As a somewhat low key Disney fanboy and not so low key Salt & Straw fanboy I was completely puffed with joy when I read that the two would be collaborating for the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Very rarely does a smaller craft brand like S&S get the chance to work with one of the entertainment industry’s titans and I was genuinely excited not only for this release, but for what the relationship could mean in the future. I was so excited that I read the press release at least five times, and in fact, I think it’s so well written that I’m going to stop my intro here and just post the official description from a couple weeks ago:

“Pirates of the Chocolaty Caribbean captures the sweetness and spice of rum and toasted sugar flavor of the island spirit by infusing a caramel ice cream with cinnamon, allspice, orange peel, cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, and star anise. The real magic of this caramel spiced rum ice cream is the one-of-a-kind chocolate inside—single-origin chocolate from Trinidad, sourced locally from Bar Au Chocolat, studded with pop rocks that go off like pirate cannons between your teeth. Dig into the true flavor of the Caribbean in every scoop!”

Of course, this was a super limited time offering, only available at ONE shop in Los Angeles, but somehow, through the goodwill and kindness of Kim and Tyler at Salt & Straw, I was able to acquire a pint and give it a taste for the skillet.

By Salt & Straw standards this base is incredibly subdued, and for my personal tastes, a bit too mellow. When I read the description of all the spices going into the ice cream my heart lit up, but they’re much harder to detect than I had anticipated. Usually with S&S when they say something is in the flavor it is IN it and always executed with intense finesse but here I had to really search for any prominent spicy notes.

The ice cream is incredibly smooth and rich with a soft caramel essence that isn’t too sweet and finishes with a lovely buttery flavor that accentuates the high quality dairy like a well balanced sweet cream. There is the slightest touch of cinnamon and nutmeg at the end but even that is very subtle, with no star anise, cloves or cardamon to be found. There also isn’t any boozy rum flavor going on, which given the description of “caramel spiced rum ice cream” would have been really nice to taste; although I get the feeling the spices were supposed to emulate rum rather than alcohol being a prominent flavor.

What works wonderfully in this flavor is the pop rock studded dark chocolate, which delivers on everything it promised to be. It’s incredibly dark and bitter with tons of small pop rocks that immediately start sizzling the second I chomp into them; and it really does feel like cannons going off in my mouth. The chocolate is integrated in broken thin sheets and dispersed throughout the pint with perfection – some small shards of chocolate and some big chunks that keep each bite slightly different in bitterness and crunch. It’s a funny juxtaposition to put such a novelty candy into high quality single origin chocolate but it works beautifully, adding excitement to every bite.

While I wish this ice cream had a true spiced rum base to compliment the very well executed chocolate, I can’t deny that it is still an incredibly well made and delicious product. All of the more interesting ingredients fall to the background and simply temper the sweetness of the caramel for a more grown-up spin on flavors that are very familiar to ice cream aficionados. In all honesty this is just a very high quality and slightly elevated chocolate chip ice cream, and a damn good one at that.

Rating: 7.5/10
Found at: Salt & Straw Los Angeles