Kicking off the new year in XL style, Ben & Jerry’s is bringing the shareable scoop party to your home freezer with a new line of bigger ice cream containers in four new flavors dubbed Scoop-apalooza. The traditional Ben & Jerry’s pint has three 2/3 Cup servings and the new Scoop-apalooza 28-ounce jumbo-pints have five. The new flavors are designed to be simpler, more crowd-pleasing combinations that appeal to the broadest of palates.

In short, these Scoop-apalooza lack the usual mix-in variety and textural contrast associated with the B&J’s experience. If you’re a big fan of the brand like myself, this could initially be to the detriment of your expectations. But, if you’re a dad looking to serve something top-tier at your child’s birthday party, or a coffee freak looking to one-up your affogato profile, this is your moment.

Chocolate & Fudge Swirl

Chocolate with swirls of fudge.

I went into this scoop without much excitement, and boy, was I proved wrong. I enjoy Ben & Jerry’s straightforward bittersweet chocolate base but find it to be the most interesting when amplified by something else in the flavor’s composition, usually something salty. It is best in pints like Glampfire Trail Mix and Impretzively Fudged, and I was worried the bare-bones components here would let me down, which is not the case.

While there may not be any salt or crunch, the fudge swirl really came to play, big time. It is thick, rich, and ooey gooey, tasting like a premium jarred fudge from the grocery store. This simple but decadent double chocolate throwdown is perfect for scooping into a cone or topping with your favorite crunchy candy, nut, or sprinkle.

Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup, 129g) 330 calories, 18 grams of fat, 12 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 50 milligrams of cholesterol, 80 milligrams of sodium, 36 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 33 grams of total sugars, and 6 grams of protein.

Strawberries & Cream

Sweet cream ice cream with tasty strawberry swirls.

This is the flavor that most resembles something you would find at a kid’s birthday party or in the back of your grandma’s freezer in a giant sleeve of small individually portioned cups. It’s a sweet and creamy base with a swirl of strawberry. No doubt the simplest ice cream I have ever scooped from Ben & Jerry’s (other than straight Vanilla, of course). It scratches that nostalgia itch but doesn’t do much else (although I’m not sure it needs to).

It’s tasty because it’s good ice cream, and the swirl, while a bit thin, isn’t icy in the slightest, which brings a respectable fruity flavor throughout most bites. As a little review bonus, January is my birthday month, and I had this alongside my double chocolate birthday cake. It was a fantastic combination, so I see the simplified palooza flavor vision.

Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup, 129g) 280 calories, 13 grams of fat, 9 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 65 milligrams of cholesterol, 55 milligrams of sodium, 35 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 35 grams of total sugars, and 4 grams of protein.

Vanilla & Fudge Brownie

Creamy vanilla ice cream with rich chunks of fudge brownie.

This is the flavor that I was the most excited for, and it delivered exactly what I had hoped it would. A great smooth and creamy vanilla base with lots of chewy, bittersweet brownie pieces. This is the classic Chocolate Fudge Brownie pint with a vanilla base, which allows for more contrast — simple but effective.

Ben & Jerry’s brownies are among my favorite mix-ins and letting them shine here does exactly what I want from a flavor as barebones but delicious as this. Even without the brownie chunks, the vanilla ice cream is the strongest of the four bases in this lineup and is one I can keep going back to with ease. Would it be even better with a salted caramel swirl? Sure! But that’s not the mission statement here, and I have no problem hitting a scoop of this with a nice caramel-y drizzle of my own at home.

Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup, 122g) 290 calories, 15 grams of fat, 9 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 65 milligrams of cholesterol, 120 milligrams of sodium, 34 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 31 grams of total sugars, and 5 grams of protein.

Coffee & Fudge Chip

Coffee ice cream loaded with coffee fudge chips.

Ben & Jerry’s use the word “loaded” in the description and, yeah, no lies detected. This is a simple coffee-ified spin on a chocolate chip ice cream, and both flavors are prominent and strong. The base, made with BLK & Bold coffee, has an excellent, bitterly potent but sweet coffee flavor that plays seamlessly with the high-quality dairy. The texture is a bit less smooth and creamy than the others, possibly from all the coffee used, but I don’t mind it after a proper patient tempering session.

There are abundant coffee fudge chips in every spoonful, which taste like great, crunchy, semisweet chocolate, and the pairing is about as classic as it comes. This is another scoop that would be perfect in a cone but with a slightly elevated touch for the adults in the (party) room.

Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup, 127g) 330 calories, 20 grams of fat, 14 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 70 milligrams of cholesterol, 60 milligrams of sodium, 34 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 30 grams of total sugars, and 6 grams of protein.

