Disclaimer: Ben & Jerry’s sent me free pints of the Topped line prior to their release. Receiving free product didn’t affect my review, as I’ve poo-pooed plenty of products I received for free. 

When it comes to ice cream in the freezer aisle, Ben & Jerry’s can’t be topped.

Or CAN it?!!?

Ben & Jerry’s Topped

Every day I have to look in the mirror and live with the fact that the above intro was my best.

Look, we all know the ice cream itself is great, but what keeps us coming back to Ben & Jerry’s? It’s the load of mix-ins swimming freely throughout the pint (well, maybe not freely… picture a bunch of chubby kids crashing into each other inside an inflatable pool). Ben & Jerry’s knows this too, so you know what they did? They said f*ck it, we’re not even gonna make you wait; we’re just gonna throw a bunch right on top.

Introducing Ben & Jerry’s Topped, a new line of seven loaded pints that have a layer of spoonable chocolatey ganache (and sometimes other mix-ins) greeting you immediately under the lid.

Looks like I’m gonna need a bigger inflatable swimming pool!!

This review is part of a series. Today’s Ben & Jerry’s Topped flavor is:

Ben & Jerry’s Topped – Thick Mint

Ben & Jerry’s Topped Thick Mint features mint ice cream with chocolate cookie swirls and mint chocolate cookie balls topped with chocolate cookies and chocolatey ganache.

Ben & Jerry’s gets a 0/10 for subtlety with the name of this ice cream. If it isn’t a giant middle finger to Girl Scouts everywhere, then I don’t know what is.

Right off the bat, the chocolatey ganache is very impressive. It’s much thicker and more decadent than the “crackly” candy shell in Magnum pints, and offers a rich and and creamy chocolate flavor. It starts out a little hard straight out of the freezer but is still spoonable, and it continues to soften further as it tempers.

Again, it can’t be said enough within these Topped reviews, bravo to B&J’s on this ganache. 👏

The chocolate cookies are like Oreo wafer sprinkles.

Underneath, you have a mint ice cream base. Believe it or not, at the moment Thick Mint is the only flavor in the Ben & Jerry’s lineup that features a straight mint ice cream. Made with peppermint oil, it packs a creamy mint flavor that’s careful not to overpower. I find it pretty refreshing, though we’re definitely not moving mountains in terms of ingenuity or quality. I don’t like it as much as the dark chocolate peppermint ice cream in Minter Wonderland, though I get why they went with mint given how much chocolate exists between the ganache and other mix-ins.

Speaking of, the chocolate cookie swirls help break up the minty base. Whereas mint chocolate ice creams are usually complemented with chocolate chips, this ice cream offers soft swirls of knock-off Oreos. Nothing to complain about there.

Where my pint of Ben & Jerry’s Thick Mint went wrong was with the mint chocolate cookie balls, or should I say lack thereof. I emptied my pint into a bowl, combed through it, and COULD NOT for the life of me find more than two. If any more were in here, they must have been crushed and blended seamlessly with the chocolate cookie swirl. More likely, I suspect a quality control issue with my pint – disappointing if true, because the mint chocolate cookie balls were one of my favorite mix-ins, last seen in the retired Chocolate Peppermint Crunch.

How you choose to attack the ganache topping is up to you: you can gobble it all first like a candy bar appetizer, or break it up and portion it throughout the pint. I found the best way was to use a fork (yes, a fork) and eat down in sections, periodically breaking off a piece of the ganache to enjoy mixed with the ice cream.

The Ben & Jerry’s Topped line is a bona fide winner in my book, but Thick Mint leaves some to be desired.

Inflatable Swimming Pools Rating: 8 out of 10
Inflatable Swimming Pools After Your Fat Ass Breaks It Rating: 0 out of 10
Overall Rating: 6.5 out of 10

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