Wendy’s has once again released a new flavor of its vaunted Frosty dessert. And this time, it’s minty.
The Ohio-based burger chain followed up its summer strawberry Frosty with a new peppermint flavor for the holiday season. The peppermint Frosty froze its way into stores on Nov. 15 and is available for a limited time only.
After being very disappointed by the strawberry Frosty, I was optimistic about the peppermint version. I am a sucker for peppermint ice cream — don’t get it twisted, it is much different than typical mint chip — and in some ways it should be easier to perfect than a fruit flavor without tasting too artificial.
So I rolled up to Wendy’s on Tuesday irrationally excited about my seasonal frozen treat. The woman at the window even told me that she loved the new flavor — I was convinced! I was going to love it, maybe even more than the classic chocolate Frosty.
Then I took one bite of the icy, minty dessert. I didn’t taste peppermint. I tasted disappointment.
The peppermint Frosty from Wendy's. (Jeremy Schneider | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
The peppermint Frosty, much like its strawberry predecessor, tastes artificial. Once again, I was convinced that Wendy’s simply took a vanilla Frosty base and mixed a flavor syrup into it. I tasted too much vanilla, and not enough peppermint. I took a few more bites and soon felt like I was eating cold, icy medicine.
I will give Wendy’s this: The peppermint Frosty is an improvement over the strawberry Frosty. The flavor, while not as good as peppermint ice cream from Friendly’s (Fribbles forever) wasn’t terrible. I didn’t get close to finishing the strawberry Frosty, but I kept eating the peppermint version until it was just about gone. Mixing this with the classic chocolate Frosty would be probably be a chocolate minty delight.
Perhaps my hopes were too high. There are plenty of great fast food mint desserts. The Shamrock Shake at McDonald’s is good, and Chick-fil-A’s peppermint milkshake is among the best fast food desserts in the world with terrific peppermint flavor and crunchy peppermint bark. And Wendy’s chocolate Frosty is truly iconic, perhaps the best dessert to ever come out of a drive-thru. So yeah, I expect a lot. And this sadly doesn’t deliver.
Wendy’s new Frosty flavors are a football, and I am Charlie Brown. I keep getting excited, and then at the last minute Wendy’s pulls it away and I am left with ice cold disappointment. Maybe the next limited edition flavor will break the cycle.
Or maybe I should just stick to chocolate.
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Jeremy Schneider may be reached at jschneider@njadvancemedia.com and followed on Twitter at @J_Schneider and on Instagram at @JeremyIsHungryAgain.