I scream, u scream, we all scream for rankings

[Dan King]

I've made my own ice cream numerous times. I've also sampled many different ice creams. I'd say I'm an expert on ice cream.

As a service to those of you who aren't ice cream experts, I've compiled a ranking of my favorite flavors at Baskin-Robbins. (There are much better ice creams out there, but Baskin-Robbins lists their flavors on their web site.) You can print out this list and take it with you the next time you go to Baskin-Robbins so you can go for the best flavors, and not have to sample inferior flavors.

Enjoy:

 1. World Class® Chocolate
 2. Pralines 'n Cream
 3. Chocolate Fudge
 4. Gold Medal Ribbon
 5. X-Treme Berry Sherbet
 6. Rocky Road
 7. Orange Sherbet
 8. Red Raspberry Sherbet
 9. Nutty Coconut
10. Baseball Nut
11. Oreo® X-MINT
12. Very Berry Strawberry
13. Old Fashion Butter Pecan
14. Pistachio Almond
15. Macadamia Nut
16. Chocolate
17. Cherries Jubilee
18. Mint Choclate Chip
19. Rainbow Sherbet
20. Jamoca Almond Fudge
21. Chocolate Chip
22. Reese's® Peanut Butter Cup
23. Jamoca
24. French Vanilla
25. Blueberry Cheesecake
26. Oreo® Cookies 'n Cream
27. Vanilla
28. Strawberry Cheesecake
29. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
30. Peanut Butter 'n Chocolate
31. Pink Bubblegum

Don't worry about my bias, the only important information is that I'm an expert on ice cream.

Dan King

"We dare not trust our wit for making our house pleasant to our friend, so we buy ice cream."
 --Ralph Waldo Emerson

[Tom_Doak]

Dan:

World Class Chocolate is my favorite flavor too!

I don't know why they even bother with a lot of the flavors at the bottom of your list.  I guess some people just aren't as sophisticated as we are.

I've heard a rumor that 99% of ice cream eaters don't care about flavor at all, but that could be wrong.

[ed_getka]

Ben&Jerry's Rainforest Crunch is my all-time favorite. I don't think they make it anymore (Sierra Club probably got after them, since they have Rainforest in the name .

[Jeff Fortson]

Dan,

Mint Chocolate Chip....... #18

are you kidding me?

Mint Chocolate Chip at Baskin Robbins is by far the best flavor of ice cream anywhere in the world.

Jeff F.

[Dan Kelly]

B-R's best flavor isn't even on the list!

I don't know that they make/serve it anymore. It was probably just TOO GOOD for Joe Sixpack and Mary Wineglass.

It is (was?) Mandarin Chocolate -- Mandarin, as in Orange.

Better than NGLA, without a doubt.

Of course, I've never seen NGLA, so I could be BIASED.

I wonder one thing, though: How much, really, can you tell about an ice cream merely from photographs?

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Some really great flavors on that list Dan. The last Ice Cream I had was with Pat Mucci, Tim Weiman, and Geoff Childs at Garden City, and it was pretty good.

I'll give five of my B-R favorites, which I really dont' get to have much anymore. (I've got a couple doctors looking after me that will tear me apart if I do!)

Believe it or not,Vanilla is at the top of my list. Why? because it is the ice cream of purists!:) But here are five more:

1.Rocky Road
2.Choclate Chip Cookie Dough
3.Pistachio Almond
4.Reese's Peanut Butter Cup
5.French Vanilla

[Mike Benham]

Mint Chocolate Chip at Baskin Robbins is by far the best flavor of ice cream anywhere in the world.

Jeff F.

Sorry Jeff, I have to go with B&R MCC's cousin, Chocolate Chip as my #1 flavor and manufacturer. MCC is #4 ...

1.  B&R Chocolate Chip
2.  Spumoni - Berkeley Farms is not to bad ...
3.  B&R Rocky Road
4.  B&R  Mint Chocolate Chip
5.  Foremost - Party Parfait (NLA)

And doesn't everyone love B&Rs "Two Pre-Pack Quarts for $ 5" special?  I get my Chocolate Chip and the wife gets her Peanut Butter 'n Chocolate

And what is it with Spumoni and Italian Resturuants?  Isn't Spumoni Italian? (it is), so why is it that most Italian resturuants don't have it on the dessert menu?  Am I the only one who worry's about this?

