.. and Cotton Candy makes #112

A pint of cotton candy here, which I got at Walmart this past Friday. What's really funny about this is that it was my 3rd trip to Walmart in the past week.. JUST TO GET THIS PINT. I don't think I've been to Walmart 3 times in 2013 before this. Shows you what a B&J will do for ya. Actually, this flavor was NOT in the usual Ben and Jerry's location, but rather on the side of the aisle and not the heavily-trafficked one, so the chances were that I wouldn't see it. Good for me that I was looking for other stuff and literally found this by accident.

In review (thus far)

So the 2013 flavors have been:
(Traditional channels) - Chocolate Peppermint Crunch, Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz, Pina Colada, Liz Lemon Yogurt, Honey Caramel Yogurt and Passionfruit Yogurt.
7-11 exclusive: Nutty Caramel Swirl
Walmart exclusive: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup
Walgreens exclusive: Truffle Trifecta

Upcoming seem to be Candy Bar Pie, which I've tried at a scoop shop and Scottish Blondie, which looks to be some version of Butterscotch.

This has been a GREAT year. Nutty Caramel Swirl is GREAT, Chocolate Peppermint Crunch and CCBB are really good - Truffle Trifecta is really good and the yogurts are unexpectedly good.

Well done, Vermonters.

Like Supporting Ireland and England

One of the things about the various B&J flavors that confuses me is the number of various box-store 'exclusive' flavors that exist.
There are exclusive flavors with 7-11, Walgreens, Target and Walmart. Having deals with both Target and Walmart is really capturing all points along the curve, Walmart being the hated thing of some Americans and Target fitting into a nice 'hipster' mindset. Interestingly, the best flavors (IMHO) are the Walmart ones - they seem to be very creatively thought out. What confuses me about all of these is the very little marketing that either B&J or the stores themselves do around these.. you'd think they would try to tell that customers (or potential ones).. hey, we have an exclusive flavor of the darling dessert-creator of many Americans.. come in and try it! Nope, nada, nothing.

My .02

Today, I was sent via the B&J spelunker site, an email asking me to rate some potential flavors and names. I love feeling like I'm contributing to the B&J universe in some small way.

One of the flavors was a raspberry-chocolate thing. Another one had peanut butter in its core surrounded by chocolate and the other was a caramel core with blondie and brownie pieces.

A few yrs ago, I received something similar and liked a Hot Chocolate-themed flavor. I think I recommended a flavor called Jimmy's Buffet, which would be a Key Lime Pie kind of flavor, the pun being Jimmy's association with Key West.

How did I miss that?

So, I went downstairs tonight to count how many flavors I've tried (I know, that's a number I should know like my SSN or Kiss Army membership number). I figured it was mid-90s and that this year's stock of new flavors would put me over 100
GASP! I'm at 99! Holy Cannoli was flavor #99 and my next one - (the unopened pint of Strawberry Shortcake Frozen Yogurt in the freezer) will be flavor #100.
How should I celebrate this? PR agency? Tweet? Alert Interpol? Wow.. this silly journey that started in April of 2002 and became a quest for 100 flavors will be ending within the week

2012 in Review So, this year, Ben and Jerry's released the following (new) flavors - the 4 Greek Yogurt flavors, re-releasing Chocolate Therapy, Chocolate Nougat Crunch, and renaming Bonnaroo buzz to Coffee and releasing Cannoli in October. After I try Cannoli, that will bring my total to 95. Will Ben and Jerry's release 5 flavors in 2013? I still have 2 unopened pints of Cannoli in the freezer and I am still to try 2 of the yogurt flavors. What gives? I think the combination of my wife's pregnancy, the baby, and dealing with 2 kids now (more overall sweets) has shaken things 180 degrees. I really need to try all of the 2012 flavors before the 2013 flavors arrive.

Holding Pattern

So, the big announcement from Vermont this year was the addition of the Greek Yogurt flavors. When I saw them for the first time, I bought them all and for a time, I had 7 pints in my freezer - the 4 Greeks, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Blueberry Cheesecake and Banana Cream Pie. Since then, my wife finished off the wonderful Banana flavor and I've dipped a little bit into the Punkin. Why I haven't as much as opened the Greek flavors, I don't know. My wife's pregnancy has seen her trying a variety of Graeater's chocolate chip flavors - regular, chocolate, strawberry, mocha and mint. Still to come are coconut and raspberry. The Cincy people are def trying to make their name in the choc-chip world.