Thursday, December 13, 2007

Fred Claus Cranberry Grape Icee


I don’t have the pleasure of having a 7-Eleven store anywhere within a realistic driving distance from my house, thus, I’ve had to miss out on all of the cool, exclusive Slurpee flavors birthed from multimillion dollar marketing campaigns, like Kryptonite Ice for Superman Returns and Blue Woo-Hoo! Vanilla for The Simpsons Movie.  But, the gastronomical gods were smiling on me, as the other night I stumbled upon an edible oddity was the biggest shock to my system since that Polaroid picture from my graduation night found its way onto the Internet.

The other night I was walking around my local Walgreens (pharmacy/convenience store), killing time waiting to pick up a pizza when I found this puzzling promotion that had me literally dancing in the aisles.  At the time I didn’t have a camera handy, so I anxiously bid my time to the following day, when I tried to slip in undetected to get my prize.


Right off the bat, a teenaged female employee asked me if I needed help finding anything.  I said, “no thanks, just getting some condoms” and kept walking nonchalantly to my delicious destination.  I didn’t want anybody to be around when I got out the camera and started taking pictures.  With a font so regal it begged me to kneel before it, I had to ignore that beckoning and focus.


After taking a moment to marvel at this momentous occasion I did the always short, yet undeniably fun task of filling up my Icee cup.  At this point, I wasn’t concerned with anything else, just amused that such a beverage existed and glad I had the opportunity of documenting it.  As I was checking out I was now feeling pretty good, I had my drink, took photos, etc. so toying with the Fred Claus theme I brashly said to the pimply-faced employee, “so, is Frank here?”  His response, “Frank will be in at 9PM.”  He thought I was talking about a real Frank!  I need to write that one down in my diary, right next to that unfinished poem about Beldorf the Wizard from Power Rangers: Dino Thunder.


Here’s where the real surprise came, as this stuff was actually quite incredible.  There are a hundred different variations on frozen drinks, but Icee is fairly consistent.  The texture and consistency of the drink was incredibly light and smooth, the taste mild and pleasant, and overall, the drink was a real treat.  Cranberry can be tart, but in this form, I couldn’t get enough, even though it did totally overshadow any remnants of grape flavor.  Still, in the flavor category, this is easily one of the better Icee drinks I’ve had in a really long time.


So, overall, combining the limited edition appeal of the Fred Claus tie-in, collectible cup, and being surprisingly tasty, I’d have to say I was really pleased with this, especially considering it only cost a dollar.  I have no clue how widespread this promotion is, although it’s temporarily getting some mileage on the official Icee website, but if you’ve got a Walgreens nearby, it’s certainly worth a look to see if they’re carrying it.  I urge you to drive around looking at Christmas lights and decorations, all the while contentedly sipping a Fred Claus Cranberry Grape Icee.

Overall Grade: A- 

2 comments:

  1. This is awesome!! Thanks for documenting it!! I wish I knew about this before. I've loved Fred Claus since it came out. Now I need to hunt this down on ebay. Im still looking for the ICEE 2003 Daredevil promotional cup. Thats been an impossible hunt for over a decade. No one remembers that but me.
    Also, you should check out the Fred Claus Walmart exclusive DVD with ornament. Its very cool. Back when DVD exclusives were awesome.
    Thanks again!

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