Whoo! Arlington, MA represent!

Brigham's HQ, located immediately behind Arlington High School was the perfect destination for the lazy class-skipper for many generations.

Fluffernutter icecream! yum!

When I lived in Arlington we went to a fieldtrip to the factory where they make the ice cream...good times.

My parents used to bring us to the HQ all the time, good food..no great food and HUGE cheap ice cream. Now im all nostalgic im gonna have to go back.

Sounds like I'm going to have to search for this.

Then again. I'm pretty fond of Central Dairy here in Missouri.

55% air! We're being ripped off! I'm calling David Horowitz and the FTC!

Knock on wood when you say such things.

Jason writes:

"I could be wrong, but I believe Blue Bell ice cream (the best IMO) is still sold in the original sizes. They sell Ice cream in pints and half gallons (I worked in one of this distribution freezers one summer while I was in college). People in the south will have no trouble finding Blue Bell."

Brig's restaurants have/had the best homefries EVER.

mmmmm, 55% air. I'll stick with Ben and Jerries, thanks.

Fluffernutter Ice Cream??? OMG, WANT

@Ben Popken:

You are right. Blue Bell is a little pricey,but they still sell real half gallons.

I do have one gripe about them,though. Even with the full half gallon,its still really hard to get your head in there to lick the bottom of the carton when you're done...

@meeroom: I'd settle for the sandwich at this point but that ice cream sounds tasty.

There are occasionally some things I miss about New England. This is one of them.

@B: you understand that ice cream is SUPPOSED to have a large percentage of air in it? This is what makes it creamy and brings out the flavor. Any old-fashioned ice cream would have an air percentage very similar to this, maybe higher. Even what you make at home should come out similarly.

Brigham's is absolutely DELICIOUS. And yes, the vanilla is godly. They're pretty much the only straight vanilla ice cream I can eat. Their "Just Jimmies" is my absolute favorite though.

@Sidecutter: All the homemade ice cream I've ever had has about 20% air in it, and tastes delicious, although it is harder to scoop. And that includes loal ice cream stands/shoppes that sell handmade ice cream. The only ice cream I've had with 50% or more is mass produced stuff.

Costco sells ice cream but you have to buy two half gallon tubs.

It is the BEST vanilla I've ever had too.

55% air? what?

Brigham's was giving away ice cream bars at their stores this year every day the Red Sox played a post-season game. I was rooting for them all to go seven.

Deceptive? While reducing the amount of product without reducing the amount of package is kind of a dick move, it's hardly malicious.

I like making my own ice cream. Even though it ends up costing more and it takes a while, the end results are usually much better than anything you can buy. I say usually, because you can also make any flavor of ice cream you can imagine, which has given way to some interesting but not really that tasty experiments at my apartment.
Also, I've always wanted to ask a girl to get some ice cream with me, but now I can say "hey, let's go MAKE some ice cream!" which will likely be followed by raised eyebrows and a slap to the face.

if you can't get Blue Bell in your area, you can do like we do and go to Outback Steak House just for the Blue Bell. If you have not had Blue Bell, you have my condolences. It is the closest thing to real Italian Gelato sold extensively in the US. In other words, they use more cream and less butter milk than anyone.

Number One in Salt Lake City, Utah!

I believe you mean they have 55% overrun which would mean 27.5% air.

To legally be called ice cream it can have a max 100% overrun, but if you are right that it has 55% air that would be 110% overrun and they could not call it ice cream.

27.5% air would put it at the low end of premium ice crams which have 10%-25% air.

@Photogdc: i never ever thought to check the air content in ice cream. maybe cuz i end up buying all of mine from places on the side of the road that have the cows who made the cream that's been iced right on the property.

totally know where i wanna be now...

@trujunglist: Yup. They think making ice cream is some kind of double entendre for making babies. Go figure.

According to the article below they are using 55% overrun not 55% air so they are legal and in the range of premium ice cream.

