Even for an extreme early riser like Good Morning Arizona anchor Tess Rafols, tasting eight different pints of ice cream before noon is a bit much. “I’m not going to eat lunch now! My lunch is ice cream.” She soldiered on, sacrificing her blood-sugar level to help us in our quest to crown the Valley’s best butter pecan. Why the old-timey flavor? It’s one of few varieties made reliably by multiple artisanal scoop shops around the Phoenix metro.
When & Where: : Thursday, June 2, at the PHOENIX office. The tasting began at 11 a.m.
The Rules: Eight versions of butter pecan ice cream from locally owned shops around the Valley were sampled in a blind tasting.
No. 1
The Screamery
“It’s very light,” Rafols says of the offering from this Tucson-born shop, which now has locations in North Phoenix and Chandler. “You think of butter pecan, and you think heavy… So, this is a pleasant surprise.”
No. 2
Cúcara Mácara
“It’s not heavy on the butter part,” she says of the somewhat thin-textured iteration from this mom-and-daughter-owned newbie shop in Arcadia Lite. “Not as sweet as the first one.”
No. 3
Sweet Republic
The cold stuff from the perennial Best of the Valley Readers’ Picks winner is nuttier all around. “[It] has a healthy amount of pecans,” Rafols says. “This one has a nuttier flavor.” The culprit: toasty browned butter, which has a nutty quality
No. 4
Novel Ice Cream
“I think they put a liqueur in it,” Rafols says of the butter pecan from this Grand Avenue shop. “You know what it is? Amaretto. I can taste amaretto, and it’s really good.
No. 5
Scoop & Joy
“The nuts are chewier. And I taste a hint of banana,” Rafols says of the fruity vibe of this ice cream from Scottsdale’s Scoop & Joy.
No. 6
Churn
“Too sweet for me,” she appraises. “If you like it on the sweeter side, this would be the one for you,” she says of the butter pecan from this Phoenix sweets emporium.
No. 7
Sweet Provisions
“This one’s also really sweet,” Rafols deems the Scottsdale ice cream parlor’s dessert. “I really like the balance of the pecan with it. It’s like the perfect amount in each bite.
No. 8
Scooptacular
The Laveen Village shop’s scoop packs the biggest pecan punch. “The pecans in this are really good… This is the nuttiest one I’ve tasted,” Rafols says. “It’s a great balance.”
Quarterfinal Winner
The Screamery
“It’s like really good butter cake that is not too heavy,” Rafols says of her clear favorite.
Quarterfinal Winner
Novel Ice Cream
Rafols chooses the amaretto-y Novel over the puzzling “aftertaste” of Sweet Republic’s scoop.
Quarterfinal Winner
Scooptacular
Once again, pecans triumph over sugar for Rafols. “The nut flavor in it was really good.”
Quarterfinal Winner
Scoop & Joy
Churn’s scoop was just too sweet for Rafols’ taste. “That was really good,” she says of Scoop & Joy’s treat.
Semifinal Winner
The Screamery
It’s an easy win for The Screamery. “It has just the perfect amount of butter and pecans,” Rafols says.
Semifinal Winner
Scoop & Joy
Between two nut-bombs, Rafols chose Scoop & Joy for its bounty of butter. “I tend to like the buttery flavor better, rather than the sweetness.”
Champion!
The Screamery
Rafols bursts out laughing as the winner is revealed. “That’s our go-to ice cream place! And I did not know, obviously, where everything was coming from.” She loved its “perfect balance of the nutty flavor from the pecans [and] great hint of butter” from the first bite.
