SAVOR ENCORE
Here's the Scoop
True North Ice Cream delivers handmade, boozy flavors BY KATIE HOUSTON
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“It doesn’t take a lot of bourbon for the Honey Bourbon, but it takes a lot of Bailey’s to get the flavor where I want it,” he says. These spiked flavors require a longer, colder freeze (–8oF) because of the alcohol and are served only in bowls, since they melt so fast that serving them in a cone would be very messy for the customer. Frentz, 58, makes 50 to 60 gallons of frozen goodness each day, including several dairy-free flavors, like Lemon Poppyseed and Chocolate Pecan Chip, which are made from plant-based milks, and water-based cherry, mango and strawberry-lemonade sorbets. Any necessary food coloring comes from natural ingredients such as turmeric, spirulina, beet juice and purple carrots.
Brian Powers
n the middle of Southwest Michigan’s long, cold spring came the rare gift of an April Saturday when the temperature hit 80 degrees. That day, True North Ice Cream in Marshall sold 82 gallons of ice cream to 1,100 people — creamy caloric sweetness all handmade by owner Vaughn Frentz. Even on a cool weekday afternoon, there was a steady stream of customers trying to choose from 32 varieties, including six boozy flavors (yes, you must be 21 to order) — Cherry Amaretto, Honey Bourbon, True North Slide (chocolate ice cream with amaretto and kahlua), Bailey Mountain, Rum Chata and Limoncello. Frentz says the quantity of alcohol in those formulas varies.
12 | ENCORE JULY 2022