[George Pazin]

The true cogniscenti will seek out the Creamery at State College for the best in ice cream.

[Ken_Cotner]

You're all wrong...it's homemade peach (from peaches right off the tree) at Ben's Produce on highway 211 outside of Pinehurst.

Ken, who had to pass on breakfast today after hitting Ben's last night.

[John_Conley]

Dan:  

My Baskin-Robbins rankings have PB&C #1.

Here are my top 5 ice creams:

#1 - Byerly's (Minnesotans and some others can vouch for this world-class grocer) Licorice.  Not many make a licorice ice cream and I doubt anyone could do it this well.
#2 - Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia.  Grocery versions also allow for a yogurt lower in fat content and easier to digest.
#3 - Ben & Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk if you like Chocolate overkill.
#4 - Bubble Gum.  "From where?" is the question.  The most fickle of flavors, I prefer mine with no gum bits polluting my savory cream.  A cone will break down the gum and cause problems in the mouth and most of the gums - once frozen - don't recover well anyway.  For this reason, I'll take my bubble gum - blue or pink is fine - with no gum bits.
#5 - Baskin Robbins Peanut Butter & Chocolate.  I think Haagen Dazs also folds the peanut butter ripple in the ice cream, so you can substitute that here.

[John_Conley]

Top 5 soups:

#1 Byerly's Wild Rice.  Unquestionably the best soup in the world with almond slivers and ample chicken chunks.
#2 Chez Vincent's Cream of Mjushroom.
#3 Chili's Roasted Corn Chowder with a dab of chili oil on top.
#4 Carraba's Italian Sausage.  I actually think it is called something else.  That spicy sausage rocks.
#5 Lobster Bisque from any of a number of places.

[A_Clay_Man]

Do those "ice creams" which really aren't ice cream, count as real ice cream?

Aren't they manufactured with things other than cream, additive of choice, and below a certain temperature? You know, those cups or frosty malt's that are only cold but lack any real flavor.

My favorite is Gelato'! Tartufu, if you must know.

[David Wigler]

Dan,

Clearly your bias shows.  I must suspect that some World Class Chocolate type offered you free ice cream and a hat.  Baskin Robbins has only one flavor - Mint Chocolate Chip.  The other flavors are filler, nothing more, nothing less.  MCC is the Pine Valley and NGLA all wrapped into one.  I can possibly accept Pralenes 'n Cream as a legitamate flavor as well (Perhaps the CPC of this debate) but the rest are nothing more than modern rip offs.

[Scott_Burroughs]

#1 = Chocolate Fudge - the richest chocolate anything you'll ever eat...and I love it.

#2 = Chocolate - still richer than any other chocolate ice cream on earth, except #1 above.

#3 = Fudge Brownie (I see a pattern) - not a regular BR flavor, but a 'special' flavor they bring out once or twice a year.  It's Chocolate Fudge ice cream, with brownie bits and nuts.  I don't like nuts in ice cream, so take them out and this would be at #2/co-#1.

#4 = Chocolate Chip - like the small-but-plentiful chips.

can't really rate the rest.  Cookie dough is OK, because Edy's/Dreyer's Cookie Dough is the best.  Almost 1 bite of cookie dough per bite.  All others have less than half that amount.

However, overall Edy/Dreyer's has better ice cream than BR.  Better and more imaginative 'different' flavors and the best vanilla around.  Edy's Girl Scout Cookie ice cream rocks.  Imagine thin mints in ice cream form.  I don't like mint chocolate chip ice cream, but this one adds much more chocolate flavor.


Also, BR's 2 for $5 is no longer.  Inflation has hit and it's now 2 for $6.  

[Andy_Lipschultz]

From age 16 to 18 I worked at a Baskin-Robbins and at the end of that tenure, I was so sick of ice cream (even the smell of it) that I had no desire for it whatsoever, except for one flavor: Mint Chocolate Chip

P.S. With Daiquiri Ice in the runner-up spot.