DISCLOSURE: I received complimentary product samples from Ben & Jerry’s. Doing so did not influence my review.

Turning out to vote this November is very important. Also very important? Trying every new flavor that Ben & Jerry’s churns up. It is my duty to hunt the freezer aisle for any new chunky concoction the boys in Vermont grace the shelves with. Don’t you feel left out when a new one doesn’t quickly pop up in your local Target or grocery store? I know I do. It kind of makes me wish this pint came with an “I Scooped” sticker to showcase how proud I am that I have a new Limited Batch Ben & Jerry’s pint.

Anyway…

Churn Out the Vote is vanilla ice cream with pretzel swirls, fudge chips, and swirls of chocolate mousse.

The vanilla ice cream is your standard slightly floral, sweet, and creamy base that you’ve had a dozen times, yet it largely gets transformed by the presence of the chocolate mousse swirls. A good amount of it bleeds into the base, creating a lighter chocolate flavor with little pockets of pure vanilla. Initially, I was a little disappointed, but as I kept digging, I found more pockets where the mousse stayed more intact, bringing a gooey chocolate texture and richer fudge-like flavor to the profile. It’s a fun, albeit very predictable (classic?) flavor pairing that, when joined with the gently crunchy and melty fudge chips, tastes about as vintage-scoop-shop as can be.

What makes this pint stand out beyond a straight 40s-style throwback are the pretzel swirls. I am a big fan of Ben & Jerry’s pretzel swirl. It’s a key component in one of my all-time favorites, Glampfire Trail Mix, as well as this year’s simple yet impressive Impretzively Fudged. I believe this is the first time the swirl has been used in a vanilla base, and it helps elevate the flavor to something more unique yet still pretty classic.

The swirls don’t pop as much as in Glampfire Trail Mix but are sprinkled throughout the pint. Their presence brings a salty depth and gritty texture to the experience that, when taken all in one spoonful, starts to taste like another old school parlor staple — a chocolate malt. Something about the lighter chocolate, in tandem with the molasses-adjacent pretzel taste and touch of salt, comes together like a throwback funky malt, making the whole scooping experience much more dynamic than I anticipated going into it.

Ultimately, this is a flavor that tastes as traditionally button-down as the act of voting itself. While it may not be the most inventive or the most satisfying for gob-loving mix-in hounds like myself, it’s inescapably tasty and salty enough to avoid being too basic.

DISCLOSURE: I received a free product sample from Ben & Jerry’s. Doing so did not influence my review.

Purchased Price: FREE
Size: One Pint
Purchased at: Received from Ben & Jerry’s
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup, 138g) 390 calories, 23 grams of fat, 14 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 65 milligrams of cholesterol, 250 milligrams of sodium, 40 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 32 grams of total sugars, and 6 grams of protein.

When you stroll into the grocery store ice cream aisle, one thing will usually jump out at you more prominently than most — the Ben & Jerry’s section. It’s usually more prominent than any others in the area, and with as many limited, new, and classic flavors as they have stocked, you would think that is all Ben & Jerry’s has to offer…but it is not.

Ben & Jerry’s keeps some of its treasured flavors quietly close to the chest and only available in Scoop Shops. One of my favorites, a dairy-laden version of Seven Layer Bar, can only be found in the dip case, and if you make it into one of B&J’s shops, you may find a couple of other surprises, too.

Good news for those without a shop nearby: a Scoop Shop exclusive has become a Limited Batch pint for the first time in a long time (ever?). Marshmallow Sky features marshmallow ice cream with marshmallow swirls and gobs of chocolate chip cookie dough and chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough.

The blue base ice cream, colored naturally with spirulina extract, is delightfully creamy with a robust vanilla flavor that isn’t as aggressively sweet as I was anticipating, and I’m totally okay with it. Marshmallow is usually a two-note flavor — sugar, then vanilla — and this base has the same two notes, but it’s much more vanilla than sugar, which is a welcomed surprise given the presence of the mix-ins. The marshmallow swirl is sticky and sweet and brings both the sugary element and texture to the mallow-sperience, thoroughly doing its job to bring the sweet taste of the summer sky to the spoon.

The double punch of dough chunks is prominent throughout and helps bring some much appreciated texture to the bites. The classic chocolate chip cookie dough’s brown sugar flavor blends in a bit with the bold vanilla backdrop of the base. But its gritty, chewy crunch and hints of chocolate poke through well. However, the bells of the ball are the chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough gobs, which REALLY make their mark with deep bittersweet notes of cocoa that cut through the base like butter. The blast of chocolate really delivers the dynamic pop I want from a good mix-in that elevates marshmallow sky oh so high into a pint that you should certainly buy.

