Ahem… hello.

My name is Junk Banter and I’m an ice cream-aholic.

Ben & Jerry’s Urban Bourbon

Have you ever gotten the feeling that an ice cream was made specifically for you?

Ben & Jerry’s Urban Bourbon is burnt caramel ice cream with almonds, fudge flakes, and a bourbon caramel swirl. This one might as well be called “Friday Night at Junk Banter’s House.” Ice cream, candy, and whiskey? This is literally what I do every weekend. Even the burnt caramel ice cream is accurate, because I guarantee you if I’m cooking something, I’m probably burning it.

There’s even almonds for #health or whatever, which is something I did once.

The burnt caramel ice cream is new for Ben & Jerry’s and is the highlight of the pint. I always felt that their regular caramel ice cream falls a little flat; it’s not a particularly intense caramel and tastes more like vanilla ice cream with caramel nuances. This new “burnt” angle makes the caramel more complex while also making it more of a distinctive flavor. It’s buttery with a bit of toastiness while still being sweet. I like the balance here and I’m digging this base a lot.

The most prominent mix-in in Ben & Jerry’s Urban Bourbon is, curiously, the fudge flakes. Ben & Jerry’s rarely disappoints with their fudge flakes; they’re more accurately hunks of dark chocolate candy bars. The darker chocolate flavor feels an appropriate choice up against the burnt caramel ice cream; I feel like such an adult. The almond bits mesh well too, but you’ll be hard pressed to find many of them. They’re very thinly chopped and scattered too sporadically to make a major impact.

But gimme some damn booze already; I’m trying to get a buzz over here.

Ben & Jerry’s Urban Bourbon

The good news is that the bourbon caramel swirl tastes great. The caramel is rich with a slight boozy quality that again sets it apart from their traditional caramel. The booze cuts the excessive sweetness of caramel and makes it more refined and complex. This, too, aligns well with the burnt caramel ice cream.

The very bad news is that the above photo is damn near all I had in my entire pint.

Yes, the entire pint.

I think they gave me a virgin. 

I worked through the entire container of Ben & Jerry’s Urban Bourbon eager to find more bourbon caramel, but the above photo is an accurate depiction of what I got. The boozy caramel is what made the Texas exclusive Bourbon Pecan Pie so enjoyable to me. The burnt caramel ice cream is an even better foundation, but the caramel in mine was mysteriously absent. I hope for everyone’s sake this is a quality control issue and I simply got myself a bum pint. Please sound off in the comments below if yours fared better than mine.

Ben & Jerry’s Urban Bourbon has a really tasty base, but boy did mine fail to live up to its promising potential. Bourbon is in the damn title and I found myself hard-pressed to locate that bourbon caramel swirl. I searched and I searched but was left disappointed, confused, and fat by the time I hit the bottom of the container. It’s a lot like how I feel after a normal Friday night of drinking, only not as fun while it lasted.

Better start drinking.

The Morning After

The next day I awoke feeling shitty like every other hungover person. I was also angry. In true ice cream-aholic fashion, I did what anyone addicted to the good stuff would do: I bought more.

Much better. There were a few pools and more traces of bourbon caramel throughout the base than my first pint.

I will separate the quality control issue from my scoring because I rarely encounter this with Ben & Jerry’s. Shit happens. As long as that bourbon caramel swirl is present, I really enjoy Urban Bourbon.

Or maybe I just really enjoy bourbon.

Virgin Cocktails Rating: 1 out of 10
How Much I Hate Being A Virgin Rating: 10 out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 out of 10

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