[Peter Galea]

Marianne's in Santa Cruz, 5 minutes from Pasatiempo serves the best ice cream I've had. Peanut butter and chocolate, #1 on my list.

[Mike Benham]

Marianne's in Santa Cruz, 5 minutes from Pasatiempo serves the best ice cream I've had. Peanut butter and chocolate, #1 on my list.

Good call Pete - Marianne's also has the Bubble Gum flavor that John Conley was looking for ... blue ice cream and whole gum balls ...

[Mike Hendren]

Any brand/purveyor other than Baskins-Robbins is the equivalent of the CCFAD.  Having said that, jamoca almond fudge at #20 is a tragedy.  Perhaps the list should be split into the Classics (original 31) and Moderns so JAF can get its just due.  

Now that Doak has seconded World Class Chocolate as no. one, all of his lackeys on this site will fall in line.  Another railroad job just like Paul Turner rigging the Dead Architect Survivor Series so that Colt would win.  Heaven forbid if Bill Coore or Ben Crenshaw weigh in.  

For what it's worth, there's a BR Bar right across the street from my new office in the Mayberryesque town of Franklin, Tennessee.  I'm headed over there this afternoon to debunk the World Class Chocolate rating.  

I shall report back.

Regards,

Mike

[Dan Kelly]

Jamoca almond fudge at #20 is a tragedy.

Inquiring minds want to know: Is it the Greatest Tragedy in Ice Cream?

For what it's worth, there's a BR Bar right across the street from my new office in the Mayberryesque town of Franklin, Tennessee.  I'm headed over there this afternoon to debunk the World Class Chocolate rating.  

I shall report back.

Would you kindly ask them if Mandarin Chocolate is still on the omnibus flavors list -- or if it is, alas, NLE?

THAT would be the Greatest Tragedy in Ice Cream.

[Michael Dugger]

I've always been inclined towards B & J's Chubby Hubby.  It's something about the way 'peanut butter filled fudge covered pretzels' rolls off the tongue.

Also, just out, B & J's OATMEAL chocolate chip cookie dough.  I've tried it and it is simply off the hook!!  

[John_Conley]

Good call Pete - Marianne's also has the Bubble Gum flavor that John Conley was looking for ... blue ice cream and whole gum balls ...

Mike:

Works very well.  You can set aside the gumballs, polish off the cup or cone, and go back to the gum.  I'll look Marianne up if ever in the area.

[Mike Hendren]

FWIW:

World Class Chocolate was introduced in 1984.  Jamoca almond fudge in 1959 - a Classic by Golfweek's definition

Mike

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Redanman,
Thanks for reminding me about Bing Cherry. It belongs on my list right below vanilla!

Somehow I feel that someone is going to ruin this thread with talk of bias!

Pat Mucci: TEPaul, how disingenious of you to suggest that Baskin Robbin is in the same class as Ben & Jerry's!

-What is the B&R mission statement?
-What kind of ice cream did they intend to produce?
-Who headed the ice cream making team and supervised manufacturing as well as packaging

Tom Macwood: In researching Baskin & Robbins, I have found out that Ben & Jerry actually never produced ice cream, it was actually Baskin Robbins in a label that said Ben & Jerry's. I'll bet you a million dollars you didn't know that.

Pat Mucci: Tom Macwood, until you have actually tried Ben & Jerry's, you are nil from the subject. You see, I know Ben AND Jerry, having played the La Boca Vista Four Ball Invitational with them and Bert Convey before he passed. They have told me on several occasions that they produce ice cream. Bert's favorite flavor was Chunkey Monkey.

Tom Paul: Great Pat, Tom Macwood comes up with excellent research on Mr. Baskin and Mr. Robbin's to Ben and Jerry, and you refute it again and again. But I just got done talking to my mother, and she told me my father knew Baskin and Robbins and Max Behr, and all of them together came-up with the recipe for what is now known as World Class Choclate.

It was then I realized that, only after my mother reminded me that we used to summer with the B's & R's on the East End of the Island during my summers home from boarding school. They were a great family.

Now this is bias talk I could handle!:)

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Opps! I left it out in the car!

[Mike Benham]

... Bert Convey before he passed.

Whoa ... when did that happen?