Dairy Queen and Blizzards are synonymous with one another; it is hard not to think of the popular ice cream franchise without evoking images of the now-classic thick blended sundae with the mixed in toppings. It’s no wonder, since the Blizzard was introduced in 1985 (a year in which they sold more than 175 million Blizzards), Dairy Queen has sold billions of the iconic treat. In the early 2000s DQ introduced the Blizzard of the Month, debuting a different combo 12 times a year. I will seek to review each of DQs unique installations as part of my treat reviews.
Now… I know it is February 1st, but when I went to go get the red and pink installment in BotM I was informed that my local DQ wasn’t serving it yet! Oh well – it gave me a chance to catch up on last month’s concoction.
January’s Blizzard of the Month is the “Oreo Mocha Fudge” and claims to be Oreo cookie pieces, choco chunks and coffee. A seemingly winning combo of strong and popular complementary flavors that ultimately falls a little flat.
“January’s Blizzard of the Month is the “Oreo Mocha Fudge” and claims to be Oreo cookie pieces, choco chunks and coffee. A seemingly winning combo of strong and popular complementary flavors that ultimately falls a little flat.”
The base of this blizzard is Dairy Queens classic vanilla blended with some sort of coffee mixture to simulate a mocha coffee base. I really wanted to love it, but I think it misses the mark. The problem seems to be that the coffee flavoring that is being added here is not really… Coffee. It is something resembling a fast-food latte. Like a super sweetened McCafe blended coffee. Not entirely surprising given that Dairy Queen is, itself, a fast food restaurant. But the result here is a weak coffee flavor and a.. almost maple-y flavor profile. It could be nummy if it were in the right concoction – an intentional choice. But here it just is not right. The one redeeming quality here is that when well stirred Oreo dust disperses evenly throughout ice cream base to impart that familiar flavor over the top of the lackluster coffee flavor.
The mixins are what make a Blizzard, a Blizzard. The promise of a Blizzard is essentially a loaded sundae. If a Blizzard isn’t loaded up heavily with ‘the goods’ then… its just a REALLY thick milkshake. SO, imagine my disappointment to find that this Blizzard didn’t hide much buried treasure amongst its mapley coffee base. The Mixins in this Bliz were chocolate chunks and Oreo pieces. The Oreo pieces don’t need any introduction, but I will elaborate on the Choco chunks. The choco chunks are essentially the shell chocolate that you might find on one of DQ’s single dipped cones or Dilly Bars. While these mixins were quite good, they were not in high supply, and in the end that is a big killer for this BotM. I will make the caveat that all DQ Blizzards are – by nature – different. It could very well be that my ice cream barista (icecreamirista?) was stingy with the Oreo bits and choco chunks; but without anything to indicate otherwise, this Blizzard does not stand out as a must-have limited treat.
That said – it’s still ice cream, so I still finished it 🍦
