Life

10 Friendly's Ice Cream & Wine Pairings, Because Why Not?!

There are two things I really, truly love — ice cream and wine. (Oh, and my kid, but I'm talking food here.) But I can honestly say that the thought of pairing the two has never crossed my mind until I tried out some Friendly's ice cream sundaes. And y'all. I'm going to go ahead and tell you right now to hit up your favorite store today, because there are some Friendly's ice cream and wine pairings you have to have in your life.

It's luxury at its finest. A glass of your favorite wine and a perfect, individual Friendly's ice cream sundae. It seriously becomes a decadent treat when you pair up these wines with your favorite ice cream flavor. Because these individual sundaes are just one serving, Friendly's really upped the game by making them look and taste like a special treat. Each sundae looks like an old-fashioned ice cream parlor sundae with toppings, including whipped cream and cherries, which makes you feel super fancy and happy. I mean, a giant carton of ice cream is fine, but when you want to make your dessert feel super special and awesome, you need these Friendly's ice cream sundaes.

And the taste? Ugh, out of this world. Look, I know my ice cream, and these light, creamy sundaes are incredible. The flavors are ingenious and they matched them all perfectly, including combinations of sweet and salty. I can't get over how good they all tasted and the presentation. The Friendly's ice cream sundaes are definitely desserts to be enjoyed and when you pair them up with wines? You've got a full-on dessert experience.

I enlisted the help of my best friend, Maddison Zulak (who took the beautiful pictures), and my boyfriend's mom, Elizabeth Singleton, (who is basically a wine connoisseur and gave me some great guidance on flavor pairings) to match up these 10 Friendly's ice cream sundaes with the perfect glass of wine. The three of us are no strangers to wine and ice cream, but we were all pleasantly surprised with some of the pairings and how good they all tasted together. Whether you want to try a pairing for a night in with Netflix or you want to create a sweet and fun dessert for a dinner party, these 10 Friendly's ice cream and wine pairings are perfect for any event.

1

Friendly's Cherry Chocolate Chunk Sundae

Oh man. I am always down for some cherry chocolate ice cream, but I did not think the flavor could get better with wine. But my friends, you need to pick up a bottle of merlot to make this flavor POP. Because merlot has fruity undertones and a lot of dark, berry flavors, it matched exceptionally well with the cherries and chocolate. These two were made for each other.

2

Friendly's Salted Caramel Cake Krunch Sundae

The Friendly's Salted Caramel Cake Krunch Sundae, surprisingly, paired extremely well with a chardonnay and a pinot noir. I know, white wine and ice cream? But trust me on this. The sundae was full of cake "krunchies", which were little chocolate cake pieces, and a sweet and salty flavor pairing. If you prefer reds, the pinot noir matched well with the saltiness, but if you're a white drinker, the chardonnay is crisp and mimics the buttery flavors of the ice cream.

3

Friendly's Watta Melon Sundae

OK, I'm not going to lie. This one threw me for a loop. The Friendly's Watta Melon Sundae is watermelon sorbet topped with green whipped topping and chocolate chips. It looks like a watermelon, which is fun for everyone, especially kids. But for an adult dessert, pair this with champagne. The fizz of the champagne mimics the texture of the sorbet and it's a sweet, light pairing. I also think the flavors of watermelon and champagne make me think of summer picnics, so it's a really delightful pairing to enjoy.

4

Friendly's Chocolate Cake Krunch Sundae

I knew port went well with chocolate desserts, but it's especially good with Friendly's Chocolate Cake Krunch Sundae. Because the ice cream is so rich, with both chocolate ice cream and chocolate toppings, it's a great complement to the sweetness of the port. It tastes very decadent and luxurious.

5

Friendly's Strawberry Cake Krunch Sundae

Friendly's Strawberry Cake Krunch Sundae was a seriously adorable dessert and was absolutely delicious with a chardonnay. I know, it doesn't sound right. But the creaminess of the chardonnay matched so well with an ice cream sundae that tasted like the most perfect birthday cake ever. It also mimics the buttery undertones of the chardonnay and kept it from being too rich of a pairing.

6

Friendly's Original Caramel Sundae

You can't go wrong with a classic and Friendly's Original Caramel Sundae is definitely that. Paired with a pinot grigio, another surprising white, the vanilla flavor stood out like a dream. And because the wine is light and has sweet, floral undertones, it mimicked the light caramel taste and kept it from being too heavy.

7

Friendly's Original Chocolate Fudge Sundae

The minute I saw the Friendly's Original Chocolate Fudge Sundae, I couldn't wait to try it. It was so rich and delicious, that it paired great with a Riesling. The German dessert wine offset the heaviness of the fudge and was a crisp and refreshing drink with such a rich dessert.

8

Friendly's Heath Sundae

My bestie was dying to dive into the Friendly's Heath Sundae and for good reason. If you're a fan of the Heath candy bar, or toffee in general, you will love this ice cream. It actually paired really well with two wines — a Riesling and a port. So pick your favorite! The Riesling made the heavy toffee flavors extremely smooth, while the port turned it into a seriously decadent dessert.

9

Friendly's Crayola Color Me Sundae

The Friendly's Crayola Color Me Sundae may look like a kid's dish, but it's still so delicious. Because it's a predominantly vanilla tasting ice cream, we paired it with a port just to see what would happen. Surprisingly, the port seemed to give the vanilla flavor more of a profile and brought out the sweetness of the marshmallow topping.

10

Friendly's Candy Bar Sundae

My boyfriend waited patiently to dive into the Friendly's Candy Bar Sundae and it was worth the wait. Full of sweet and salty flavors, like nougat and peanuts, a pinot noir was the perfect choice. The red wine really complemented the saltiness of the peanuts and because the ice cream is so light, it really helped to find a wine that went with the toppings.