This is a big year for ice cream. New flavours are popping up like posies, both fantastic and funky. YLC took upon the challenge of trying some of GB Glace’s new assortment, to present you the best of ice cream, 2014!
GB Glace is one of the leading sellers of ice cream in Sweden, not just the kind you eat from the carton but the kind you experience – the individual cones and concoctions you buy on a sunny day to eat outdoors. Every now and then the company creates something new – and 2014 is a big year.
The Magnum series of ice cream is turning 25, and Sweden’s oldest ice cream cone the 88 is turning 50 – due cause for celebration and all sorts of new and exciting flavours!
Not wanting to cut corners, we decided to have two taste-testers, getting guy and girl perspective. This is a task to be taken seriously, after all.
Puckstång Vanilla Cream Ice Cream
Guy: Well, this is just ordinary vanilla ice cream. No pomp and circumstance here.
Girl: Yes, it tastes like vanilla. But it’s also richer and softer than most vanilla ice cream. You can definitely tell it’s cream-based. It’s good. Simple.
Cornetto Cheesecake Glory
Guy: It’s a traditional cone, and the ice cream appears to be half strawberry and half vanilla, with some sort of nut topping. And we have discovered there is a jelly center farther down! And yet…it tastes like any other ice cream cone you buy at the pool. It has a little touch of cheesecake, but could just as well have been a normal cone. It’s not that innovative.
Girl: Hm. That’s not vanilla. It seems to be some sort of weird cheesecake ice cream flavor. The center is sour and makes your cheeks pucker. I’m not impressed. I don’t think I’m a fan of cheesecake ice cream. Or maybe I’m just not a fan of jelly in my ice cream. It wasn’t actually bad, but it would never be my first choice.
Cornetto King Cone Chocolate
Guy: It’s chocolate. Quite dark chocolate. Almost like a chocolate mousse. It’s also a lot of ice cream. This is the one for those who want to be sitting eating that ice cream for a long time. But since there’s so much of it I can imagine that it gets a big flat…it’s jut chocolate. The other flavors, like cheesecake, are more complex. But this is just chocolate.
Girl: Mmmm. Chocolate. Dark chocolate mousse with hard chocolate ripples. Oh my goodness! There’s a chocolate core too! It seems to be plain chocolate syrup. Mmm, chocolate!
Ben & Jerry’s Greek Style
Guy: I’m not a fan of bowls, I’d rather have it on a stick. But it’s refreshing. Very fresh and sweet. I don’t like that the honey is concentrated in the middle. They should have spread it out throughout the ice cream. But the ice cream itself is very, very good. Hard to put down.
Girl: It’s very sweet, but not at all heavy like chocolate…it’s very light. It’s much simpler than most Ben & Jerry’s flavors as well. They’re known for throwing all sorts of stuff into their ice cream, but this one is simple, plain, and light.
Magnum Marc de Champagne
Guy: The outer shell is basically chocolate. And then the inside is vanilla ice cream with a champagne swirl. It actually does taste like champagne. It’s good! I like it! And it appears it actually is alcoholic – sort of. It contains 0.8% champagne. At the supermarket there were some questions about whether or not a little girl was allowed to buy it. I really like the silver shell. It makes it feel more exclusive. Elite. And it tastes exclusive too. They tried to make a premium anniversary ice cream, and I think they’ve succeeded. It would be perfect on a warm sunny day.
Girl: The shell is quite hard and instantly falls to pieces when you try to eat it, but I guess that’s not a huge deal. I didn’t taste much champagne at first but I do now. It’s your normal chocolate-encased vanilla ice cream, but with flair – a classy champagne swirl. I do think the fact that they made the outside silver is a bit odd though. Makes you think you’re eating metal, not chocolate.
X-Pop
Guy: Best ice cream ever! (Not really.) The tip is made of bubbly pop rocks. But if you’re after that popping you’ll be disappointed, since it is just the tip. It’s definitely aimed at kids. I mean it’s not like you make a fancy premium champagne ice cream for little kids. But it doesn’t even taste fruity, it tastes artificial. More like chemicals.
Girl: Oh, my…what is that shaped like? Can they do that? Gosh, I don’t even know how to describe this. It’s a fruity popsicle I guess…It’s the cheapest of them all and I’ve seen a lot of kids buy this one. But it’s like the crazy cousin of the family. A weird little fruity popsicle with attitude. But it’s not even good.
Our team concluded that Magnum Marc de Champagne is the number one new flavor this year, so if you’re just going to try one, that’s the winner. X-Pop took last place…though you might like to try it just for the novelty.
So there you have it – what DON’T we do for our readers, eh?
Note: The new flavor Taco was unavailable at time of review. Panda Lakrits flavor was excluded due to an overwhelming aversion to licorice.