This flavor is essentially B&J’s classic cookie dough on steroids. The base is a more robust and full-bodied vanilla than the original, and the double chocolate dough gives it a layering that the original lacks, all tied together with the sweet, sticky bow of a marshmallow swirl. Coming from the company that created cookie dough ice cream, this eats like a love letter to those who consider the classic their favorite flavor and shouldn’t be missed by those who adore the gobs of dough and vanilla with a colorful twist.

DISCLOSURE: I received a free product sample from Ben & Jerry’s. Doing so did not influence my review.

Purchased Price: FREE
Size: One Pint
Purchased at: Received from Ben & Jerry’s
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup, 132g) 340 calories, 15 grams of fat, 9 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 65 milligrams of cholesterol, 90 milligrams of sodium, 47 grams of carbohydrates,0 grams of fiber, 35 grams of total sugars, and 5 grams of protein.

Kicking off the new year in sweet and salty style, the master churners at Ben & Jerry’s are back with two fresh additions to their vaunted lineup of chunk-laden pints: Impretzively Fudged and PB S’more.

Impretzively Fudged is chocolate ice cream with fudge-covered pretzel pieces and pretzel swirls.

This is a straightforward but delightfully effective take on a chocolate-covered pretzel. Simple isn’t always bad; in this case, it makes the pint simply stunning. The chocolate base is as good as ever, with some of the salt from the pretzel swirl bleeding into the ice cream for a more nuanced and rich chocolate flavor than the average chocolate provides — and I love it. The gritty, subtly crunchy pretzel swirl is pretty present throughout, and with only one swirl and one mix-in, the intended sweet and salty profile is inescapable and captivatingly delicious.

The fudge-covered pretzel pieces are different than I expected. Even though the description says “pieces,” I envisioned pretzel nuggets, but they are, in fact, pieces. Pieces to the point that they feel almost like shattered fragments of a chocolate pretzel bark. They have a nice crunch and genuine salty pop that makes each spoonful incredibly satisfying. This pint eats more like a chocolate chip ice cream than one with massive boulders of chunk-age, but in this case, the chocolate chips are flecks of chocolate pretzel, and it’s pure indulgent fun. The profile is a bit of a one-trick pony, but it’s a pony that I love and a trick I will gladly embrace time and time again.

PB S’more is toasted marshmallow ice cream with peanut butter cups, graham cracker pieces, and marshmallow swirls.

S’mores ice cream is usually hard to pull off, nailing the nuanced layers of flavor and texture that make the summertime treat so fantastic, and this new PB-ified iteration falls down that same tricky trajectory. Anytime I see marshmallow and graham swirls in an ice cream, I am sold, and they both do their job in this pint convincingly as some of B&J’s best mix-ins. Where it gets a bit muddied is in the toasted marshmallow base. It comes across as really sweet, and I love sweet, but this teeters on cloying. Not enough to ruin the experience, but enough to make me wish it was different. I don’t get much of a toasted flavor either, and some smokiness would have been more than welcome to temper the intense sweetness of the base and swirls.

The peanut butter cups change the pint’s dynamic for the better, bringing a big, bold crunch and semisweet chocolate punch that helps break up the overlapping monotony of the double-mallow-whammy. They are full-sized PB cups broken into giant chunks. But sadly, my pint only had four sizable pieces throughout with a couple of fragmented shards, and I only occasionally got the salty peanut butter reprieve I was hoping for. I love this flavor conceptually, but in execution, I think it would have been much better with a different base — graham, peanut butter, or even chocolate — to make the scoop more balanced in moments without the excellent boulders of PB cups.

All in all, these are fun ways to start the new year for one of the most prolific brands in grocery store ice cream. This drop steps away from the novelty of a Topped or Core’d pint to deliver a slightly tweaked version of Gimme S’more and a more bare-bones spin on Glampfire Trail Mix. If you’re a fan of those, this will likely appeal to you and should be arriving on shelves now!

DISCLOSURE: I received free product samples from Ben & Jerry’s. Doing so did not influence my review.

Purchased Price: FREE
Size: One Pint
Rating: 9 out of 10 (Impretzively Fudged), 7 out of 10 (PB S’more)
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup) Impretzively Fudged – 390 calories, 23 grams of fat, 14 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 50 milligrams of cholesterol, 260 milligrams of sodium, 42 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 32 grams of total sugars, and 6 grams of protein. PB S’more – 370 calories, 19 grams of fat, 12 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 55 milligrams of cholesterol, 120 milligrams of sodium, 45 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 35 grams of total sugars, and 6 grams of protein.