Ample Hills Debuts Captain America, Black Panther, and Spider-Man Ice Cream Flavors
It’s been a busy year for Marvel fans, with the release of Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame this spring—plus, Spider-man: Far From Home is set to premiere on July 2. If you're a super fan, you'll also know that 2019 marks Marvel’s 80th anniversary, and to celebrate, Ample Hills Creamery has a sweet treat that will launch just in time for Spider-Man to hit theaters. On July 1, the Brooklyn-based ice cream company will add three superhero-themed flavors to the menu, inspired by Captain America, the Black Panther, and of course, Spider-Man.
“When we found out we could make Captain America, Black Panther and Spider-Man ice cream we knew we wanted to do mini-comics and wrap them around our pint containers. We wrote stories and sketched out illustrations,” Brian Smith, co-founder and CEO of Ample Hills Creamery, said in a statement. “Marvel was wonderful and open to our creative interpretations. It was important to us to capture the superheroes in our Ample Hills Creamery watercolor aesthetic and yet remain faithful to the look of the old comics. With Marvel's superheroes, we didn't think of flavor first. We studied the characters, their backgrounds, origin stories. We let them lead us to a flavor.”
First up is Captain America, who grew up in Brooklyn in the 1940s. Accordingly, Ample Hills created an “old-fashioned” vanilla malt ice cream for his flavor, made with pieces of Brooklyn Blackout Cake (made famous by Ebinger’s Bakery) and ribbons of chocolate pudding. As for the Black Panther ice cream, it’s purple-tinged, flavored by black raspberry mixed with single-origin “Wakandan chocolate fudge” chunks—a nod to the purple heart-shaped herb concoction T’Challa has to drink in order to turn into the Black Panther. Finally, Spider-Man, who grew up in Queens, will get a flavor inspired by cherry pie, made with a sweet cream base that’s swirled with cherry pie filling and pieces of pie crust. Our ice cream senses are already tingling.
We got to try the new pints right when they launched, and found we all had different favorites. Captain America’s flavor is reminiscent of cookies & cream “on steroids” according to one editor (or maybe that should be Super Soldier Serum?), packed with cake bites that replace the standard chocolate cookie; the Black Panther black raspberry was sweet, smooth, and understated, with a hint of tartness and chunks of bittersweet chocolate strewn throughout (editors also praised it for tasting very natural). Spider-Man’s flavor was definitely cherry-forward, bright against the sweet cream base flavor—there wasn’t as much of a pie aspect as expected, but it was still enjoyable.
“The Cap one is my absolute jam, so good,” one editor wrote.
If you want to try out the Marvel flavors yourself, they’ll launch at scoop shops and “select wholesalers” nationwide on July 1. (You can also order them online, in individual pints or packaged as a collection.) The first 500 online customers will receive a “special edition one of a kind art piece” in the box. Just make sure you act fast—they're limited-edition, and won't be on the menu for long.