CMH Gourmand – Eating in Columbus & Ohio

Ice Cream Social

Jill from the Hills teamed up with Jen and Warren from Snowville Creamery to craft a pairing of two of my favorite things – ice cream and beer. Visitors could sample either separately or even better – together in the form of beer floats (or a FrostTop Root Beer float for the timid, young and infirm).

There were many skeptics about beer floats but most were converted after the end of the the evening. I now will break down the steps in the process. DO TRY THIS AT HOME.

Step 1:
Get Snowville Creamery milk, a lot of ice, some sugar, vanilla and a few other items.

Step 2:
Pour, dump and spoon ingredients into your ice cream maker. In this case, Snowville’s bicycle powered ice cream churner. This is one of the coolest things ever.

Step 3:
Wait about 45 minutes for the ice cream to churn and chill. “Let” other people pedal the bike because it is fun, fun, fun! Then get a glass.

Step 4:
Select a beer. This is where people get a little squeamish. You have to choose good beers to make good floats. Jill and the Hills did a fine job with selection – three beers were picked that were float friendly.

Orange Blossom - Orange Ale * Framboise - Raspberry Lambic * Hoppin Frog - Oatmeal Imperial Stout

Step 5 & 6:
Put scoop of homemade ice cream in beer glass. Drink float.

My favorite was The Orange Ale Float – it had an orange creamcicle quality that was perfect for a hot night.

Camera provided by and photo taken by Hungry Woolf

It was a good evening for all. A few biked the Olentangy Bike Trail which conveniently ends at the Hills Market. For those of you looking to get a disinterested person on a bike then on the trail – dangle the Hills as the end of the road reward. If there is not an event going on – there are plenty of treats to be had including: pints of Jeni’s Ice Cream, Pistacia Vera cookies, Dorothy Lane Market Killer Brownies, Sugardaddy’s Brownies and many more reasons to ride.

Snowville makes it to a few events at the Hills Market and other places in town and sometimes they bring their bikeomatic ice cream churner with them. If you see it in action – get your ice cream first and shop later, homemade ice cream scoops out quickly.

Gourmand’s Note:
A funny things happened to me on the way to the market…..

I charged my camera battery for this occasion, but forgot to put it in my camera. Fortunately, there was a Hungry Woolf at the Hills. She loaned me her camera and one of her photos so I can promote my beer float cult. Thanks B.