Shain's of Maine Ice Cream

By now you know I eat a lot of ice cream.  I have ice cream, in some form, at least once a day.  Sometimes it is the star attraction, the focal point of my dessert, like a soft serve cone with rainbow sprinkles enjoyed in the sun on a hot day or the base for an epic ice cream sundae.  Other times it takes an accompanying role, like a nicely paired scoop with my warm fruit crisp or stuffed inside a croissant or pair of cookies.  But ice cream is there, daily, in my world. 

Let's just say, I've tried a lot of brands of ice cream.  From local small batch eccentric flavors, to international only offerings, to low-end mass produced "frozen dairy dessert", I've had them all.  So I was a bit surprised to recently find a brand I had not tried before:  Shain's of Maine.

As you can likely guess, Shain's of Maine is a brand based in, yup, Maine.  I believe it started as a diner, with ice cream as one of its main attractions (along with lobster rolls, 'nach).  I don't think they sell wholesale to other ice cream stands, they are not distributed nationally, and very few grocery stores seem to carry it, even in the north east.  But I found one independent market in my parent's hometown in New Hampshire that did offer quarts of Shain's, and I frequently returned to try more flavors.

Shain's offers a very large lineup of ice cream.  They have crowd pleasing flavors, for adults and kid's alike - boozy offerings like mudslide and rum raisin for the adults, and Dino Crunch or Smurf for the younger (or younger at heart?) crowd.   They have plenty of not crazy, but not completely standard either varieties like chocolate walnut, ginger, Irish creme and cookies, and mocha macadamia.  Of course, they have the whole "New England" line up, all the local favorites like Maine Survivor and Maine Tracks, and seasonal varieties like peppermint stick and pumpkin.  Some of their most unique flavors are Frozen Pudding (rum with candied fruit), Indian Pudding, and Butter Crunch (butterscotch with butterscotch candies).  And that is just the standard 14% base - lower fat, no sugar added, frozen yogurt, sorbets, sherbets, and even 10% bases are also available.

Update Review, July 2023

Another visit to the northeast in the summer, another opportunity to get Shain's of Maine ice cream, my favorite hard serve ice cream in the area.

Black Raspberry Explosion.

"Black raspberry ice cream with dark chocolate raspberry cups."

Black raspberry soft serve ice cream is something I grew up with.  Where I'm from, ice cream stands always had 3 flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and black raspberry.  They usually rotated in a 4th flavor weekly.  But vanilla, chocolate, and black raspberry were always a given.  I thought this was normal.  I grew up truly believing that black raspberry ice cream was as common as vanilla or chocolate.  I'm still not sure why this regional trend exists, but, let's just say, I grew up eating quite a bit of black raspberry soft serve (in a cone, with chocolate sprinkles!).  

And then I moved away, learned that black raspberry isn't always available, and that soft serve in general is less common.  Hmmm.  Black raspberry hard serve is something I've had very little of.  I've gotten it a few times from JP Licks in a sundae, but otherwise ... just not something I've encountered much.  

I saw this flavor from Shain's when I was at a nearby store when visiting my parents.  I had to get it.  I hoped it would remind me of my black raspberry soft serve, which was always my mother's favorite too, sorta crossed with my Dad's favorite ice cream, "Raspberry Rumble" (from Schwan's), with the raspberry cups.   It seemed like the perfect flavor for the whole family.

It was good.  Strong black raspberry flavor, creamy premium ice cream base.  The dark chocolate raspberry cups really delivered in the dark chocolate department, really strong and deep dark chocolate, nice snap to them.  There were TONS of them, in real Shain's style.  That said, I didn't really find any raspberry element to them - I thought they'd have a raspberry liquid filling like Raspberry Rumble, but these seemed solid.  If they had a raspberry flavor, it was lost in the deep dark chocolate and surrounding black raspberry ice cream.

Overall, this was a good flavor, it melted nicely, clearly premium, nice quality mix-ins.  Probably not a flavor I'd get again just because I love Shain's other flavors more, but, a nice ice cream.  ***+.

Whoopie Pie.

Oh, Shain's.  This is why I love the brand.  I opened the lid to see exactly what I wanted: big hunks of whoopie pie.  Seriously, Shain's mix-ins - so, so so good!

