Located next to LA Fitness, the 1,311-square-foot shop offers an ever-expanding list of flavors that is up to more than 70 in all. It keeps 20 of them available, rotating them regularly based on supply. Always part of the mix are 10 offerings, including Chocolate, Strawberry, Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip, Biscoff, Funfetti Cake, Peanut Butter Oreo, S’mores and Vanilla Bean, plus two dairy-free options: a sorbet and a vegan ice cream.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Besides ice cream by the scoop, sundae or milkshake, customers also can order a “flight” of ice cream: four separate flavors at a smaller sampling size than the typical scoop.
MORE: New restaurant could be coming to former Milano’s location in West Chester
Amy Alexander, of Mason, stopped by Wednesday afternoon and ordered a scoop of Peter Rabbit, which is a carrot cake-flavored ice cream. She said she keeps coming back to Craft Creamworks because of the texture and flavor of its ice cream.
“This is what I tell people all the time, because I’m always recommending this place to folks,” she said. “I think that this is a competitor with Graeter’s and Aglamesis. If you are a real ice cream person, this is the place that you want to come (to) when you’re trying out ice cream when you come to Cincinnati.”
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Craft Creamworks is open to customers’ suggestions. A plastic bucket by the front door collects their ideas for new flavors.
“We do a Maple Bourbon (ice cream) and people are like, ‘You should do a Bourbon Pecan Pie,’ and I’m like, ‘That sounds pretty good,’” Strang said. “The possibilities are kind of endless.”
MORE: O’Charley’s closes West Chester location after 24 years
Outside the shop, Strang and Becker offer customers’ dogs a free scoop of “Scoopy Doo” ice cream — sweet ice cream with grain-free peanut butter dog treats mixed in.
Strang said he had been making ice cream out of his home for several years and selling it to friends, but “it got to the point where one friend turned to 10 and 10 turned to 25.”
“It was overwhelming,” he said. “I was trying to find a way to make it on a bigger scale and try to find an avenue to sell it through.”
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Reaching out via social media for someone with a commercial kitchen he could use, he found Becker, whose mother owns Dancing Roll sushi restaurant in West Chester. Strang handles the ice cream-making, while Becker handles the staff, payroll, taxes and other such issues.
At 5 p.m. Thursday, the business is taking part in a beer pairing at BC's Bottle Lodge in Liberty Twp., one that will pair a flight of Deerfield Twp.'s Sonder Brewing beer with a flight of Craft Creamworks ice cream. To book a spot, visit www.tinyurl.com/brewsandicecream.
About the Author
