Butter Pecan is a staple in most ice cream lines and has a generally accepted flavor and texture to it. Haagen Dazs, on the other hand, offers a much different approach. The typical elements of a Haagen Dazs ice cream, premium ingredients and smooth flavor, are there but slightly underwhelming.
Name
Butter Pecan is a common flavor and there is little room for creativity with this name. My only qualm with the name is the word "butter." It is completely deceiving based on the lack of richness.
Availability
Although Butter Pecan is a common flavor, it is not as common in the Haagen Dazs variety. I picked it up in a take-home pint from a local grocery store. It keeps fairly well as it has been sitting in my freezer for about a month and has not become icy or tough.
Flavor
High Notes
Butter Pecan did lack quite a bit on the high end but most rich flavors do so. It is composed mostly of dark, milky tones which I think is fine for a heavy flavor like Butter Pecan. The creaminess is a great complement for the pecans but does leave a lot of emptiness on the sweeter side. It is not a particularly complex flavor but there are no discernable high notes, which is unfortunate. Because pecans have a tendency to have a lingering bitterness, I feel that there needs to be some sort of sugary tatste to counter them.
Low Notes
This flavor is full of richness that stems from both the cream and the pecans. Although subtle, the cream provides a strong, overarching base for the nutty tones in the ice cream. I am incredibly disapointed by the lack of richhness in Haagen Dazs' variation of Butter Pecan. What I typically look forward to in this flavor is the powerful, sweet butter that the name promises. I understand that Haagen Dazs is a high-brow ice cream, but a lack of butteriness is unacceptable for a quality Butter Pecan ice cream. The pecans are the one redeeming quality about this flavor. They are rich, dark, and flavorful just like pecans should be. Haagen Dazs is known for its use of premium ingredients and the pecans were definitely some of the flavorful that I have ever tasted.
Texture
As usual, Haagen Dazs ice creams are smooth, creamy, and delightful. There was an even texture and flavor from top to bottom, even if the taste was unbalanced. I was also pleased with the distribution of pecans both in quantity and consistency.
Concluding Comments
Overall, Butter Pecan was bottom heavy and slow. Quite frankly Butter Pecan has no sweetness to blend with the pecans and is a one-sided, empty flavor.The Haagen Dazs' variation of this flavor can only be described as dirty and impure. The high end was nonexistent and the low tastes just left me simply wanting more. I cannot buy the "Haagen Dazs is sophisticated" argument because any truly great ice cream should include balanced flavor.
Hawaiin Lehua Honey & Sweet Cream
I am really excited about this ice cream because it's one of the Haagen Dazs Reserve flavors. Lehua is a Hawaiian flower with a light, sweet flavor that blends very well with the sweet cream ice cream and dabs of honey.
Name
So I'm not 100 percent sure what Lehua tastes outside of ice cream, but I'm going to assume that it's accurately describing the floral tones of this flavor. There is visual evidence of honey in the ice cream so the name is accurate and straightforward. I like it.
Availability
Because this is a Haagen Dazs Reserve flavor, it's going to be a little more difficult to find in stores. I stumbled upon this one at a local grocery store. I don't believe Haagen Dazs Reserve flavors are available in scoop shops but I could be wrong.
Flavor
High Notes
The one word I can use to describe the flavor of this ice cream is delicate. It is a very subtle flavor that builds once it hits your mouth. It has a very sweet flavor but it's not heavy at all. It is dominated by the sweet cream and honey flavors, the previous being slightly stronger. The sweet cream is not a thick cream at all, which provides a perfect base for this flavor. The taste is very high which allows the low, floral end to really be expressed with a very natural tone. The honey itself provides optimal balance as its own independent flavor because of its sweetness and natural low notes.
Low Notes
The floral tones of the Lehua flower are so delicately balanced, yet well represented in this ice cream. Lehua's flavor is a bit similar to Chrysanthemum so it's not terribly sweet. The kind of low notes in Lehua are very unique for ice cream; I wouldn't call it heavy, but its definitely a deep, complex flavor. The natural combination of the flower and honey add a bit of sweetness to this low end, which works surprisingly well because of the lightness of the sweet cream.