[findarticles.com]

@mikelotus: I did not know that Outback had Blue Bell. Thanks. It might be worth it to go there just for that as I'm going back to up north for the summer. :-(

i do sort of miss Brigham's ice cream, of all things to miss from the east coast.

also no icky high fructose corn syrup and it tastes like happy.

Is this an advertisement? On Consumerist? I mean, it has to be, right? There's various other products that haven't shrank either and we aren't talking about them.

Is fluffernutter really marshmallow and peanut butter? My Ex loved that stuff; ate it right of the tub. I never could get my head around it, but that's just me.

@Snarkysnake: Blue Bell is well worth the price, and is probably about the same as the breyers/edys. I don't think I'll ever buy another brand at the store again...

Can someone explain overrun?

Comment on Brigham's Ice Cream Never Shrank Likewise, Blue Bell Ice Cream (the third largest ice cream producer in the United States) still sells by the half-gallon bucket. In fact, their label says in bold letters "Still 1/2 Gallon!". I just bought a bucket half an hour ago (mmmm, pecan praline).

@katylostherart: Yeah! Can you believe these people actually buy their ice cream from GROCERY STORES?? I'd go on, but I have to go write a blog post about how awesome the beet selection was yesterday at my local farmer's market to make sure everyone knows that I shop at farmer's markets.

that is NOT correct usage of wicked.

@selectman: or you can be a dick, that's ok too. i'm totally blogging about this right now and doing that twitter thing on my facebook so everyone will just like know that you are totally such a conglomowhore.

or, i just live in a dairy state and it's cheaper and easier to get ice cream on the way home from work on the rare occasions i do since it's not on my normal shopping list and i pass a dairy farm EVERY DAY ON MY COMMUTE.

like cuz you know whatever. txt me!

55%, even less with overrun, still sounds like a lot of air! (Then again, the human body and water...)

I wonder what ultradense ice cream with a minimum of air (what's achievable?) puffed into it tastes like.

@selectman: apparently politeness is required in word selection but not in other forms of snark in sentence structure.

i'll be sure to drive 20 minutes out of my way and pay double the price next time i buy ice cream just to make YOU feel my commute past a dairy farm every day isn't too accidently trendy.

and i will also so totally create a facebook just to twitter this so you can again feel validated. i mean, living in a dairy state and all, god forbid i happen to drive by a farm with cows on it and take advantage of that.

totally just wrong of me to actually take the cheap, lazy way out or anything, i mean that would be unamerican.

wait...

and of course now it works! ah well, double the fun i guess.

Uh, I think you meant to say "wicked awesome".

Well, Brigham is a little different because they still ice cream restaurants here in New England.

Back when Stop and Shop used to have their 'super-premium' line of ice cream-- Brigham made it all.

Maybe, I'll have to try to Blue bell when I go to Wal-Mart next.

@krom: Yes this is true. And he said it wrong that would him, "wicked retarded".

@redheadedstepchild: Overrun is the industry term for air that is added to the ice cream. The overrun number is twice the amount of air added. So 50% overrun means they added 25% air.

@12-Inch Idongivafuck Sandwich: I declare this comment delicious! And uh, also I agree. Plus, if you join their club, they'll send you a coupon for a free half-gallon for your birthday.

@krom
@radio1

nah, nah, you douchebags ah gettin' it all wrahng. dude's wicked retahded fa nawt knowin that wicked needs to mahdify the word that comes aftah it, unless ya sayin' something like "Dude, I got a wicked headache" Anyway, I got a wicked pissah kegga to get to.

raspberry lime rickey's for everyone!!!

@mikelotus:
I've been all over both Blue Bell's and Outbacks web sites and can find nothing that states that Outback serves Blue Bell, outside of their normal delivery area.

To those not familiar with Blue Bell, they delivery their product to stores using their own trucks in order to control the temperature throughout the process.

And Blue Bell is THE BEST, you can order it online here:
[www.bluebell.com]
I guess that's the only instance where they use a third party shipper.

@jjason82: Yeah, seriously, an ad? w...t...f

@Sudonum: call them and ask. we got several gallons from one for a picnic. And they are not the only restaurant in the DC area that has it.