As you may recall if you actually read our blog (so, no), Drunk Female recently reviewed the New Belgium + Ben & Jerry’s Salted Caramel Brownie Brown Ale. She quite enjoyed it and rated it a 7.5 out of 10. Naturally, she had intentions of reviewing its ice cream companion – Ben & Jerry’s New Belgium Salted Caramel Brown-ie Ale Ice Cream. But not so fast. Being on the leading edge of hot new releases requires skillful navigation of every retail channel local to one’s home, an intense knowledge of manufacturer-retailer relationships, and some blind luck. She texted me her frustration:

She’s right about those donuts. Where Drunk Female excels in prioritizing her life, I excel at sacrificing everything in mine to get maybe 3 or 4 extra blog hits at best. Quite frankly, my persistence is exhausting on every level. As far as I’m concerned, Drunk Female is just lucky that I didn’t drive the 1,700 miles from Baltimore to the New Belgium Brewery in Colorado just to get the beer version before anyone else did. She is far better at reviewing things than I,  but she was up against the best in the business on tracking down novelty junk food (Editor’s Note: That is not an actual business). Of course I tracked down this Ben & Jerry’s New Belgium Salted Caramel Brown-ie Ale Ice Cream before she did.

Ben & Jerry’s New Belgium Salted Caramel Brown-ie Ale Ice Cream is 55 characters long, excluding spaces. It is made with a New Belgium Brown Ale ice cream with fudge brownies and a salted caramel swirl. Because I trust Drunk Female’s opinion on food and beer unconditionally, I re-read her review of the beer version to have an idea on what flavors I might expect. I’d like to see if the ice cream achieves a similar profile, even though they didn’t intend an exact replication. She described mostly chocolate nodes with subtle vanilla and even more subtle salted caramel. Then she basically just reviewed Sheila G’s Salted Caramel Brownie Brittle. How does the ice cream stack up to the beer?

Completely different. The base ice cream tastes mostly like coffee with plenty of cream & sugar. There is a definite bitterness here that lends itself towards beer rather than just the inherent bitterness of coffee.”Bitter” isn’t a knock against this ice cream, however. It’s quite successful at evoking the taste of a sweet brown ale. If you had concerns that this ice cream would be boozy – it’s not, at all. While the coffee comes as a bit of a surprise, brown ales frequently include coffee additions so this does make some sense. This base is damn good but it’s difficult to dissect on its own for one glorious reason: the cornucopia of mix-ins to work through.

Maybe I benefitted from a good pint, but this is some next-level shit. Take a look at that brownie porn right there. The brownie has a rich chocolate flavor and the perfect dense, chewy texture up against the soft ice cream and salted caramel swirl. Speaking of the swirl, the brownies are literally bathing in a sea of caramel. The caramel is sweet enough to cut some of the bitter nodes in the base ice cream exquisitely, but salty enough to stand out proudly with decadence. There are just so many mix-ins in every spoonful. Guys, we review both junk food & beer on this blog. As such, as we know a thing or two about eating junk food and getting drunk on delicious beer. Trust me on this one:

Ben & Jerry’s New Belgium Salted Caramel Brown-ie Ale is an excellent collaboration of the two genres and it is definitely worth a shot even if you don’t like craft beer.

How Mad and Jealous Drunk Female Is Right Now Rating: 8 out of 10
How Much Better She Is Than Me At Actual, Real Life Stuff Rating: 9 out of 10
Overall Rating: 9 out of 10

See Also: New Belgium + Ben & Jerry’s Salted Caramel Brownie Brown Ale Review