Ben and Jerry’s has been blessing us all with seven new and changed flavors: the Topped. They are variations on regular Ben and Jerry’s flavors, except they have ganache and another topping at the top of the pint. 

 

Chocolate Caramel Cookie Dough

John 

I absolutely think that the “topped” portion of the ice cream was by far the best part. If you could get the perfect combination of ice cream and topping it was like heaven on earth.  Now, in saying this I mean no harm to the ice cream itself: the flakes of chocolate mixed with the vanilla ice cream and cookie dough chunks were nothing to sneeze at. The topping was simply that good. In fact, I think that if Ben and Jerry’s made a dessert with just the topped portion of this ice cream it would be a knockout. This flavor gets an 8.5 out of 10 for me, and I am totally looking to buy this one again.

 

Sasha

The top part was the best part of this ice cream, though I have to say there were not enough candies (which were very good) in the chocolate. The caramel swirl wasn’t bad but it felt like there was barely any of it; apparently, I got all of it too. The cookie dough chunks were delicious but there were not enough of them. The chocolate ice cream was good, but the flavor was nothing special. The idea for the flavor was good, but the execution was not there. It was basically chocolate ice cream with a tiny bit of caramel and some cookie dough chunks. Overall, this was an underwhelming flavor, I would rate it a seven and would probably not buy it again. 

PB Over the Top 

John

Usually, when I get a peanut butter dessert flavor it is at the top of the list by far. Ask my parents, they would have to buy jars and jars of peanut butter in a pathetic attempt to satisfy my insatiable lust for peanut butter sandwiches. Therefore, when it came to this flavor, I was so excited for the peanut butter topped along with the peanut butter swirl. But then we actually opened up the ice cream: where the heck was all of the peanut butter cups and peanut butter swirls? It’s safe to say that my heart was broken, and my rating certainly reflects this heartbreak. I would give this flavor a six out of 10 for the lack of peanut butter goodness.

 

Sasha 

Unfortunately, this was another underwhelming flavor. The top part (chocolate with peanut butter cups) was delicious, as were the peanut butter cups found in the ice cream, and there really is nothing bad to say about the chocolate ice cream. But the peanut butter swirl was nowhere to be found (though we did find something resembling it at the bottom), and my half of the pint only had like five peanut butter cups (I think John’s had even less). This flavor was really just chocolate ice cream with the occasional cup; there’s nothing bad about it, but nothing special and not worth the money. I would rate it a six out of 10 and will not be buying this flavor again; there are better Ben & Jerry’s flavors out there.  

 

 

Salted Caramel Brownie

 

John

Oh my gosh, you guys. This thing was absolutely amazing. Like seriously, if there was a way to give an ice cream flavor a hug this would be the first on the list. Keeping in mind that I do not really like caramel too much, my opinion is worth quite a bit for this flavor. My favorite part was definitely the brownies; they were so good. I would give this flavor a nine out of 10, and I will definitely be purchasing this again!

 

Sasha 

This flavor is tied as our favorite Ben & Jerry’s flavor of all time. It was delicious, and everything I would ever want in an ice cream. I love caramel and vanilla ice cream together, it is my favorite combination of sauce and ice cream. The brownie bits are my favorite Ben & Jerry’s topping; they’re amazing and I love them. Now imagine this all together: delicious vanilla ice cream with lots of caramel and brownies: what could be better? The chocolate on top was really good as well, though the ice cream was great even without it. Overall this is a great new flavor, I would rate it a nine and it is already on our grocery list! 

 

Strawberry Topped Tart

 

John

One thing that you guys should know about me is that I hate any berry-flavored items (well, except for blueberries, those things are awesome). Therefore, take this opinion with a grain of salt. This was one of the worst Ben and Jerry’s flavors that I have ever had. The topping was much too strong, I do not even think I could stomach the rest of it after the first couple of bites. Oh, did I mention that I absolutely hate tart as well? It was almost repelling, I would give this a four out of 10. But hey, maybe if you like strawberries this could be for you!

