Round 1 Results - Left Bracket
Results from the four first round matches on the left side of the bracket! Plus post-match commentary!
The results for the left side of the bracket are in! Post match commentary from me (Heath) and friend of the blog, Adrian.1 Let’s get into it!
Matchup: Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia vs. Van Leeuwen’s Earl Grey Tea
Judges: The K-U Family
Verdict: Cherry Garcia
“The Earl Grey Tea ice cream was beloved by one member of our family, who described it as “elegant and floral with good mouthfeel and texture.” Others were less impressed, describing it as “too floral” and “soapy.”
The Cherry Garcia had a great mix of flavors. Plentiful and well interspersed cherries and chocolate. Surprisingly good smoothness of ice cream for a chunky ice cream. A classic, reminiscent of childhood.
Cherry Garcia is the winner!”
Post Match Commentary:
Heath: So for me, I was not surprised by this result. I feel like Cherry Garcia is this classic flavor—which, I should mention, I've never had and feels like something I should remedy soon.
Adrian: Yeah, it's one of the signatures of the Ben & Jerry's line. It put Ben & Jerry’s on the map.
Heath: Exactly. So it feels like it's a really popular, well-known flavor with a great chance of winning. And though I appreciated the choice of Earl Grey Tea from Van Leeuwen, it felt like a little bit of a bold, or even risky choice, because Earl Grey tea just isn't a classic ice cream flavor that that most people are going to necessarily go for. I'm sure it's good but, it didn't surprise me that Cherry Garcia won.
Adrian: You're unsurprised. Interesting. I mean, I think using tea is a cool idea for ice cream. Like green tea is like the big one that emerged when I was growing up. But overall, I think fruit is usually going to beat a lot of the herbalicious stuff in ice cream. Just because of the process. You know what I mean?
Heath: Yeah. I agree.
Matchup: Straus Cookies and Cream vs. Tillamook Mudslide
Judges: The C-H Family
Verdict: Tillamook Mudslide
“We buy a lot of Cookies and Cream, so I thought our family would like that one better. However, Tillamook Mudslide won unanimously. The ice cream was very creamy and smooth, and the fudge swirl was extra chocolate-y. The Strauss Cookies and Cream was a little icy - both the ice cream and the cookies were oddly crunchy. Also, our youngest just announced that he doesn't even like Cookies and Cream. Suspicious, because he eats a lot of Oreos. Congrats to Tillamook Mudslide!”
Post Match Commentary:
Heath: I thought the judgment from the family was pretty funny, especially the part that the youngest announced that he doesn't like cookies and cream even though he eats a lot of Oreos. I just found that pretty funny. Anyway, what are your thoughts about this?
Adrian: Well, what's inside a mudslide?
Heath: So the Tillamook mudslide is a chocolate ice cream with chocolate mix-ins, fudge and chocolate chips to be exact.
Adrian: Oh, so it's just like a fancy chocolate, chocolate chip?
Heath: Yeah, I guess.
Adrian: You know, I would’ve put this one up as a toss-up. There was a time when when cookies and cream was my favorite flavor. But it actually shows a lot that the kid that likes Oreos still opted against it because against triple chocolate? It's a hard thing to dislike. You know, it's kind of like, you can't go wrong, especially for something like ice cream. In terms of the kid thing, every kid goes through a chocolate phase, but not every kid goes through an Oreo phase. So that's just it right there, you know?
Heath: Yeah, that makes sense. You know, this one struck me as an upset only because going in, I guess I was a little biased in favor of Straus. They make really good ice cream. And they seem fancier or more higher-end than Tillamook, which strikes me more as a mass produced brand. I'm not saying that’s bad, but…
Adrian: That's an interesting take. They're both dairies. They're both dairy names first.
Heath: True, but I feel like Straus is a bit more artisan and Tillamook is a little more corporate. So in my mind, I was thinking, no way Tillamook is going to win. The Straus pint is going to win.
Straus: Well Straus is a local Bay Area dairy, but Tillamook is also regional. It’s a Portland small batch dairy.
Heath: Really? I didn’t realize that.
Adrian: Yep, this is a matchup of the Pacific Dairy Titans!
Heath: The Pacific Dairy Titans!
Adrian: Well, maybe small, not Titans. Like, Small, artisanal Pacific dairies.
Matchup: Jeni’s High Five Candy Bar vs. Salt & Straw’s Salted, Malted Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Judges: The A - S Family
Verdict: Salt & Straw’s Salted, Malted Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
“We ended up voting 2-1 for the Salt and Straw. This pint had a creamy texture, a pronounced and appealing malt flavor, and the right balance of salt and sweet and rich chocolate. The Jeni’s was, by contrast, a sugary bomb. The flavor was fine and the chocolate-covered pretzels a welcome crunchy contrast. But just pretty cloying to me and K. Not even close (unless you’re my daughter, lol)”
Post Match Commentary:
Heath: All right, so this next one, this one seemed to me like a battle of Duke versus North Carolina. You have Jeni's, which is very high end, expensive pints and all that, and Salt & Straw, which is also a very high-end, expensive pint kind of place. Both are like these sort of high-end, boutique ice cream makers that have gone national.
