With a magnitude of musician-motivated flavors, Ben & Jerry's adds to their free-spirited reputation with Phish Food, inspired by the genial jam-band, Phish. Alongside Cherry Garcia, Willie Nelson's Country Peach Cobbler, Imagine Whirled Peace and Bonnaroo Buzz, along with limited edition offerings of Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road, Magic Brownies and Bohemian Raspberry, Phish Food rounds out a musical lineup that could keep crowds cheering for centuries.
This whimsical, underwater seascape sits around, "Chocolate Ice Cream with Gooey Marshmallow Swirls, Caramel Swirls & Fudge Fish." This is one of those flavors, as many others in the Ben & Jerry's lineup, that can't be bad. With classic combinations like chocolate, marshmallow, caramel and more chocolate, this is guaranteed to taste great. Removal of the top revealed a mouthwatering melody of chocolate ice cream with slight suspicion of the marshmallow, fudge and caramel lurking below.
I've always swallowed Ben & Jerry's chocolate base hook, line and sinker, so I wasn't surprised with my fondness with Phish Food after the first bite. The chocolate ice cream remains commendable across Ben & Jerry's entire lineup and this is no exception. It's smooth, decadent and just rich enough to come up short of overpowering. But it's not long before other parts of the orchestra begin operating their instruments.
After just a few scoops off the top layer, I find myself neck-deep in delicious debris. The marshmallow swirl swims spastically around this ice cream aquarium. It shares the same sticky consistency as the interior of a fire-roasted mallow. Stringy and sticking to my face, I seek out the marshmallow swirl, trying to incorporate a bit into each bite, which isn't hard considering the amount of this stuff. The caramel rip-curl wasn't quite as prevalent, but came into play just about the time it had slipped my mind. Then came the feeding frenzy of hunger-eating, fudge fish.
Reminiscent of other fudge flaked flavors, the fact that these were fish-shaped slightly sets this apart. Sure, they're just chocolate, but this school of cocoa chunks in this container are an improvement over the standard rectangular bars. It doesn't effect the taste, but little touches like this are part of the reason we love the bizarre benevolence of Ben & Jerry's. The chocolate and marshmallow combination is a mouthwatering tagteam. Add in hints of caramel and chocolate candy and you've got a pint-sized predator. This classic cast of characters causes tastebuds across the country to clap at the conclusion of this ice cream. Ben & Jerry's attempted to increase the creativity with the band-inspired name and fish-shaped fudge, but I wish they would have been a bit more creative with the ingredients inside.
Where I Found It: Ingles Markets
Grade: B
