I Tasted Graeter’s Skyline Chili Ice Cream. It’s Delicious.

Last week, when venerated Ohio ice cream purveyor Graeter’s announced that it would produce an ice cream inspired by Cincinnati’s beloved Skyline chili, I was admittedly a little repulsed. Even though I know that Midwesterners frequently eat cinnamon rolls alongside their chili, this was a combination that took the meaty-savory-sweet pairing just a little bit too far. Travis Kelce, boyfriend of Taylor Swift, Super Bowl-bound Kansas City Chiefs tight end, and an Ohio native, recently agreed with my initial assessment on his podcast, New Heights. After giving the ice cream a taste, I can confidently confirm that we were both wrong.

Upon receiving the dry-ice-encased pint of Skyline ice cream, I steeled my stomach at the thought of trying it. Fortunately, it quickly became clear there is no actual chili in Graeter’s chili-flavored ice cream — no chunks of meat or errant tomato — just warm spices in a creamy vanilla base. Opened in Cincinnati in 1949 by Greek immigrants, Skyline is pretty secretive about the spice blend used in its chili, which is distinctly different from the spicier, more tomatoey Texas-style chili. In the ice cream, I tasted allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon, maybe a little clove. That combo is, of course, also extremely popular in desserts and baked goods, and it makes total sense in a pint of ice cream.

But there’s something savory in the background of this mashup that I can’t quite identify — it keeps the ice cream from tasting too much like eggnog or cinnamon rolls, and the effect is actually quite pleasant. The chile powder notes are more subtle; Graeter’s isn’t trying to punch you in the face with the fact that it’s a chili flavored ice cream, it’s just taking a little inspiration from an American icon. I also really enjoyed the whole oyster crackers, traditionally served alongside Skyline chili, that are swirled throughout the pint. The hint of saltiness from the crackers is certainly welcome, and they somehow remained crispy despite being smothered in cream and frozen.

This ice cream succeeds where other gimmicky ice creams have failed, following in the footsteps of the gloriously cheesy Van Leeuwen Kraft mac and cheese collab and avoiding the pitfalls of the garlicky, gritty everything bagel flavor from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams. There’s a sense with a lot of these “brand collabs” that they’re just marketing stunts, not actual products humans would want to consume, but that’s not the case here. I could genuinely see this pint being a dose of comforting nostalgia for a lifelong Cincinnatian, as well as just a fun way to introduce a total stranger to the magic of Skyline chili.

I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I want the Skyline chili ice cream to replace my go-to dark chocolate or cookies and cream, but it’s objectively a great scoop, and I’m big enough to admit that I was totally wrong about it. Perhaps if the Chiefs win their record third consecutive Super Bowl, Travis Kelce, who once played for the University of Cincinnati Bearcats, will also be ready to eat his words and celebrate with a nice, cool bowl of Skyline chili ice cream.

If you want to do the same, you better act quickly — it’s a limited-time offering, and a representative for Graeter’s tells me that pints are flying off the shelves, both on the creamery’s website and in grocery stores in a handful of states, including Ohio, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.