I've had this flavor before, and went into it with high expectations, and was not let down.  The vanilla base is fairly standard, but higher end, creamy, the style that melts nicely.  This is a flavor all about the mix-ins though.  Big, big hunks of whoopie pie.  The cookie parts are super soft.  Chocolately.  And seriously, some mega chunks in here.  Very good.  And then, the whoopie pie filling.  Which at first glance blends in with the vanilla ice cream base, but is immediately obvious once you take a bite.  Sooo sweet.  Exactly what you want inside your whoopie pie.  Or, you know, your ice cream.

Normally when I have ice cream, I have it as a component in a dessert, a scoop to pair with a warm fruit crisp/crumble/cobbler perhaps, or to make a pie a la mode.  I rarely just have a bowl of ice cream.  But this flavor is complete enough that it really doesn't need anything else added.  After all, there is a substantial amount of soft chocolate cookie-cake in here.  Yes, some fresh strawberries jazz it up a bit, but really aren't needed.

This continues to be a favorite flavor of mine, and is one that you can't help but just keep digging into, partially because you want to get more good bits, and partially because it is just that good. ****.

Update Review, December 2022

Another year of visiting the east coast, and another year of me requesting that my parent's freezer be pre-stocked with my favorite local(ish) ice cream: Shain's of Maine.  My family lives in New Hampshire, not Maine, but there are a few niche markets around town that carry Shain's, and it truly is some of the best hard style ice cream I've had, and a unique New England treat.

For this visit, my mother went all out, getting four different flavors for me to try.  One, Whoopie Pie, is an old favorite, but the others were new to me.  I enjoyed sampling more of the flavor lineup, and polished off far more of that ice cream than is really socially acceptable in a short visit, but, hey, it was a treat for me!  My feelings on Shain's remain much the same: the strengths are in their mix-ins, where they excel both in quality of the mix-ins (e.g. homemade whoopie pies) and in quantity (the Cookie Dough flavor really is about 50-50 ice cream to cookie dough gobs, and the Whoopie Pie isn't far behind).  The base ice cream itself is fine, above average grocery store quality, but not remarkable high end artisan ice cream.  I'll gladly try more flavors.

Whoopie Pie.

"Vanilla ice cream with chunks of Shain's of Maine homemade whoopie pies."

I've had this flavor before, so I knew what to expect, but I was still a bit surprised when I opened the quart of Whoopie Pie ice cream and there was a huge hunk of whoopie pie cake sitting right on top, just like before.

The cake was again really quite good - it is moist, chocolately, and just good chocolate cake on any dimension, even more crazy that its so good inside an ice cream base.  The vanilla ice cream was fine, but not quite as high quality as I remembered.  Still a touch above your average grocery store vanilla, but, not as good as more artisanal brands (I've been spoiled by a lot of premium ice cream lately).  And finally, the whoopie pie frosting, that is pretty hard to notice visually as it matches the ice cream just a touch whiter, but is quite clear when you get a hunk in your mouth, as it is very sweet frosting.  I love it, but, wow, a little goes a long way.

Overall, this really is a lovely flavor, and one that eats well.  You get your cake and your ice cream, and hunks of frosting, and it really needs little else added.  I sometimes add fresh strawberries or whipped cream, just to round it out a bit, but it isn't needed.

****+ for the whoopie pies, *** ice cream, **** overall.  Still my second favorite flavor of Shain's, only behind the cookie dough.

Tornado.

"Vanilla Ice Cream With Coated Chocolate Candies, Heathbar Pieces, Chocolate Cookies And Chocolate Chip Cookies."

There is nothing like opening a container of Shain's ice cream.  I mean, really, the mix-ins are just so front and center, it genuinely brings joy, at least to me, to see.  Right on top of the Tornado I could see colorful full size M&Ms and bits of Heath bar, and I was excited to dig for the two kinds of cookies (chocolate and chocolate chip).

It didn't take long to find the cookies, or at least, the Oreo-like ones.  There were tons of hunks of soft chocolate cookie in the mix, the most dominant of the ingredients.  There were fairly plentiful M&Ms too.  But besides the little bit of Heath bar I saw on top, I didn't actually find any more, and I love Heath bar in ice cream, so this was a big let down.  There were a few bits of the chocolate chip cookie, not cookie dough, but, cookie, much like the chocolate cookies, fairly soft.  They weren't particularly flavorful, and there was only a few bits in the quart.

