While most of Front Porch's flavors are surrounded by a Southern theme, not many of their offerings incorporate chocolate. Of the 15 current offerings, Chocolate Rocker is the only pint that employs a rich chocolate ice cream as the base. Although a smorgasbord of chocolate ingredients can sometimes be overpowering, flavors like New Orleans Ice Cream Company's Mississippi Debris, Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Therapy and Private Selection's Denali Extreme Moose Tracks were all able to secure high scores.
Containing only 180 calories per serving, Chocolate Rocker is a lot less calorie dense than the aforementioned competition. Removing the brown rimmed lid reveals a lighter colored ice cream than I had expected. Front Porch has taken their rich chocolate ice cream and added a fudge swirl and chocolate truffles, many of which poke through the top of the pint. Grabbing the base first, I find that despite the rich adjective in front of the chocolate ice cream, this is a lot less overbearing than the chocolate bases used in other offerings. It was just mild enough to avoid the dry finish that many of the other chocolate on chocolate flavors seem to have.
If a company is going to incorporate chocolate mix-ins, I prefer this less-rich base to showcase the other ingredients. I would have loved to have seen this ice cream used in some of Front Porch's other offerings. Soon after fully appreciating the base, I begin to run across the fudge swirl. This lacked the liquid-like consistency of other swirls, but bordered on the same look and feel as the stiff fudge found in Private Selection's Denali Extreme Moose Tracks. The richness was taken up a notch, which complimented the chocolate ice cream efficiently.
Eventually I begin to encounter the chocolate truffles, which turned out to be the best part of the pint. Much richer than the previous two elements, these were much more dense than I had anticipated. Like the cake pieces in past Front Porch selections, these weren't going for authentic texture, but instead trying to incorporate as much flavor as possible inside. The chewy squares of chocolate enhanced every bite they managed to slide into. The overall feel wasn't quite as dense as Chocolate Rocker's competitors, but the result was one of Front Porch's most enjoyable offerings.
Where I Found It: Ingles Markets
Grade: B
