By Andrea
Frazeur
'Blenders'
frozen dessert spikes up adult market
Blenders, a
"superpremium" ice cream spiked with
real distilled spirits, is the first adult
dessert which combines ice cream and alcohol in a
stable mix. The convenient ice cream drink is set
to sell in retail groceries and liquor stores
across the Midwest.
"We're all ready to go," says Daryl
Orris, company president of Ice Cream Bar, Inc.
"Right now, we're looking for investors, so
we can begin manufacturing and
distribution."
Orris has spent four years developing
Blenders, which he believes will achieve almost
instant success once on the market. Blenders
comes in nine flavors, including the popular
stand-bys such as grasshopper, pink squirrel and
brandy alexander. Ice Cream Bar has received
approval from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms to produce Blenders in a 100-milliliter
(about 3.5 ounces) cup.
New use for dairy
Central Minnesota Cooperative of Sauk Centre
is set to manufacture Blenders, Orris says. Bill
Stoll, AURI's dairy and food industry expert,
introduced Orris to the dairy co-op. AURI has
also provided funds so Orris could manufacture
initial inventories and develop marketing
strategies.
"Blenders is a new value-added use for
Minnesota's dairy products," says Lisa
Gjersvik, manager of AURI's Waseca office.
"It's exciting to see a new product that
doesn't take market share away from other
dairy-based products."
The idea that Blenders creates a new market
for dairy products is what drew AURI to the
project, explains Stoll. "You create a new
yogurt, for instance, and you just take the
consumer dollar away from some other company.
Blenders reaches out to a new audience, to new
consumer dollars."
Superpremium science
From 1985 to 1993, Orris owned Viking Creative
Concepts, Inc., an agency specializing in new
food product promotion. Viking Creative Concepts
worked with thousands of products for major
companies such as Green Giant, Pillsbury, General
Mills, Land O' Lakes, Red Baron, Hunt Wesson and
International Multifoods.
Through his work, Orris noted that spirited
ice cream wasn't being marketed by anyone. After
embarking on the new product venture, he became
aware that companies had tried to develop a
stable ice cream-alcohol blend, but had been
unsuccessful. Normally, alcohol quickly melts the
ice crystals in ice cream. That's why ice cream
drinks, created in the United States shortly
after the turn of the century, have only been
available in bars and restaurants or at home.
Then Orris read a journal article about
Charley Pyne, a food scientist in Cape Cod, Mass.
Pyne had helped formulate Bailey's Irish Cream,
and Orris suspected Pyne could help him with ice
cream drinks.
He hired Pyne to work with St. Paul food
scientist Rulon Chappell and University of
Minnesota scientists David Smith and Reynault
Miller. Working in the U of M dairy foods pilot
plant, they created a proprietary process for a
stable ice cream drink and a superpremium ice
cream. Orris applied for a patent on both process
and formulations.
Front-to-back taste
In 1992, Orris and his brother, Terry, a
bartender by trade, began to develop 25 flavors,
all eventually trademarked. The brothers
experimented with top-of-the-line liqueurs until
they found the desired flavors. The ice creams
were formulated to be pleasing to the front,
middle and back of the palate; each contain
different types of taste.
"Originally, the brandy alexander tasted
like chocolate," Orris says. "We went
back and reformulated the flavors so that you get
a front taste of brandy and a back taste of
chocolate."
Early in 1994, Orris conducted taste tests
that showed how successful Blenders might be.
Focus group research showed 100 percent of all
group members would buy Blenders if it were
available, and 100 percent would go to a liquor
store to purchase it.
In a thousand-sample taste test, all
respondents enjoyed Blenders. When they tasted
their favorite ice cream desserts, they rated
them as excellent. Women appeared especially
pleased with Blenders.
The long four years
To bring Blenders to market, Orris had to
obtain approval from several state and federal
agencies. Because the ice cream containing
distilled spirits was a new product, government
agents had to decide which agencies were
responsible for monitoring it.
An ice cream product is normally regulated by
the FDA. Because Blenders is intoxicating, the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms became
responsible for the stamp of approval. The Sauk
Centre Cooperative had to obtain a federal
distiller's permit and a state license to produce
ethyl alcohol.
To identify the product as adult-only, the
label had to include a picture cue -- the
silhouette of a small child with a line drawn
through it. There is still bureaucratic wrangling
over whether the label must include nutritional
information.
It took Orris over three years to obtain
approval from BATF to produce Blenders in the
100-milliliter cup, which will sell for 99 cents.
He continues to wait for label approval on 375
milliliter, 1 liter, and 1.75 liter packages. He
anticipates the 1.75 liter package (about a half-
gallon) to retail at $14.95.
The smooth ice cream can be whipped up in a
blender for a traditional dessert drink, or eaten
straight from the container. Blenders can also
fill a pie shell or be poured over a cake and
refrozen for a fun adult dessert.
Blenders will initially be marketed and
distributed in Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois,
three states that allow liquor to be sold in
grocery stores. Since Minnesota only allows
products with liquor to be sold in liquor stores,
Blenders will not be distributed here initially.
Several national liquor distributors have shown
an interest, however, and Blenders should be
available in Minnesota eventually.
"Grocers understand how to merchandise,
handle, warehouse and store frozen perishables
like Blenders," Orris says. "Under good
conditions, Blenders will have a good shelf life
for a whole year, but we're hoping the product
will go through a fast three-month window from
production to consumption."
![[Image of Ag Innovation News Logo]](images/smaglogo.gif)
![[Image of Spirited Ice Cream]](images/icspirit.gif)
![[Image of person holding Spirited Ice Cream]](images/spike.gif)