This flavor really let me down.  I expected it to be absolutely loaded with goodies, and it was reasonably well loaded, just mostly with Oreos & M&Ms (or their off-brand counterparts).  It ate like a cookies & cream flavor, with some M&Ms added.  And since I don't care for cookies & cream ... yeah, not for me.  I really had hoped for more Heath, and for the chocolate chip cookies to be more interesting.

**+.

Maine Caramel Sea Salt.

"Caramel sea salt ice cream with chocolate covered caramel truffles."

A few years ago, salted caramel everything was such a rage.  I realized when I tried this flavor that it had been a few years since I'd had salted caramel ice cream.  But it seems Shain's got on that trend too, and dubbed it "Maine Caramel Sea Salt" ... I'm not quite sure what specifically is Maine about it (all their flavors are from Maine after all ...).

This is the first flavor from Shain's that I tried that didn't have a copious amount of mix-ins right on top.  It still had two small visible little truffles, and looked like a normal brand of ice cream, rather than their kinda signature over-the-top loaded up style of other flavors I've had from Shain's.

The base of this was really quite lovely - a sweet caramel ice cream, that trended in a maple-ish direction.  Smooth, creamy, great texture, premium ice cream.  It was certainly sweet, but not totally cloying.  I'm not sure I'd want a big bowl of it, but it paired really well with things like warm cinnamon rolls or liege waffles.  I didn't taste a particularly strong salted element, but, that is generally true of most salted caramel ice cream.

The little truffles were fine, reasonable quality creamy chocolate coating, a little bit of caramel inside.  I don't think the ice cream really needed them, but they didn't detract.

Overall, a nicely done sweet caramel flavor, and I'd get it again if I had pairings in mind, but I wouldn't seek it out otherwise. ***+.

Wild Maine Blueberry.

I approached the Wild Maine Blueberry flavor with interest.  Blueberry is not a common flavor of ice cream, but, wild blueberries *are* something Maine is known for, and thus, it makes sense that a brand so focused on state pride would have such a flavor.  I wasn't sure if it would be a homogenous blueberry flavor, if it would be vanilla with ribbons of a blueberry swirl, if it would have full size berries in it, etc.  Knowing Shain's, I kinda figured it would be loaded with swirl and berries, so I was a little surprised when I opened it to see no real mix-ins.  Yes, there were little bits of berry, but no substantial blueberry element.

The flavor was fairly mild.  Lightly sweet, lightly fruity.  I wouldn't identify it as blueberry if I didn't already know what it was.  Not amazing premium quality ice cream, not as creamy as I'd like, but still better than average.  It did have bits of blueberry in it, and a few larger pieces, but as the berries are wild Maine blueberries, they are a smaller size.  The bits of frozen berry were pretty hard and icy, so I didn't want them bigger anyway.

Overall, I give this a "fine" but not something I'd get again.  That said, I think it would be great paired with a warm slice of summer pie, especially blueberry pie.  ***.

Original Review, June 2021

My local market didn't have a huge variety of choices, but, I tried as many as I could.  I'd gladly try more.  This is some of the best ice cream I've ever had.

Cookie Dough.

"Vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips and cookie dough."

Ok, wow.  My first experience of Shain's, brought to me by my sister after having an ice cream party, and sending me her leftovers.

I took one bite, and was blown away.  This is damn good ice cream.

The base was quality vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips (semisweet).  But the reason this flavor shines is the cookie dough.  ZOMG.  Not a flavor I'd pick myself, but, ZOMG.

I couldn't believe the hunks of cookie dough, visible on the edge here, which I thought at first that I just got lucky and had a quart with a nice chunk on the side.  Oh no, Shain's takes the mix-ins very seriously, and the cookie dough was generous chunks throughout.  Massive gobs.

Cookie Dough: THE DOUGH!!!! 

I mean seriously.  Look at these cookie dough hunks!!!

The cookie dough is huge, huge, huge balls of cookie dough, sweet, super buttery, and honestly, just awesome.  I have never, ever had cookie dough this good before.  Not in ice cream, certainly, and not even standalone.  The huge hunks were like eating just cookie dough, like any of the trendy edible cookie doughs like I've reviewed before (e.g. from local SF favorites Doughp - so good! or Out the Dough - stuffed into cannoli).  Honestly, the best cookie dough ever.

