SUPERMAN ICE CREAM

I was driving by downtown Farmington and decided to check out BROWN DOG, a craft ice cream parlor which only utilizes Michigan dairy with scratch made mix-ins, that has been getting some nice word of mouth around Metro Detroit. Most specifically though, I was looking to taste test their Superman ice cream, or as they call it instead, for DC Comics copyright reasons, SUPERDOG ice cream.

Superman ice cream was my favorite ice cream as a kid. I have this incredible memory of the first time I tasted it! A bunch of neighborhood kids piled into my best friend's dad's station wagon to go see SUPERMAN at the local drive-in movie theater. Going to see Christopher Reeve's as Superman flying around on a movie screen from the back of a car with a whole group of friends was an epic summer night. It was made even better as we stopped to get Superman ice cream on the way there.

I was wowed by Superman ice cream. Up until then I had only had chocolate, strawberry or vanilla flavored ice cream. Now before me was this mix of bright colors and various flavors. This ice cream really was super!

The Superman ice cream was colored red, yellow and blue matching the coloring style of the superhero. Plus, each color had a different flavor. Blue had a bubble gum taste to it, Red had a red pop flavor, and Yellow was lemon. Eating the three together was a unique experience and was so good! 

Superman ice cream originated here in Detroit during Prohibition when Stroh's Brewery stopped making beer and switched its production over to ice cream. When alcohol became legal again the breweries reopened opening the taps back on for Stroh's beer but the company kept making ice cream too. We had an ice cream parlor near our house that served Stroh's and I'd regularly stop in to get a scoop, or two, in a waffle cone throughout my youth.

Then in 1999, Stroh's shutdown its Detroit operations. The brewery was sold to Pabst and the ice cream company to Melody Farms. Dean Foods has owned the Stroh's ice cream brand since 2007. The new owners of Stroh's ice cream kept the packaging but produced the ice cream with their own pre-existing recipes from factories out-of-state shipping it to Michigan. To me, what Dean Foods now calls Super Rainbow tastes like vanilla with red, white and yellow food coloring. Doah!

So, I've been on a search to find a Superman ice cream that matches the flavor that I loved as a kid. The Hudsonville, Purple Cow and Kroger brands in our local grocery stores have Superman inspired flavors that have a marshmallowish Blue Moon, cherry and vanilla mix with the original look of the ice cream to them. That just doesn't cut it! And Blue Bunny's Scooper Hero is the worst with a blah vanilla flavor for all three colors of ice cream.

So, now it is time to give BROWN DOG's craft ice cream a taste test. Will SUPERDOG meet or exceed my expectations?! I hope so because at $8.00 a pint of this ice cream is pricey.

With three distinct flavors for each color, BROWN DOG is already out doing many of the Superman ice cream wannabes out there. Blue is Blue Moon; Red is tart Cherry; Yellow is zesty Lemon. The coloring blends together for a nice presentation, but how does the mix of flavors compare to my childhood favorite ice cream flavor?

The Blue Moon of SUPERDOG has more of a marshmallow flavor than the original bubblegum taste to the Superman ice cream I loved as a kid. The cherry has a nice tartness to it but is different than the red soda vibe of the original. The lemon though is spot on. Unfortunately, the Blue Moon flavor overpowers the cherry and lemon rather than complimenting them. 

BROWN DOG'S SUPERDOG has a decent taste to it but at what it costs for a scoop or pint just isn't what I'm looking for. If you are looking for an original Superman flavored ice cream this isn't it. That being said it was good enough that I am interested in trying out some of the other offerings from BROWN DOG on their ice cream menu. They have some FAYGO flavored ice cream that looks very tempting to try and some alcohol-infused Irish Cream ice cream has piqued my interest.

For more information about this ice cream parlor and restaurant go to browndogbarlor.com. They have Michigan locations in the cities of Farmington and Novi. Stop by and eat in or order online and take out.

And my search goes on for a Superman ice cream that meets my high, and possibly improbable to find, expectations. Is there a flavor of Superman you have discovered that is fantastic? Share it with us!