As spring winds down and electricity bills ramp up from air conditioning, grocery stores nationwide are busy curating their ice cream supplies to make room for this season’s newest releases.
Walmart is no exception, and it’s entirely appropriate that it, as the most distinctly “American” superstore, be the exclusive distributor of Ben & Jerry’s two newest pints celebrating summer in the USA.
Red, White & Blueberry
This Old Glory-themed pint blends pieces of shortbread cookies with raspberry, blueberry, and vanilla ice creams. Colorful name aside, this appears woefully pale under the lid, and its taste is similarly one-note.
Rather than enhancing the more interesting blueberry and raspberry ice cream swirls, the intense vanilla base comprised roughly 70% of this pint’s volume, and almost entirely masked every unique component promised in this flavor’s description.
Granted, Ben & Jerry’s makes an excellent vanilla ice cream (so excellent, in fact, that Delish.com declared it to be the best vanilla ice cream you can buy in stores), but nobody is buying this Walmart-exclusive because they want something so…vanilla.
Blueberry is a woefully underrepresented flavor in the frozen dessert aisle, and I was hoping for this to be its moment to break out into the limelight. Sadly, the only blueberries I found were in the swirl’s light purple color. Somehow, the raspberry ice cream was even more indecipherable. I didn’t see a single trace of pink or red in my entire container.
Even the shortbread pieces seemed uninspired. Although not entirely terrible, they were soggy, lacked any notion of creativity, and didn’t seem up to par with Ben & Jerry’s usual “everything plus the kitchen sink” attitude.
Ice Cream Sammie
Supposedly a more expensive and less portable spin on the classic childhood treat, Ice Cream Sammie combines chocolate sandwich cookies and chocolate cookie swirls into a base of rich vanilla ice cream.
Like Red, White & Blueberry, this flavor also failed to live up to my expectations. Unlike its sister pint, however, the issue here isn’t from lack of flavor. Rather, the true nature of this pint is misrepresented by its name. The cookies used here are basically Oreo-like, not true ice cream sandwich wafers. That difference may seem minor, but the impact it has on how this ice cream comes across is enormous.
Rather than reminding me of actual ice cream sandwiches, this is more like Cookies ‘N Cream on steroids. Is it a good version of Cookies ‘N Cream? Yes, absolutely! (And if you’re into Cookies ‘N Cream, then this is something for you to pick up on your next trip to Wally World). But is it like those unmeltable ice cream sandwiches I loved so much as a kid? Not even close.
Although those in search of the ultimate Cookies ‘N Cream may dig Ice Cream Sammie, both of these Walmart-exclusives were way off the mark for me. With so many other delicious options from Ben & Jerry’s, I’d recommend sticking to your usual favorites during your next ice cream run.
Purchased Price: $3.48 each
Size: 1 pint
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 4 out of 10 (Red, White & Blueberry)
Rating: 6 out of 10 (Ice Cream Sammie)
Nutrition Facts: (1/2 cup) Red, White & Blueberry – 220 calories, 120 calories from fat, 13 grams of total fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 70 milligrams of cholesterol, 60 milligrams of sodium, 22 grams of total carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 19 grams of sugar, 4 grams of protein. Ice Cream Sammie – 290 calories, 150 calories from fat, 17 grams of total fat, 8 gram of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 60 milligrams of cholesterol, 150 milligrams of sodium, 31 grams of total carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of dietary fiber, 24 grams of sugar, 4 grams of protein.
I picked up the Red, White & Blueberry the other day and was also disappointed in it. My initial thoughts were that is was ‘very bland’. After not eating any for a few days, I tried it again last night and had the same reaction. So, I was very underwhelmed by this offering by B&J. I like Cookies and Cream, so I may give the Sammie a try, but I was hoping for actual ice cream sandwich pieces rather than cookies too in that one. I was a HUGE fan of last year’s Glampfire and am disappointed it hasn’t returned this summer.
Buying a fruity based Ben & Jerry’s is too much of a gamble from a mass produced grocery pint. We all saw Ice Cream Sammie being close to Milk & Cookies (Same Base and Swirl), but with the sandwich cookies from Mint Chocolate Cookie..
I also really liked the Pecan Sticky Buns & Confetti Cupcake flavors. I actually wish Confetti Cupcake would have stuck around for longer.
Store-exclusive flavors are always duds. If they were truly good the company would sell them everywhere for maximum profit.
PB World? One of the best flavors B&J Offers
Glampfire Trail Mix? Absolute Fire
Nutty Caramel Swirl when it came out in 2013 as a 7/11 exclusive was great and they are bringing it back now in scoop shops
What you talking about.
Am I the only one who thinks the red white and blueberry is the most disgusting looking ice cream in history? like a big chunk of mold you would find in the walls of a rundown house? Even the Shortbread pieces look green and moldy.
I just finished the sweet like sugar cookie dough core and felt it was underwhelming too. I couldn’t really pick up the cherry part. The core was skewed. I didn’t care for it.
I tried that one too and also wasn’t a fan. It was OK but I would never get it again, and even struggled to even want to finish it.
The Red, White & Blueberry is disgusting looking as if it has old hard boiled eggs in it. Not a treat for my eyes.