Fans have been waiting nearly two years for the fifth and final season of Stranger Things and… they will have to keep waiting, as Netflix has yet to drop a release date. Don’t worry, season 5 is coming sometime in 2025. Still, we’re getting antsy waiting for it, so instead of rewatching the whole series in anticipation, we decided to do something a bit more delicious — we’re tasting and ranking the entire Stranger Things Scoops Ahoy ice cream line.
Scoops Ahoy is the fictional ice cream shop from season 3 that Joe Keery’s Steve Harrington (shout out Djo) worked at that also introduced us to Stranger Things MVP Robin (played by Maya Hawke), and the most cynical among us knew even back then that it was only a matter of time before Scoops Ahoy became a real thing.
While there is no physical Scoops Ahoy location — Scoops Ahoy is sold exclusively at Wal-Mart — there are seven distinct flavors. The full line-up consists of the U.S.S. Butterscotch, Triple Decker Extravaganza, Cinnamon Bun Bytes, Chocolate Pudding, The Void, Mint Flare, and Pineapple Upside Down. That’s a solid lineup and even the most hardcore of Stranger Things fans would be forgiven for not scooping up each pint. So to help save you some cash, we’ve tried all seven and ranked them from least essential to most delicious.
7. Pineapple Upside Down
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
The Pineapple Upside Down features a pineapple ice cream base with chunks of pound cake and a thin salted caramel swirl. The base is incredibly sweet but goes a bit too light on the pineapple flavor, making the dominant flavor here milk, which I find a bit off-putting.
The pound cake chunks are soggy and too chewy, and the caramel swirl does serve as an interesting combination with the base but it’s not spread abundantly throughout the base. You’re going to get some spoonfuls that have no caramel, and I think that’s this ice cream’s biggest weakness.
To be totally fair to this flavor, I generally don’t like pineapple ice cream, so if you do, this might rank a bit higher for you. All biases aside, I still think it’s the weakest flavor of the seven.
The Bottom Line:
Not nearly as delicious as its description might suggest. This ice cream goes too light on the pineapple flavor.
6. Cinnamon Bun Bytes
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
Based on the title and description alone, the Cinnamon Bun Bytes was the ice cream I was most excited to try, imagine my disappointment when I realized that this flavor wasn’t giving me what I wanted from it.
The Cinnamon Bun Bytes features a cinnamon ice cream base with a swirl of cinnamon cream cheese and cinnamon roll dough bites. The base leans heavily on sweet sugar flavors with just a hint of cinnamon, while the cream cheese brings in some light tangy notes.
The base and cream cheese swirl are great but it’s important to point out that the dough bites in this are cinnamon roll dough, not cookie dough. Cookie dough is thick with a hard chew, these dough bites are incredibly soft by comparison, and easily get stuck in your teeth.
The Bottom Line:
Fails to deliver on the cinnamon with dough bites that are way too chewy for their own good.
5. Triple Decker Extravaganza
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
The Triple Decker Extravaganza mixed maple ribbons, chocolate peanut butter candies, and waffle bites with a vanilla and butter ice cream base. I love the mix here, the buttercream base dominates the flavor while the maple swirl brings in some deep woody richness.
The peanut butter candies and waffle bites are sparely spread throughout the base, offering the occasional burst of roasted caramel flavor. I think a higher concentration of the mix-ins would bump this flavor up a few spots in this ranking.
The Bottom Line:
Not quite an “extravaganza,” but there is a nice balance of sweet, buttery, and roasted flavors.
4. The Void
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
It’s hard to make black ice cream appetizing, but Scoops Ahoy is really trying with The Void. The flavor consists of vanilla infused with black food coloring, a thick gelatinous strawberry ribbon, and vanilla cream cookie pieces.
It doesn’t taste all that different from your stock vanilla ice cream, it’s creamy and rich but what really work is the strawberry ribbon which adds some fruity brightness to every spoonful.
Like all the mix-ins in this ice cream line, there aren’t nearly enough vanilla cream cookie pieces, but the one-two punch of vanilla and strawberry is enough for us to overlook that.
The Bottom Line:
If you can get passed the color, this is a pretty great vanilla ice cream with a nice bright infusion of strawberry.
3. U.S.S. Butterscotch
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
The U.S.S. Butterscotch is kind of an elevated version of chocolate chip ice cream. The ice cream features a butterscotch base with ribbons of caramel and chocolate. There is a nice balance of rich and creamy flavors with notes of toasted butter, earthy caramel, and semi-sweet chocolate.
There are no actual chocolate chips, but the chocolate ribbon serves as an effective substitute.
The Bottom Line:
Well-balanced with a rich earthy, toasty, and chocolatey flavor in every spoonful.
2. Mint Flare
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
I’m not usually a fan of birthday cake ice cream so my expectations for Mint Flare were very low considering the ice cream looks like cupcake frosting. The flavor features a mint ice cream base with rainbow sprinkles and chocolate chunks. I was very close to giving this flavor the top spot, it’s that good.
The minty ice cream is refreshing, with a cooling flavor that is counterbalanced by the sweet flavor of candy sprinkles and shards of chocolate chip. Mint Flare really takes you on a journey, beginning with a bright sweet candy flavor that quickly turns rich as the chocolate chips begin to melt in your mouth.
It’s one of the few flavors in the Scoops Ahoy lineup that I would describe as “evolving.”
The Bottom Line:
Minty and refreshing with an addicting rich chocolate aftertaste.
1. Chocolate Pudding
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
As much as I love the journey of flavors Mint Flare offers, Chocolate Pudding is our pick for the top flavor. This flavor doubles down on the chocolate with a chocolate pudding base infused with a chocolate fudge swirl and the occasional vanilla wafer.
The wafers add a nice sense of texture to the ice cream with a gentle hint of floral vanilla, but it’s the double dose of rich chocolate that’ll win you over. It’s rich, with lots of depth, a hint of toasted cocoa, and the smooth yet indulgent flavor of fudge dominating the aftertaste.
All lovers of chocolate ice cream will fall for this flavor.
The Bottom Line:
This is it, the essential Scoops Ahoy ice cream flavor that you need stocked in your freezer come Stranger Things season 5 time.
