Website Review: What Can Www.Icecream.Com Do for You?

If you're anything like me, you're just biding your time with boring old fudge popsicles and the occasional summertime sorbet in anticipation of seasonal ice cream delights. While the coffee shops start serving us egg nog and pumpkin spice lattes in October, it is the egg nog and pumpkin ice cream that really steals the show - particularly, that which is trucked out of the Edy's/Dreyer's warehouse. But when, you wonder, just when will this ice cream hit the shelves? And where? Which purveyor of ice cream within a 50 mile radius of my house will sell this delicious seasonal treat? Wonder no more, as www.icecream.com can provide the answers you seek.

A Google search directed me to the site - where, by the way, I learned that Dreyer's will be unveiling a Hot Cocoa flavor this season - when I asked the search engine when I could expect to find the Pumpkin flavor at my local Safeway. Icecream.com's welcome page features a map of the United States, and allows the viewer to select the state in which he or she "eats ice cream most often." Then, you are whisked to a new page where it suddenly becomes clear that Dreyer's owns the www.icecream.com domain name. You find an assortment of new products, a biography of the most enviable man on the planet (Dreyer's ice cream taster), a kids' art contest, and some meatier info on Dreyer's involvement in the cause to save the honey bees.

What you really want to find - the date of delivery to and location of that pumpkin ice cream - sits at the bottom of the page, left hand side: the "Flavor Finder." You click "Find it at a store near me!" and hope that your internet connection recognizes the urgency in your movements. There, you can select the type of ice cream product, such as "Slow Churned" or "Grand." You are then directed to specify a flavor. While the standard repertoire of flavors is there, the seasonal or special flavors are not. Look toward the top of the page, and you can click on yet another option: the "Detailed Flavor Search." It's kind of like searching for that one specific and rare book at the library....only, you're searching for ice cream. You can manually enter the descriptive text, such as "pumpkin," or, if the name eludes you, narrow your search within set parameters - for instance, including or excluding "nut pieces" or "candy," or keeping it Kosher or gluten-free.

I entered "pumpkin," but the results told me that the flavor is not yet on store shelves. I could, however, sign up for an email alert telling me when said flavor will be available. I typed in my zip code and the search page provided me with a list of all grocery stores within a five (or up to 50) mile radius of my home. I selected the three closest stores, checked off the "pumpkin" flavor, entered my email address, and now can check my email incessantly for notification that a big rig has pulled up to Safeway, filled to the brim with Dreyer's Pumpkin Ice Cream. That being said, www.icecream.com is a pretty nifty way to manage your ice cream craving.