In the bygone days of the classic soda fountain, the peanuts used to make this old favorite were poured out of cans, and the sound was similar to rain landing on a tin roof, hence the name of this classic flavor. Blue Bell's version, part of their winter seasonal rotation, consists of Vanilla ice cream with a rich chocolate fudge swirl and roasted peanuts dipped in dark chocolate. Since I love Blue Bell's base vanilla and they usually do a good job with swirls and mix-ins, I was eager to try their version.
Peeling off the lid of the half-gallon tub, I was greeted with maybe the most impressive initial sight I've ever seen in an ice cream flavor. The bottom of the lid and the top surface of the ice cream was literally a solid mass of thick chocolate fudge! Dipping my finger in for a quick taste, this swirl is much more of a syrup than a thick ribbon, and its taste is much more on the chocolate side than fudge. It tasted like someone had poured Hershey's chocolate syrup over the vanilla ice cream, and since I love the taste of chocolate syrup, that was fine by me!
The rest of the ice cream doesn't disappoint either. Blue Bell's version of tin roof is a knockout: The vanilla base provides a tasty foundation for the rich pools of chocolate syrup, which is abundantly provided throughout the tub. Time after time, as you work your way down the tub, just as you seem to have exhausted the syrup and appear to be looking at a white mass of vanilla ice cream, your spoon plunges through this vanilla surface and into another thick pool of this delicious syrup. Even better, the ice cream is chock-full of the chocolate-coated peanuts! These peanuts range in size from small bit to large full-sized nuts, and their dark-chocolate coating adds another potent flavor to the medium-chocolate taste of the syrup. From beginning to end, every bite consists of a spoonful of vanilla ice cream riddled with a few chocolate-coated peanuts and dripping with chocolate syrup. That tasted great to me, and I bet it would to you too!
Where Steve Found It: Target
Steve's Grade: A