Texture
As most Haagen Dazs ice creams are, Hawaiin Lehua Honey & Sweet Cream is amazingly smooth and even. The mix is consistent and tastes great from start to finish. The take-home pint keeps perfectly in a freezer at home and doesn't get icy.
Concluding Comments
The blend of creamy, natural, and sweet flavors in this exotic reserve flavor are amazing. If you are looking for something unique and light, Hawaiin Lehua Honey & Sweet Cream definitely hits the spot. It's very natural, very earthy, and a great after dinner ice cream.
Name
So I'm not 100 percent sure what Lehua tastes outside of ice cream, but I'm going to assume that it's accurately describing the floral tones of this flavor. There is visual evidence of honey in the ice cream so the name is accurate and straightforward. I like it.
Availability
Because this is a Haagen Dazs Reserve flavor, it's going to be a little more difficult to find in stores. I stumbled upon this one at a local grocery store. I don't believe Haagen Dazs Reserve flavors are available in scoop shops but I could be wrong.
Flavor
High Notes
The one word I can use to describe the flavor of this ice cream is delicate. It is a very subtle flavor that builds once it hits your mouth. It has a very sweet flavor but it's not heavy at all. It is dominated by the sweet cream and honey flavors, the previous being slightly stronger. The sweet cream is not a thick cream at all, which provides a perfect base for this flavor. The taste is very high which allows the low, floral end to really be expressed with a very natural tone. The honey itself provides optimal balance as its own independent flavor because of its sweetness and natural low notes.
Low Notes
The floral tones of the Lehua flower are so delicately balanced, yet well represented in this ice cream. Lehua's flavor is a bit similar to Chrysanthemum so it's not terribly sweet. The kind of low notes in Lehua are very unique for ice cream; I wouldn't call it heavy, but its definitely a deep, complex flavor. The natural combination of the flower and honey add a bit of sweetness to this low end, which works surprisingly well because of the lightness of the sweet cream.
Texture
As most Haagen Dazs ice creams are, Hawaiin Lehua Honey & Sweet Cream is amazingly smooth and even. The mix is consistent and tastes great from start to finish. The take-home pint keeps perfectly in a freezer at home and doesn't get icy.
Concluding Comments
The blend of creamy, natural, and sweet flavors in this exotic reserve flavor are amazing. If you are looking for something unique and light, Hawaiin Lehua Honey & Sweet Cream definitely hits the spot. It's very natural, very earthy, and a great after dinner ice cream.
Everything but the...
Everything but the... is a Ben & Jerry's flavor that I have never tried, which is very exciting. As I was browsing the ice cream freezer I noticed a flavor that had chocolate and vanilla ice creams filled with Heath bar chunks, white chocolate chips, peanut butter cups, and chocolate covered almonds. I quickly decided that each of these things are components of other wonderful ice creams so Everything but the... sounded like a delightful selection. Plus, I didn't have to decided between vanilla or chocolate!
Name
Everything but the... has a positive connotation despite the lack of accuracy. This flavor is a combination of 6 different flavors. I don't know why that sounded appealing to me at first because that's fairly gross. Everything but the... implies that it is lacking something but in all seriousness, it isn't. I would have called it something like All the Good Stuff or something like that to maintain its deceivingly tasty sounding name. What I'm trying to say is that Everything but the... is a bad name.
Availability
I have rarely seen this flavor in supermarkets although it makes an appearance once in a while. To my understanding it is unavailable in scoop shops. I guess this is a hard to find flavor, and when it's in stock it comes in pints.
Flavor
High Notes
Everything but the... is quite the anomaly for my tastebuds because there is so much strong flavor, it's difficult to tell what is what. Just looking at the mix of the ice cream I would believe the vanilla to have some exceptional sweetness along with the white chocolate chips and the milk chocolate coating. I couldn't taste any of these. The chocolate is too dominant and completely washes the vanilla ice cream. The peanut butter cups and the almonds were too strong and salty to allow the high notes to be expressed. The white chocolate chips and the Heath bar are completely lost. When I first read the flavor description I was very excited because I love all the ingredients, but it was just too much. I would say that there are traces of the light, sweet high notes but they did not pull their weight in this mix.
