg nog. (Mauruuru for the photo, Andrew!)

Hostess GloBalls

Hostess ScaryCakes

Those ScaryCakes don’t look so scary. Oh wait, I haven’t read the nutrition facts yet. (Dhanyavadalu for the pics, Mike!)

Tastykake Jack-o-Lantern Juniors

Great for Trick or Treating? More like a great way for kids to know which candy-less house to avoid next year. (Merci for the picture, Mike!)

SpookyLicious Pop-Tarts

I think Kellogg’s should retire their Spookylicious Frosted Chocolate Fudge Pop-Tarts and replace it with Eerielicious Frosted Chocolate Fudge Pop-Tarts. (Tashakor for the photo, Mike!)

If you’re out shopping and see a new product on the shelf (or really unusual), snap a picture of it, email it to us at theimpulsivebuy@gmail.com with “Spotted” in the subject line, and you might see it in our next Spotted on Shelves post.

NEWS: Red Bull Editions To Treat Your Taste Buds With Fruit Flavors Instead of the Same Old Slightly Medicinal Red Bull Flavor

Red Bull: Red-, Silver- & Blue-Edition

According to the USA Today, Red Bull is planning to launch three new flavors in the U.S. sometime in March 2013.

The new Red Bull flavors come in three editions — Red (Cranberry), Silver (Lime), and Blue (Blueberry). Of course, this opens the door for Red Bull to release new editions in any CMYK color they choose. Beverage Digest posted a photo of a banner showing the new additions.

Red Bull Editions have already been available in select European markets and in Australia. Energy Drink Heaven reviewed all three varieties earlier this year.

Image via flickr user gillyberlin / CC BY 2.0