Delving Into The Dutch Udder

Last night The Dutch Udder hosted an Official Yelp Event. Sometimes these events are joint partnerships with a few different local businesses, but last night was all about ice cream. Although, on some level, The Dutch Udder is all about partnerships. There are lots of local businesses represented both in the flavors they make and in the products they create.

For example, Cider Belly Doughnuts are used in the Cider Donut flavored ice cream; Nine Pin’s signature cider is used in the Hard Cider sorbet; and Adirondack Winery is represented in the Strawberry Wine Sorbet.

Kem makes her own brownies for the brownie sundae, but she uses donuts from Schuyler Bakery for the hot glazed donut ice cream sandwich. Sometimes she’ll make a special flavored batch of whipped cream—there’s an Irish cream one planned for later this week—but the hot fudge comes from Saratoga Springs. And the root beer in the root beer floats comes from Delmar’s Royal Meadery.

Oh man, that root beer float. I’m an ice cream soda guy, and this was pretty killer.

In the heat of the moment, I think I may have swooned hard for the brownie hot fudge sundae. But if I think about what I might order again on my next visit, it’s going to be hard to get me to stray from the root beer float. Unless, of course, they’ve got even something more special being served at that moment.

Because I’ve learned something important last night.

Does anyone remember last year’s Tour de Homemade Hard Ice Cream? Samascott beat out The Dutch Udder by a hair. But I think in part that was because we were trying to compare flavor to flavor versus shop to shop. And maybe, just maybe, that might not be the best way to reach a conclusion about which is the premiere ice cream shop on the eastern side of the region.

I say this because last night a few lucky members of the Yelp Elite Squad got the rare opportunity to eat through an entire ice cream case from The Dutch Udder, and doing so reveals a lot about their flavor profiles and textures.

With this broad tasting experience under my belt, I have a newfound love for The Dutch Udder. There is a stickiness and an elastic pull to the texture of its ice cream that just isn’t duplicated elsewhere. And there’s such incredible attention to detail and care in layering flavors to create a harmonious whole.

I still can’t believe that Kem isn’t happy with her delicious lemon, lavender, and poppy seed ice cream. I thought it was fantastic, but she’s going to retool it. And if you missed the first batch of it, you are out of luck, because it’s all gone.

She may also never make the Thai Iced Cream that premiered last night ever again. I don’t think we ate it all, so if you know what’s good for you, run down to Troy before it runs out. That’s assuming you actually enjoy Thai iced tea. For me, it’s typically too heavy to drink with my Thai meals, but I do have a soft spot for the flavor and its striking color.

There are over sixty flavors The Dutch Udder makes. But only a small subset is available at any given time. And some will sound more appealing than others.

So here’s my pitch.

Go. Go regardless of whatever flavors may be listed on Facebook or Instagram. Every now and again, there’s a small amount of something extra lurking around the freezer. Should nothing sounds particularly appealing, and you don’t want to go with “plain vanilla”, treat yourself to the root beer float.

Personally, I love the interplay of icy and creamy. And that’s exactly what happens when vanilla ice cream is dropped into soda. The liquid freezes to the outside edges of the ice cream, and the resulting textures fulfill all my frozen dessert dreams.

But at some point this week, The Dutch Udder will also be adding a bit of Jameson Irish whiskey to their hot fudge, to pour over the Chocolate Guinness Stout ice cream, and will top it all off with Bailey’s Irish Cream whipped cream.

Now if only I wasn’t in an ice cream coma right now, I might be able to motivate to get some.