Following reader suggestions on the best ice cream in the Twin Cities, my wife and I loaded up the little one and headed out for ice cream tonight. Knowing that I would not like my wife’s choice, I added another stop (which will be posted later) to the itinerary. How could my ice cream loving wife pass up the opportunity to eat at two ice cream shops in one night?

The first stop in a race around Minneapolis’ ice cream offerings was Pumphouse Creamery. Pumphouse prides itself in offering all natural ice cream which come from organic milk, cream and locally produced ingredients. Their menu doesn’t just include your standard vanilla and chocolate, nope, this ice cream shop offers ice creams which include chocolate brownie and local cherries and even ones made with beer and malt balls.

As we approached the fairly hard to notice location at E 47th and Chicago Ave S we at first thought the store was closed–as in for good. It was dark, there were empty milk bottles on the counters, and no one inside. After peering in closer we saw someone emerge from the back and we walked in thoroughly surprised that on a night like last night it was completely empty. A later patron mentioned his shock to not see the line out the door and the person working the counter said it had been slow and that, “people must be really enjoying the weather elsewhere.”

Being that this was a hard ice cream place I let my wife pick her choices in ice cream and I ordered a root beer which was advertised in the store as being on tap. The root beer was quite good even though it was not as cold as I’d like. My wife chose butter pecan with homemade butterscotch sauce and the sea salt caramel praline with toasted pecans. Both scoops came on top of one another in a cup with a homemade cone on top.

The sea salt caramel had no real discernible flavor for either of us. I ate a little and let me my wife continue until she said she wasn’t interested anymore. While I didn’t think it was unworthy of ice cream status (at least as far as hard ice cream goes) she did and said that she definitely wouldn’t order it again in the future. On the other hand we both loved the butter pecan ice cream. It was very buttery and very creamy and if I wasn’t such a hard ice cream hater I might even say this was worth a future trip to try again–if it weren’t for the fact that they make beer ice cream from Brau Brothers beer.

Soon after we sat down to enjoy our respective treats the line which was nonexistent just moments before was out the door as expected. Plenty of people were staring at the menu with one remarking, “how are you supposed to make a choice?!” I had to agree. With many of the names sounding so tasty it would have been hard for me–I’ll have to wait and see on our next visit if another flavor can tempt me away from the Oak Aged Stout and Malted Milk Balls ice cream flavor. I hope they accept the challenge.

Overall it was a nice trip to a nice store in a nice little section of Minneapolis which I probably would not have visited if it weren’t for this shop. Of the three things we tried last night two were good and one was eh but we’ll definitely be back especially in the fall as they were already touting their local pumpkin ice cream–being that my wife is a total pumpkin freak.

Have you been to Pumphouse Creamery in Minneapolis? If so what did you think? What is your favorite flavor combination that they offer? Were there any flavors that you didn’t care for and if so why? Whatever you have to say about Pumphouse Creamery in Minneapolis go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear what you have to say!

Address:
Pumphouse Creamery
4754 Chicago Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55407

Phone:
612-825-2021

Hours:
Noon until 10 pm (summer hours)
Check website for other seasons

See all the pictures from Pumphouse Creamery on Flickr here.

Related posts:

1. Blue Sky Creamery: Lakeville, MN
2. Blue Sky Creamery: Lakeville, MN
3. Minnehaha Falls Park: Minneapolis, MN
4. Sea Salt Eatery: Minneapolis, MN