“I love scotch. Scotchy scotch scotch. Here it goes down, down into my belly.” Ron Burgundy, played by Will Ferrell, uttered these immortal lines in the first Anchorman film. In order to commemorate the sequel, Anchorman: The Legend Continues, the film teamed up with Ben & Jerry’s to create a mouth-watering creation: Scotchy Scotch Scotch, a butterscotch ice cream with butterscotch swirls. It’s the latest in a long line of pop culture-inspired creations for ice cream maestros Ben & Jerry’s. We spoke to Ben & Jerry’s flavor guru Eric Fredette and Group Manager for R&D Global John Shaffer about how their best concoctions came to be, from Stephen Colbert’s AmeriCone Dream to Schweddy Balls.
Butterscotch Ice Cream with Butterscotch Swirls
“Our head of marketing reached out to the Anchorman people to see if they’d like to collaborate on a flavor, since we loved the first movie. The name “Scotchy Scotch Scotch” comes directly from a line in the movie Anchorman, and a vendor brought this very cool butterscotch swirl to us with hard candy pieces inside of it that people remember from childhood. We like to play a lot on nostalgia with flavors, because if the eater can connect the flavor to a past memory, you’ve got a winner.”
--Ben & Jerry’s Flavor Guru Eric Fredette and Group Manager for R&D Global John Shaffer
Vanilla Ice Cream with Fudge Covered Waffle Cone Pieces & a Caramel Swirl
“Colbert approached us. With the Colbert flavor, the important theme for him was to talk about America. He was insistent that he could work in something to do with the American flag, and being patriotic—following his shtick. He wanted it to be red, white, and blue, like the American flag, but we didn’t know how to approach the color issue, so we did a play off ‘cone’ with ‘AmeriCone.’ We’d been thinking about a flavor with waffle cone pieces, since we make our own fresh waffle cones, so we wanted to deconstruct that.”
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with a Salty Caramel Swirl & Fudge Covered Potato Chip Clusters
“It was a very interesting way that this came about. Jimmy Fallon is very interested in the fair-trade movement, and he did a piece on Late Night with Ladysmith Black Mambazo. We didn’t have him in mind for a flavor, but Fallon put it all together. He’s such a good marketer. Fallon wanted ‘snacks’ to be the theme, and really wanted potato chips in the ice cream. We’d tried for years to put potato chips in ice cream, but we’d found that if you put a potato chip in ice cream, it would break, and then become soggy. We pushed back, but he was insistent on potato chips, so we had to figure out a way to do it. I decided that a round, cylindrical potato chip would be the best way to go because you wouldn’t have edges that would break. It’s essentially little potato chip pieces conglomerated into potato chip balls that we then covered in chocolate.”
Vanilla Ice Cream with a Hint of Rum & Loaded with Fudge Covered Rum & Malt Balls
“Our head of marketing was a big fan of the SNL sketch, and the show. For many years, he was considering doing something there. First, we put malt balls in there, and [Baldwin] talks about “rum balls” in the skit, so we got those in there, too. The vendor had to call it ‘Project Pirate’ so it wouldn’t leak to the press, and because everyone was uncomfortable using the term ‘Schweddy Balls.’ It was controversial, a little naughty, and in the end, extremely successful. We topped a half a billion media impressions with this flavor. Alec Baldwin mentioned it in the season premiere of SNL, and it’s popularity skyrocketed.”
Lemon Greek Frozen Yogurt with a Blueberry Lavender Swirl
“We’re huge fans of 30 Rock so it seemed like a really good fit, and Tina Fey is a huge fan of Ben & Jerry’s as well. Once we teamed up with Alec Baldwin on the Schweddy Balls flavor, it seemed like we would be remiss to not do one with Tina Fey. She liked the idea of yogurt, and we were launching our very successful Greek line at the time, so we made this our signature flavor. It’s a wonderful flavor with nuances of lavender within the blueberry swirl, and Lemon, of course, to go along with her character from 30 Rock, Liz Lemon. Plus, the proceeds go towards Jumpstart.”
Peach Ice Cream with Cinnamon-Sugar Shortbread Pieces & a Peach Swirl
“With Willie, a lot of it tied into Farm Aid, and the fact that we do a lot with our dairy co-op in Vermont, and family farms, which we don’t want to see go away. Willie liked the idea of peaches being the signature of the flavor, so we made it very peachy with the ice cream, and a peach swirl. It was funny: Colbert had Willie Nelson on to debate Colbert, and they did this great skit where they go outside the studio, and there’s a bunch of marijuana smoke coming out of Willie’s bus. And then, they brought in Richard Holbrook to be the mediator in a debate between Colbert and Willie over who had the best Ben & Jerry’s flavor.”
Chocolate Ice Cream with Gooey Marshmallow Swirls, Caramel Swirls & Fudge Fish
“Phish Food was developed with the band because they support Lake Champlain’s water cleanup. Phish is very cultural to Burlington, VT. They’re from here, they got their start here, and their fan base is our fan base. We worked some new technologies into it to develop this flavor, including whipping marshmallow—since we make our own marshmallow—and, with caramel swirls and fudge, it’s just tasty. And the molded chocolate fish, too. The molds have become a signature, and we’ve introduced fun shapes into the ice cream through these pop culture flavors. Plus, proceeds help clean up Lake Champlain.”
Cherry Ice Cream with Cherries & Fudge Flakes
“We get thousands of consumer suggestions a month over our website, and this was one of them. It was actually mailed in on a pint lid. And it really fits the music culture of Ben & Jerry’s. We use the largest cherries in the industry—24 mm in diameter, from the Pacific Northwest, and try to get as many of those in as possible. It’s an iconic flavor, and one of the top-four flavors since it came into being.”
Black Raspberry Ice Cream Swirled with Sweet Cream Ice Cream & Fudgy Brownies
“They wanted to try a lot of flavors, so we auditioned a bunch of flavors with the band, and they were nice enough to choose one of the ones that we sent, which is how we got to this current iteration, filled with fudgy brownies. And, we always look to partner with someone with like values, and Dave and the band are as concerned about the environment as we are. Plus, we always let the partner choose where the royalties will go. For Dave, the royalties from the ice cream go towards cleaning up the environment.”
Caramel & Sweet Cream Ice Creams Swirled with Fudge Peace Signs & Toffee Cookie Pieces
“We partnered with the John Lennon Foundation for this one. We had the lyrics to the song ‘Imagine’ printed on the inside of the cup. For the fudge peace signs, we have a great vendor who makes all these molds for us—including the fudge fish in Phish Food, and others. We worked very closely with Yoko Ono on this flavor, and she liked the idea of toffee cookies, which is very British, and the peace signs. She was very easy to work with.”
Chocolate Ice Cream, Peanut Butter Cookie Dough, Butter Brickle & White Chocolate Chunks
“There were two states left that Elton John had not performed in, and Vermont was one of them, so when we found out that he’d be performing here at the Fairgrounds, we reached out to him to see if he’d like to create a flavor to commemorate the event. The flavor speaks to one of his famous songs and, although it was a limited edition, it drew 170 million media impressions. Elton’s fan base stretches from teens to people in their 80’s, which was great.”