Adrian: Yeah, boutique ice cream for sure.
Heath: I haven't tried either of these flavors, so I can't comment, but this felt like a matchup of two really strong contenders and Salt & Straw won out. It sounds like amongst the two adults judging, they were all in on Salt & Straw. But the child, not so much. I've been making a lot of like ice cream using the Salt & Straw method, so I was happy to see them win, but I also really like Jeni’s method of making ice cream.
Adrian: I mean, these both sounded like an interesting flavors. Some of the most highly crafted, for sure. But in the end, though, reading this, it made me think about Parents versus Kids. You know, it's funny how we call it a democracy.
Heath (laughing): Yeah
Adrian: But there's the voting block, especially in a three-person family, the voting block is strong. If you’re the kid, it's like, what are you going to do? You just like things that are full of sugar! And your parents are like, “No.” If it was in a household with three kids, it might be a different story. Three on two might be different!
Heath: Indeed. But Salt & Straw wins the Battle of Boutique Ice Creams.
Matchup: Talenti Roman Raspberry Sorbet vs. Straus Mint Chip
Judges: The C-W Family
Verdict: Straus Mint Chip (notes below from sixth grader in the family)
“TALENTI'S ROMAN RASPBERRY
Pros:
Excellent creamy texture, melts thick and jammy.
Real raspberry taste, very highlighted
Cons:
Too much sugar, felt kind of crazy later.
Not that complex, just one note.
Raspberry flavor is too strong for us.
STRAUSS'S MINT CHIP
Pros:
Nice elegant mint flavor, subtle and natural. Complemented by light vanilla flavor.
Good creamy texture, but not too heavy.
Cons:
Chocolate Chips don't taste very chocolatey. They also disrupt smooth creamy texture, not a good mouthfeel.
Winner: Straus Mint Chip”
Post Match Commentary:
Heath: All right, last one. Talenti Roman Raspberry Sorbet versus Straus Mint Chip. I should mention the verdict here was written by the sixth grader in the family that judged. I texted with the dad, and he told me it was very close, but they all thought Mint Chip was the winner.
Adrian: I'm a fan. I'm a fan of this one.
Heath: Go ahead! What are your thoughts?
Adrian: Mint Chip is one of my all-time favorites and I love it because it's simple. It's like a it's almost like a chocolate chip, but you just add that little extra twist, you know? So it's got the bare minimum of ingredients but it still comes out really special. Raspberry sounds good. It's just—and I know I'm going against what I said earlier with the Earl Gray in terms of fruit and ice cream seeming like a natural combo— something about mint chip is just perfect. You know, and it's funny because I don't expect this to go too far [in the tournament] given that some people have this weird thing with mint. They're like mint, that's like toothpaste. And I'm like, toothpaste tastes good! That's why they put mint in toothpaste!
Heath (laughing): Yeah!
Adrian: But some people have an anti-mint thing. But I'm a big fan of mint and I feel like Straus Mint Chip has got to be really good.
Heath: I feel similar. I really like Mint Chip. It's one of my favorite flavors to make at home with fresh mint. The chocolate and mint combination is so good. But also, I feel a little bit bad about the sorbets in the competition. It seems to me that sorbets are at a little bit of a disadvantage. Not because sorbets aren't good, it's just that if you were to offer me a bowl of raspberries versus a bowl of milk, I'd almost always choose the bowl of raspberries. But when you put those raspberries into sorbet form versus putting the dairy into ice cream form, I’m going for ice cream. There’s just something about the creaminess of ice cream that for me, and I think for a lot of people, just puts sorbet at a disadvantage. I think ice cream strikes people as more delicious and more appealing.
Adrian: Yeah, it speaks and it plays to the expectation of the palette. I think that's the hard part. That's why a really impressive sorbet is like even that much more amazing, because it has the extra step to overcome.
Heath: Agree.
Adrian: It reminds me of that one that you made. The sorbet that you made that was, was it lemon? Oh my gosh. I remember thinking like, “what is happening here?” you know?
Heath: Oh, the yuzu sorbet. It was the yuzu.
Adrian: Yes! And I think that that speaks to just our expectations with sorbet. And sure, maybe there's a future where sorbet wins. There's this whole debate about milk within the younger generations like is milk good. One side says milk is good. The other says, no milk is bad. So maybe someday people are going to be like, “we should just be eating sorbet the whole time. That's probably healthy. That's probably definitely good for everyone.”
Heath (laughing): That would be something.
Adrian: Yeah. Sorbet could be the shape of the future!
Thanks to all the families for judging the first round, and to Adrian for helping me with post-match commentary! I’ll be back tomorrow with the results from the right side of the bracket, along with commentary from Young Whan, another friend of the blog. See you then!
All of the commentary is off the cuff, so forgive us for the tangents!
The commentary is a delight. I do feel like this reminds me of the Westminster dog show - when they have to pick the best one out of all those dogs that don't even seem comparable.
Wow great post would 100% subscribe to this podcast. RIP earl grey!