 

Sasha 

This is definitely one of the worst Ben and Jerry’s flavors I’ve had. The top isn’t bad, I like the combination of strawberry and white chocolate, but the hard candies they put into the top ruined it. The ice cream itself tasted like regular strawberry ice cream, while the pie chunks were weird and oddly crumbly, and tasted kind of like bread more than pie. Overall this was not necessarily a bad flavor, but it’s just not worth the $4 I paid for it. I would rate it a six and will definitely not buy it again. 

 

Thick Mint

 

John

Yet another solid flavor coming out from the “topped” series. The chocolate ganache on top was great! If you mixed it with the mint ice cream below, it was like mint chocolate chip ice cream on crack. The heterogeneity inside of the ice cream was super refreshing and made each bite feel unique. Additionally, the mint flavor was the perfect intensity. Overall, this flavor gets a seven and a half out of 10 for me. If I was more into mint-flavored things, I might even give this a higher rating!

 

Sasha 

This flavor is a major improvement on the Mint Chocolate Cookie flavor. I really like the minty chocolate cookies: with many desserts, you either don’t feel any mint or it is too overpowering. However, these cookies were perfect: they were minty but not too minty. This allowed the flavors to mix together very nicely without having one overpower the other, so the chocolate and mint balanced out well. Overall, I would rate this flavor an 8.5 and will buy it again soon.  

 

Tiramisu

 

John

Unfortunately, as Sasha later elaborates, the ice cream was a little melted since our freezer malfunctioned, so we did not get the true full experience of this ice cream! Setting that aside, however, this flavor was wonderful. The topping was a chocolate ganache that blended really well with the ice cream. I swear, the ice cream really did taste like tiramisu! The coffee mixed with the shortbread and the ice cream all added together to give that same flavor profile. Overall, this ice cream gets an eight out of 10 for me. Definitely worth the repurchase!

 

Sasha 

I have to start off by saying that we had the ice cream when it was a little melted. Overall, it was a very nice flavor. I love the mascarpone ice cream and the chocolate with the hint of coffee. But I also love tiramisu so of course I think this ice cream is amazing. The one thing I did not love about this flavor was the shortbread bits; they were not bad, but they had a weird chalky taste to them. Overall, I would give this flavor an eight, and would probably buy it again. 

 

Whiskey Biz 

 

John

My first thought when biting into this ice cream is how prominent the alcohol/beer flavor was. It definitely made this particular ice cream flavor unique. Although I am not the biggest fan of white chocolate, I could tell the white chocolate that was part of the topping was also really high quality, and definitely added to the uniqueness of the flavor! Sasha elaborates on this later, but I was also not a big fan of the blonde brownies; I would have much preferred if they were left out entirely, to be honest. Overall though, this gets an eight out of 10 for me! The uniqueness definitely adds a couple of points.

 

Sasha

The white chocolate at the top was amazing—probably my favorite top of all the topped flavors. I just wish the white chocolate chunks were throughout the ice cream, not just on the top. The ice cream itself was quite good: definitely one of their more unique flavors. My issues with this flavor come from the swirl: it tasted like medicine that you have as a kid. You know the medicine they make “flavored” so it doesn’t taste as bad. I have mixed feelings about the blonde brownies; they aren’t bad but they aren’t amazing either, I would’ve definitely preferred a better filling in these. Overall, the flavor wasn’t amazing but it wasn’t terrible either. I would give it a seven, but I don’t know if I’d buy it again.  

 

Looking at the Topped flavors through a broad lens, we would both say that they were a huge creative success. Not many ice cream companies have done something like this before, and we would say that B&J had a unique idea, and executed it perfectly, catering to many different types of flavors, from peanut butter, to chocolate and even to strawberry. Out of this whole list, there will definitely be a flavor that suits you, even if it was not to our tastes!