April 16 Is Free Cone Day At These Charlotte-Area Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shops

Now that you've filed your taxes and found out how much more money you owe the IRS, you're probably thinking there's no joy left in the world. Well, you're wrong because, as long as there's ice cream, there's plenty of joy. And if the ice cream is free, life is even sweeter. Luckily, today (4/16/24) happens to be Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's from noon until 8:00 p.m.

Ben & Jerry’s started handing out free ice cream cones as a way of saying thanks to their devoted customers in 1979, when the young company was still just operating out of a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont. It became an annual happening. By 1993, every Ben & Jerry's scoop shop in America was participating. Free Cone Day went international in 2000. In 2015, Ben & Jerry's gave away over one million scoops of ice cream around the world.

Like many things, Free Cone Day came to a screeching halt in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But in 2023, the tasty tradition made its highly anticipated return after a long four-year hiatus. The Vermont-based ice cream chain gave out over 970,000 scoops at Ben & Jerry’s locations across the globe last year. Now they’re calling on all fans to help them beat their goal of one million scoops today. And yes, you can get in line more than once. Come on, we can do this!

Ben and Jerry's new flavors couldn't be more different from each other. The popular New England based ice cream brand has added three options to their creative family so far this year, and here I will rank them all.

Coincidentally, I tried each of these in one sitting. This was an unplanned taste test. With a house full of young kids, a visiting friend recently stopped by and knew the way to quickly win over the youngsters. Pints of ice cream.

Before I get into explaining which was best, I should note I am not an ice cream (or dessert) enthusiast by any means. Dare I say, I hardly seek out ice cream, even in the summer months. However, if it is put in front of me, I will eat it if it's one of my favorite varieties.

If I'm going for ice cream, though, Ben and Jerry's is easily my brand of choice. Being a New Englander, I have toured their Vermont location a handful of times. Their half-baked in a cone is my go-to choice.

If you are not familiar, these are the Ben and Jerry's new flavors that have rolled out in 2024. Impretzively Fudged, PB S'More, and Marshmallow Sky. Now, it's important to note that Marshmallow Sky is new just to pints. Meaning, it was available in their scoop shops only.

Another flavor entitled Strawberry Cheezecake was also unveiled earlier this year. This did not qualify here as a new flavor ranking because it had been an ice cream flavor (branded "cheesecake). The new "cheeze" version is a vegan dairy-free dessert.

Upon seeing these at my house, I realized they were new. So, instead of selecting one pint to scoop, I took one for the team and realized I needed one proper scoop of each.

My process was to try one at a time and not have all three in the same bowl. Blending flavors might compromise the intended taste.

As a result, there was a flavor where one bite was enough. Another where I couldn't get enough, and the third was somewhere in between.

Here is my official ice cream ranking of Ben and Jerry's new flavors.

It's chocolate ice cream with fudge covered pretzel pieces and pretzel swirl. The problem here is that I do not like chocolate covered pretzels. Oddly enough, I love pretzels alone. Dip them in sugar and ice cream and it either compromises the flavor or classifies as "too much." So, this was my least favorite.

Here we have toasted marshmallow ice cream with peanut butter cups, graham cracker pieces, and marshmallow swirl. The graham crackers are the star of this show. They pair better with the ice cream and chocolate than the typical marshmallow of a S'More. This was certainly a tasty delight, but I feel if the marshmallow swirl did not need to be invited to the party.

Admittedly, I was a little cautious about the blue ice cream color thinking it could suffer from cotton candy syndrome (where too much equals upset stomach city). That is not the case here. It's marshmallow ice cream with swirls, and then chocolate chip cookie dough and chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough. The latter of the cookie dough bites just brings this to another level. Some sweets get forced together and some just belong together and make each other better. That's the case here. It's no wonder Ben and Jerry's decided to promote this flavor. It tastes as cheerful as it looks.