Get the New Wright Stuff from Wright’s Creamery

Photo courtesy of Wright’s Dairy Farm.

It was a snowy, swirly January afternoon when I picked up my first mystery pint of ice cream from Wright’s Creamery at Farm Fresh Rhode Island in Providence. The day may have felt like the inside of a Dairy Queen Blizzard, but the flavor, revealed as Ocean State, conjured visions of the beach — salted graham cracker ice cream with white chocolate curls and swirls of blue. I could almost feel it between my toes.

I was about to dive into the creamery’s Wicked R.I. Test Batch Club. Every week for twelve weeks, I would pick up a Rhody-themed flavor to savor, favor or disfavor. There was WaterFire (cinnamon-spiced chocolate with candied ginger), Rhode Island Red (cream cheese and red velvet with chocolate curls) and Arcadia Management Area (cranberry with trail mix). I felt like I was sitting by the burbling fountain in DePasquale Plaza as I enjoyed a nightcap of Federal Hill/Espresso Martini (espresso and Irish cream with a sweet cream swirl).

My wife Susan gave me the membership for Christmas. She may have recalled a vacation trip years ago when we stopped at the Ben & Jerry’s factory in Vermont and I proposed a new maple-cranberry ice cream, Cranberry Boggs, named for Red Sox slugger Wade Boggs.

If Ben & Jerry’s wouldn’t listen, now Wright’s would. Test Batch Club members fill out a survey evaluating each new flavor, which are produced in small batches not sold to the general public. As an ice cream insider, I dreamed of guiding my favorite to The Show to join Wright’s regular lineup, like Tractor Tracks (vanilla caramel with crushed peanut butter cups and Oreo pieces) a few years ago.

The Test Batch Club launched with fifty members in 2019 as a way of keeping Wright’s first full-time ice cream maker occupied in the slower winter months. In each of the past two years, membership has soared to 1,500. Last year was the
first themed batch: Sweet as Pie. This year, Wright’s went full Rhode Island, declaring the Wicked R.I. theme that took creative license with familiar Rhode Island landmarks.

Photo courtesy of Wright’s Dairy Farm.

Wondering what the Independent Man would like, I sampled T.F. Green Airport (an airline snack theme featuring pretzels, peanut halves and marshmallow fluff swirl) and Big Blue Bug (blue vanilla with Nestle’s Buncha Crunch pieces, and blue and chocolate sprinkles — but no termites). Reluctantly, I dug into Johnston Landfill (chewy Grape-Nuts ice cream with pieces of raisins to replicate the landfill’s “chaotic blend of textures … and scattered layers of debris.”)

None of these flavors were awful, awful. Well, except, maybe Roger Williams Botanical Center, a lavender-infused ice cream topped with edible flower petals that prompted one survey respondent to write, “No flowered ice cream.”

The flavor I found most intriguing was Rustic Drive-In, a salted popcorn ice cream that confused my taste buds by combining the creamy texture of ice cream with the flavor of movie popcorn. Weird, my son Henry and I agreed, but we liked it — unlike most respondents, who ranked it their least favorite flavor. 

My wife’s favorite was Rhode Work — not the R.I. Department of Transportation’s RhodeWorks plan for repairing our roads and bridges (don’t get me started!), but a much more pleasing malted-chocolate ice cream with chopped Whopper candies and chocolate ganache. The “bumpy texture” was meant to mirror Rhode Island’s roads, “filled with unexpected dips and cracks” and full of surprises. Unlike DOT, Rhode Work was popular, voted No. 1.

My favorite was another summertime inspiration, Blount Clam Shack, a heavenly blend of light coffee ice cream with crushed golden Oreos and mini-marshmallows. Wright’s Creamery is selling it this summer at the original Blount Clam Shack in Warren.

Summer in a scoop. 

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The Wright’s Creamery Test Batch Club runs from January–March each year. Next year’s theme is Music. Learn more about the club, which has six-week and
twelve-week memberships, at wrightsri.com/tbc.