Adirondack Bear Paw
Vanilla flavored ice cream with cashew butter toffee pieces
Date Tried - September 29th, 2022
Location - Home, alone at the kitchen counter, post-lunch
Format - Half Gallon
Milkshake It? - No
Buy Again? - No
One of the difficult aspects of this challenge is that a fair number of the flavors on the list are only offered in the half gallon container. A half gallon of ice cream is a big consumption commitment, not to mention the valuable freezer real estate that it takes up. But when trying every flavor is the goal, one can’t let these inconvenient truths get in the way. If half gallons must be purchased, they might as well be cheaper than usual.
Cue the “Flavor of the Week” promotion!
Each week, three half gallon flavors go on sale. And while this is likely just a way for them to move some unwanted product, this handy gimmick has helped provide a little structure to the randomness that otherwise has been driving this endeavor.
Adirondack Bear Paw was not a flavor that had come into my orbit before going on sale this past week. This is surprising on account of the fact that I love vanilla-based ice cream flavors and toffee (the latter of which is a result of my former career at Dairy Queen.) But here’s the thing: I won’t buy this flavor again for a couple reasons.
First off, there is a prominent caramel swirl. This is fine, but it is flat out not advertised. Unlike all the other flavors I have reviewed thus far with swirls, crumbles or waves, this caramel swirl is completely ignored in the flavor description on the side of the box. Sure, if you pull up Adirondack Bear Paw on the Stewart’s website (or read the photo caption above), you’ll find a more fleshed out description that touts “gooey caramel swirls on a panorama of vanilla perfection.” And suuure, the swirl can be seen in the photo or located in the ingredients list, but in the words of the Dalai Lama, “A lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity.”
So maybe this is a personal problem…
Anyhow, this website description—complete with two bear puns—hits the nail on the head: the caramel is gooey, overpowering and, to use their proprietary term, un”bear”able. Toffee is caramelized sugar; it is as fundamentally basic and sweet as candy comes. But its simplistic beauty is lost whilst swimming in a polluted ocean of vanilla ice cream that tastes more like a cut-rate dulce de leche.
And this brings me to point number two: Stewart’s had the guts to show restraint here and use a simple vanilla base. But the vanilla ice cream of Adirondack Bear Paw has been strong-armed out of the picture by the aforementioned caramel. As one of the great defenders of vanilla, I say that this aggression will not stand!
Adirondack bears can use their paws to swipe at this one all they want.
I’m swiping left.