Low Notes
The low end of this ice cream is just way, way too strong. It's not just heavy on the robust flavors, but the saltiness as well. The only things I taste in this ice cream are the chocolate ice cream, the peanut butter cups, and the salty chocolate covered almonds. I felt like this was an awful version of a Peanut Butter & Chocolate or Peanut Butter Cup ice cream. I cannot quite express how heavy and tasteless this ice cream was. I really hate to be so critical but I had high expectations for this ice cream, but I couldn't taste any of the flavors I was hoping for. I understand the vanilla being washed because it's subtle but then again, if it's not tasted, why leave it in to dilute the chocolate ice cream. Both white chocolate and Heath bar are strong high end flavors so there's no reason why they shouldn't be evident, especially if they're the flavors that keep the ice cream balanced. The low flavors were way too strong and completely dominated the ice cream.
Texture
Everything but the... is a smooth, creamy, super-premium ice cream. It has few air pockets and it's heavy. The mix is incredibly uneven and has far too many peanut butter cups. The toppings come in large chunks making it difficult to get a normal sized spoonful. When I pulled out a large piece of candy, the ice cream came out disproportionately. I think a lot of the balance issues could be solved by the mix of the ice cream and the size of the candy pieces.
Concluding Comments
The one and only criticism I have for Everything but the... is it has severe balance issues. I really had high hopes for an ice cream that has so many wonderful concepts but it was completely bottom heavy. I am really disappointed because a lot of these problems could have been alleviated by simply changing the proportions of the flavors. This ice cream doesn't do anything well except overload strong flavor.
Name
Everything but the... has a positive connotation despite the lack of accuracy. This flavor is a combination of 6 different flavors. I don't know why that sounded appealing to me at first because that's fairly gross. Everything but the... implies that it is lacking something but in all seriousness, it isn't. I would have called it something like All the Good Stuff or something like that to maintain its deceivingly tasty sounding name. What I'm trying to say is that Everything but the... is a bad name.
Availability
I have rarely seen this flavor in supermarkets although it makes an appearance once in a while. To my understanding it is unavailable in scoop shops. I guess this is a hard to find flavor, and when it's in stock it comes in pints.
Flavor
High Notes
Everything but the... is quite the anomaly for my tastebuds because there is so much strong flavor, it's difficult to tell what is what. Just looking at the mix of the ice cream I would believe the vanilla to have some exceptional sweetness along with the white chocolate chips and the milk chocolate coating. I couldn't taste any of these. The chocolate is too dominant and completely washes the vanilla ice cream. The peanut butter cups and the almonds were too strong and salty to allow the high notes to be expressed. The white chocolate chips and the Heath bar are completely lost. When I first read the flavor description I was very excited because I love all the ingredients, but it was just too much. I would say that there are traces of the light, sweet high notes but they did not pull their weight in this mix.
Low Notes
The low end of this ice cream is just way, way too strong. It's not just heavy on the robust flavors, but the saltiness as well. The only things I taste in this ice cream are the chocolate ice cream, the peanut butter cups, and the salty chocolate covered almonds. I felt like this was an awful version of a Peanut Butter & Chocolate or Peanut Butter Cup ice cream. I cannot quite express how heavy and tasteless this ice cream was. I really hate to be so critical but I had high expectations for this ice cream, but I couldn't taste any of the flavors I was hoping for. I understand the vanilla being washed because it's subtle but then again, if it's not tasted, why leave it in to dilute the chocolate ice cream. Both white chocolate and Heath bar are strong high end flavors so there's no reason why they shouldn't be evident, especially if they're the flavors that keep the ice cream balanced. The low flavors were way too strong and completely dominated the ice cream.
Texture
Everything but the... is a smooth, creamy, super-premium ice cream. It has few air pockets and it's heavy. The mix is incredibly uneven and has far too many peanut butter cups. The toppings come in large chunks making it difficult to get a normal sized spoonful. When I pulled out a large piece of candy, the ice cream came out disproportionately. I think a lot of the balance issues could be solved by the mix of the ice cream and the size of the candy pieces.
Concluding Comments
The one and only criticism I have for Everything but the... is it has severe balance issues. I really had high hopes for an ice cream that has so many wonderful concepts but it was completely bottom heavy. I am really disappointed because a lot of these problems could have been alleviated by simply changing the proportions of the flavors. This ice cream doesn't do anything well except overload strong flavor.
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