Even though Humphry Slocombe co-founder and ice cream maestro Jake Godby isn’t a big fan himself, he really knows how to make a great pumpkin ice cream.

The base is exceptionally smooth and creamy with an immediate authentic yammy pumpkin flavor that jumps to the front of the profile mellowed by rich sweet cream. The flavor is augmented by just the right amount of spice with notes of cinnamon and nutmeg but nothing too noticeably aggressive like cloves or black pepper. It’s beautifully balanced and super satisfying just like the pumpkin creations of Slocombe’s past.

I love sweet and salty and especially love pretzels in ice cream (hello Glampfire Trailmix, let’s date xo). Toss some white chocolate into the mix, which generally pairs with pumpkin spiced things more organically than dark, and it’s game over. The pretzels bring a nice toothy texture and yeasty crunch to nearly every bite. Super dense mix-ins aren’t always Slocombe’s strong suit but they did not mess around with this flavor and brought the chunk-age. Some of the white chocolate is still on the pretzel pieces, but a lot of it has flaked off and acts almost as a secondary mix-in, bringing little extra bursts of sweetness to the fantastic base.

The only issue with this pint is the texture of the pretzels. As is the case with a lot of crunchy-in-cream components, a lot of the pieces are soggy and feel more stale than fresh and crumbly. However, even though it would be better if they were fully covered and kept their crunch like Ben & Jerry’s Chubby Hubby, somehow it doesn’t take away from the experience and I still really like it. Maybe it’s because of the context, but the pretzel pieces here are more interesting than Talenti or 711’s crust pieces and much more prominent than in Ben & Jerry’s Pumpkin Cheesecake. The squashy spiced ice cream gives those less-than-perfect pretzel’s a convincingly affectionate autumnal hug and I’m completely swooning over this scoop.

Rating: 9/10

Found at: Humphry Slocombe ($9.99)