July is National Ice Cream Month!

And July 16th (today) is National Ice Cream Day!

To celebrate this momentous occasion, Graeter's Ice Cream (my personal favorite) is offering customers single dip cones today for $1.47. Why that specific price? Because this year Graeter's is 147 years old. If you're a July birthday baby, too, you can get $1.47 scoops all month long. Lucky.

Graeter's will also be unveiling two Summer Bonus Flavors in July. On the 10th we got Peanut Brittle; the next flavor will be announced on July 24. August 7th and 21st will also be Bonus Flavor Days. Check out their Facebook page for flavor announcements.

An additional flavor will be released in July that will only be available at the Cincinnati Zoo.

So what are you waiting for? Go hit up your local Graeter's and get your celebratory scoop. And have one for me - we don't have Graeter's in Baltimore (although we can buy it in a few supermarkets by the pint).

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



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National Root Beer Float Day

National Root Beer Float Day is Saturday, August 6th. I know I can use any old root beer and ice cream combo to make a tasty drink, what really floats my boat (see what I did there?) is one made with the boozy Not Your Father's Root Beer and Graeter's Ice Cream. Mmmm....Graeter's. (My favorite!)

While Graeter's Madagascar Vanilla Bean ice cream is perfect for a root beer float, so is their salted caramel flavor. I think so anyway. It adds just the right amount of salt to cut some of the sweetness. One of their chocolate flavors would be great too, but maybe not one with chocolate chips as they'd plug up your straw and impede the flow of root beer+ice cream to your gullet. And we can't have that.

Honestly, I don't know why Small Town Brewery calls their product, "Not Your Father's Root Beer," because my Dad will definitely drink it! It's an ale that tastes exactly like root beer - sweet, with the typical root beer melange of wintergreen/ sarsparilla/ vanilla/ anise notes, but it's 5.9% ABV. In any case, it's an alcoholic beverage, so don't give it to your kids. And please drink responsibly.

For those of you lucky enough to be living in states where ice cream and alcohol can be purchased in the same store, you can pick up pints of Graeter's and six-packs of Not Your Father's Root Beer at places like Kroger, Giant Eagle, and Harris Teeter. Then you can rush right home and make yourself a sweet treat. Even luckier people who have a Graeter's Scoop Shop (and can get fresh Graeter's ice cream any time they want - my dream) in their town can get someone else to make a root beer float for them in a branded commemorative mug. Here in Maryland, you have visit two stores (for example, Dulaney Wines and Spirits is a couple doors down from The Fresh Market in Towson) to get your boozy root beer float supplies, but heck, Graeter's is so tasty, it's worth any minor hassles you might face to obtain some.

If you do indulge, take a pic of your drink and post it on Instagram. Don't forget to use the tag #nationalrootbeerfloatday, and you can tag me, too, @Daminxy1, while you're at it so I can see your posts.

* Products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



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Graeter's Ice Cream

Mr Minx and I love ice cream. Loooooooooove it. We could eat it every day, but (usually) limit it to a weekend treat. This past weekend's treat was a sampling of four flavors of Graeter's ice cream, courtesy of the lovely people at Graeter's.

Graeter's, from Cincinnati, Ohio, is a super premium ice cream made with the French pot method. A French pot is not so different from the type of home ice cream maker many of us own, comprising a freezable liquid-filled metal liner, plastic outer casing, and a lid with a crank. In this type of machine, as the liquid base freezes onto the sides of the liner, it is scraped off with the paddle attached to the crank. This technique doesn't allow for much air to get whipped into the cream, so the end result is dense and rich.

Graeter's is definitely dense and rich, and contains somewhere between 16-18% butterfat. No wonder it's so darn good. We got to try four flavors: black raspberry chip, vanilla chocolate chip, double chocolate chip, and mint chocolate chip. "Chip" is really a misnomer. "Slab" might be more accurate. Rather than mixing in bits and pieces of chocolate into their ice cream, Graeter's pours a melted chocolate into the pots. After it solidifies onto the frozen cream, a worker breaks it up and mixes it in, creating chewy chunks of chocolate.

Say that five times fast: creating chewy chunks of chocolate. I adored the chewy chunks of chocolate!

I couldn't tell you which of the four flavors is my favorite. The vanilla chocolate chip is well-balanced, flavor-wise, and not overly vanilla-y. The black raspberry chip has intense fruit flavor (and color), and the mint chocolate chip tastes like real mint. And while I'm not a huge fan of chocolate ice cream, unless it's home-made, Graeter's tastes pretty fine. And the chewy chunks of chocolate are a bonus in each flavor.

Looks like we might have to do another taste test tonight. And maybe tomorrow night. You know, just to make sure we really like it. (We do!)

Graeter's is now available in grocery stores all around the country, including Mars, Fresh Market, and Weis in the Baltimore area, but you can order it from their Web site, http://www.graeters.com.

* The  products in this post have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats.

Posted on Minxeats.com.