When you vacation, what activities usually make your itinerary? Assume your destination was Texas – the same state I frequented recently for a bachelor party with 21 other beacons of testosterone. Your itinerary might include visiting the State Capitol, swimming in Barton Springs Pool, and watching a shit-ton of bats for 45 minutes straight at the Congress Avenue Bridge. My itinerary included none of these things, but all of the following:
- Get drunk with the bachelor.
- Get drunk and play golf with the bachelor.
- (Omitted)
- Find Ben & Jerry’s Bourbon Pecan Pie and eat it.
“Ben & Jerry’s what, now?” Yes, for the unfamiliar, Ben & Jerry’s Bourbon Pecan Pie is a flavor exclusive to the Lone Star State. Beginning in 2014, Ben & Jerry’s held a “Texas Churned Tour” wherein reps from the company drove around letting Texans try two brand new ice creams to decide which would become the official flavor of Texas as a year-round offering. Fans voted for Ben & Jerry’s Bourbon Pecan Pie over Ben & Jerry’s Bar-B-Que Peach. The latter had a barbecue caramel swirl, so… good call, Texas!
Ben & Jerry’s Bourbon Pecan Pie
While I knew I would find a way to find Ben & Jerry’s Bourbon Pecan Pie, several challenges arose. First, I didn’t want to disrupt the bachelor party to go grocery shopping like a junk food-obsessed lunatic. I overcame that challenge by realizing that I am junk food-obsessed lunatic. The second and third challenges were that I didn’t have a car, and I didn’t know where I was. What I did have were two feet, so I decided I would conduct my search during my morning run. This came with another set of challenges, best captured in the short video below:
#NeverQuit: The official hashtag of Junk Banter. Never stop hunting for shit until it’s yours.
Ben & Jerry’s Bourbon Pecan Pie features buttery bourbon ice cream with pecans, shortbread cookie pieces, and a whiskey caramel swirl. Booze and ice cream, people. With all the booze I’d been consuming this weekend, this flavor seemed like the logical next step to my impending death.
The buttery bourbon ice cream base, however, doesn’t taste boozy at all. I didn’t get any significant bourbon from this base, but I did get the bourbon from the bottle of bourbon being passed around the room. The base ice cream tastes somewhere in between the traditional butter pecan base and a classic vanilla one. While its flavor isn’t robust as a standalone, it lays a solid foundation for the mix-ins. The pecans are fresh, crunchy, and taste as if they were toasted slightly.
The component of Ben & Jerry’s Bourbon Pecan Pie that just might make you want to pack your things and move to Texas is the whiskey caramel swirl. This caramel absolutely did have a boozy quality that worked so damn well for the theme. Whiskey lovers will totally dig this, and non-whiskey lovers should still be able to appreciate its execution. That little bit of alcoholic bite makes this caramel swirl less salty, buttery, and decadent than the salted caramel swirl in the Ben & Jerry’s Salted Caramel Brown-ie Ale Ice Cream, but its exceptional flavor aligns well with the other ingredients. Booze!
On a heaping spoonful, all of the parts fit together to produce something reminiscent of pecan pie. The shortbread cookies have a natural doughiness that helps emulate pie crust, but their flavor is somewhat subdued by the sweet yet boozy caramel. You’re mostly just getting chew factor from the cookie pieces. Alas, when you hit a pecan and the whiskey caramel swirl together with buttery vanilla base, you can’t help but think about that delicious caramelized brown sugar masterpiece that rests atop a pecan pie. It’s just a little more boozy than the one you normally make, but it’s a rare day that I say no to more booze.
If I lived in Texas, I would buy Ben & Jerry’s Bourbon Pecan Pie again without hesitation. It’s one of the more unique flavor offerings in their current lineup, and I highly recommend you stage a bachelor party or make up some other event where the destination is Texas just so you have an excuse to eat it.
Full disclosure: I ate this entire pint when I was drunk. If you think it tastes terrible, get drunk and you will definitely like it a lot more.
How Much My Vacations Revolve Around Food Rating: 9 out of 10
How Hard It Is to Run When Hungover Rating: #NeverQuit out of 10
Overall Rating: 8 out of 10
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