So although this is not a flavor I'd normally pick, I was sooo glad to have it sent my way.  I did not share the rest of this quart with anyone else.  The cookie dough was just stellar, so sweet and buttery, and I loved the crunch from chocolate chips in the base.

*****.

Pistachio.

"Pistachio ice cream with pistachio."

I picked up pistachio only because I wanted a flavor that didn't have any caffeine, and every other flavor available had chocolate in it.  So, pistachio it was.

It was fine pistachio ice cream, with plentiful whole pistachios, and a lovely green color to the base (made with, sadly, "pistachio flavor", not real extract).  I can't say this was a particularly exciting flavor, but, it was a fine pistachio ice cream.

***, as fairly "boring", but it was good for what it was.

Whoopie Pie.

"Vanilla ice cream with chunks of Shain's of Maine homemade whoopie pies."

Um, wow.  When I saw the Whoopie Pie flavor, I had no choice but to grab a pint.

Whoopie Pies may not be popular throughout the country, but in New England, where I grew up, Whoopie Pies are A. Big. Deal.  They are even the official state dessert of Maine, where Shain's is based.  I haven't ever seen a Whoopie Pie ice cream before, but, kudos to Shain's for doing this.

When the flavor originally launched in 2011 they partnered with a local bakery for the whoopie pies, but now they make their own.

So, yeah.  Whoopie pies.  A staple of my growing up.  My great aunt, the ultimate Whoopie Pie maker, *always* had these on hand when we visited.  Sometimes they needed to be fetched from the freezer if she didn't have any ready to go at the moment, but there were always Whoopie Pies offered (and honestly, they are pretty good slightly frozen too!).

We usually had the traditional chocolate cookie-cake with sweet white filling, but my great aunt also often made pumpkin cakes with a cheesecake filling, and a gingerbread one, for the holidays.  My sister even had Whoopie Pies (made by said great aunt) at her wedding on the dessert table, and EVERYONE stuffed their pockets as they left the venue.  I'll admit that I've kinda moved on from loving whoppie pies, but, nostalgia kicked in when I saw this flavor, and I do love pairing cake and ice cream, so this seemed like it would be a winning flavor, even if whoopie pies are *that* exciting to current-Julie.

The Shain's version was classic chocolate cookie-cake, and I was overjoyed to open the top of the pint and see the very generous hunks of whoopie pie, front and center.

Seriously, the Whoopie Pie Chunks!

Shain's did a nice job with this.

The ice cream base is their quality vanilla ice cream, and, just like the cookie dough, it was just insanely loaded with whoopie pies.  I mean really.  Look at this.

The chocolate cake was moist, and had a nice chocolate flavor.  I really did like the cake.

I was shocked to find that it also did have the classic super sweet filling in there too - what I thought was going to be refreshing vanilla ice cream turned out to be HUGE hunks of filling from time to time.  Once I knew to expect it, this was good, but the first time I got a mouthful of that rather than ice cream, it was a surprise.

I did find it trended too sweet for me at moments, but I did really like the quality vanilla ice cream base and the cake.  Pretty similar to a cookies & cream flavor, just, more of the sweet cream filling than I wanted.

***+

Grapenut.

"Vanilla ice cream with grape nut cereal."

This is my first time ever having Grapenut ice cream, but much like Black Raspberry, it does seem to be a regional favorite.  I've seen it in several places around town, both at ice cream stands and stores alike, and regional decent quality large ice cream supplier Giffords is known for theirs. 

If you are not familiar, Grape-Nuts is a super classic cereal, a hearty, gritty, wheat-barley base.  I really do like Grape-Nuts cereal sometimes (something about the crunchy, hearty nature, when you have rich milk and add fruit on top ... or sprinkled on top of yogurt and fruit rather than granola ... and I know some people love it warmed up too).  The sound of crunchy bits inside ice cream was certainly appealing, but I still approached with a bit of skepticism.

One bite though and I was sold.  It was good!

The base is creamy quality ice cream, slightly on the sweeter side, vanilla.  Very good ice cream.  

The Grape-Nuts inside are actually surprisingly awesome - gritty, crunchy, and waaaaay better than any cornflake/etc addition I've had, that tend to be ... softer, soggier than I like.

Much like the cereal, this is great with some fresh strawberries or blueberries on top.

**** very enjoyable.