My Family Tried All 7 ‘Stranger Things’ Ice Creams—These Are the Best & Worst Flavors

For all of its suspense and campy horror, Stranger Things, at its core, is really just a nostalgic, guilty pleasure. My (very young) Gen Z kids binge it for the gang of children keeping Hawkins, Ind. safe from a Cold War experiment gone deeply wrong, and I watch it for the pre-iPhone, Goonies-like shenanigans—and Winona, of course.

Now, the surreal show has found its footing in the real world, in the form of an ice cream line named after the Scoops Ahoy ice cream parlor in Season 3. The Netflix-owned brand is only sold through Walmart, though, so this may be a limiting factor.

Given the level of super-fandom in my household, my family had to try every pint in this “collection,” which, it pains me to say, only includes seven flavors and not 11. (Am I the only one disappointed by this missed opportunity to reference Millie Bobby Brown’s character?)

First, there are the flavors that belong, thematically, to the “Upside Down” aspect of the show, like the self-explanatory Pineapple Upside Down Cake and Mint Flare, a hot pink, mint-chocolate riff on the monster from Season 1 known as the Mind Flayer. (I realize that to those who do not watch the show, these words sound like utter nonsense.) Everyone found these flavors to be just OK, though my 12-year-old son was more definitive, calling the former “sour” and the latter “disgusting.”

The Void also belongs to this “Upside Down” pack of flavors and wins points for its clear reference to the dark, mental space that Eleven entered when accessing her powers. But in our tasting, this vanilla ice cream dyed a deep black was the worst flavor across the board. I think my husband captured it best: “It kinda tastes like nothing.” “Eww, I’d rather eat cat food,” said my son.

The rest of the flavors skew more traditional and of this world, like the U.S.S. Butterscotch, a salted caramel and butterscotch combo that is served at Scoops Ahoy in Season 3 (but didn’t ring a bell to me), and Cinnamon Bun Bytes, a nod to the pet name—Dusty Bun—that Dustin’s girlfriend gives him. The cinnamon and cream-cheese icing swirled flavor has notes of “Cinnamon Toast Crunch milk” (my daughter’s words) that would pair well with an apple pie or crisp.

The flavor everyone aside from myself loved most was Chocolate Pudding, a rich, dense chocolate blended with fudge and vanilla wafers. “Really good” but also “basic,” my teenage daughter wrote down in her notes; “12 out of 10” was my son’s power ranking.

For me, the real winner is the Triple Decker Extravaganza, mainly because it feels like an ice cream that belongs in the Stranger Things universe. Eleven and her de facto dad, Hopper (David Harbour), share a version of this treat in Season 2: waffles, layered with whipped cream, Hershey’s Kisses, Reese’s Pieces, and jelly beans. The ice cream version is super sweet, yes—it has a vanilla-butter-maple base studded with waffle bits and chunks of peanut butter candies. But it’s also true to the show, and this, to me, is the only reason to go out of your way for these scoops: to indulge in their sweet, nostalgic novelty.

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