Americans love their ice cream. According to the International Dairy Foods Association, 1.53 million gallons of this frozen treat were produced in the U.S. in 2013. No doubt plenty of that made its way to Boulder, Colorado, where there is a slew of of ice cream shops up and down thie picturesque mountain streets. Because several of these shop owners graduated from Colorado culinary school, their take on ice cream is as innovative as it is rich and tasty.
If your sweet tooth is acting up, be sure to check out these scrumptious ice cream shops in Boulder:
Glacier Home Made Ice Cream & Gelato: As its name might imply, this shop – with two locations across Boulder – emphasizes expertly crafted ice cream. Since opening in 2001, Glacier has developed over 1,000 unique flavors, and it showcases a rotating collection of 80 varieties at each shop. Glacier has worked to perfect several popular options, including birthday cake, praline, cookies and cream, vanilla bean, lemon and almond. More experimental mixtures include caramel Oreo, peanut butter with Nutella swirls, Death by Chocolate (which features 4 different kinds of chocolate), Bing cherry and, perhaps one of the shop’s signatures, Funky Donkey, which combines fudge, Oreos and peanut butter ice cream. Be sure to visit Glacier often as the staff adds a new ice cream blend every few weeks.
Sweet Cow: From the menu to the business model itself, Sweet Cow takes a fresh approach to the ice cream business. For one, the company is entirely green, meaning it uses compostable and recyclable products within its handful of locations. Despite that serious commitment to the environment, its rotating lineup of flavors is informed by a sense of joy and carefree experimentation. The North Boulder store features flavors like apple pie, Earl Grey tea and cookies, chocolate banana, sweet corn and Lucky Charms cereal. Or, take a drive to their South Boulder location, which features Fruity Pebbles cereal, German chocolate cake, pineapple sorbet, blueberry pancake and something called “hijklm and m.” Can’t make it to a shop? You can hire the Sweet Cow food truck – the Moo Mobile – to come to your house or an event.
Ben & Jerry’s Boulder Ice Cream Shop: Since its founding in 1978, the Ben & Jerry’s brand has served as a benchmark of quality and innovation in the ice cream industry. Though the company has long been based out of Vermont, it has one of its only physical shops right here in Boulder. Over the years, Ben & Jerry’s has unveiled a few hundred varieties of ice cream, and the Boulder shop plays host to many of these. Popular options include Triple Caramel Chunk, Candy Bar Pie and Salted Caramel Blondie. Or, try some of its pun-tastic blends, like The Tonight Dough – which features chocolate and caramel ice cream blended with cookie bits, cookie dough and peanut butter – and Spectacular Speculoos, a medley of caramel and vanilla ice creams, Speculoos cookies and Speculoos cookie butter.
