The Untold Truth Of Tipsy Scoop

Thanks to Tipsy Scoop, there's no longer a need to indulge in two of our favorite vices, devouring ice cream and drinking liquor, separately. The company has finally resolved this agelong inconvenience, making simultaneous consumption possible with their sinfully delicious liquor-infused ice cream. Now, that's a reason to clink our dessert bowls! 

According to CNBC, Tipsy Scoop's ice cream is five percent abv, which makes two scoops about the equivalent of one light beer. If you're wondering how it's possible to freeze alcohol in order to make the ice cream, founder Melissa Tavss found a workaround. She told Medium that they are not freezing the alcohol but churning and infusing it into the ice cream. This process makes for a softer consistency, similar to that of gelato, but Tipsy Scoop is still considered a hard ice cream (in more ways than one). Today, the ice cream is sold at retailers across the country, in two barlours (get it?) in New York City, and online through both the company's website and Goldbelly, but it took some hard work on Tavss' part to put the business on the map.

Melissa Tavss wasn't the first in her family to start an ice cream business. That honor goes all the way back to her great, great, great grandfather, Achille. According to Tavss in an article for Medium, in the 1800s, Achille moved from Picinisco, Italy, to Glasgow, Scotland, where he sold homemade ice cream from a pushcart. Later, Achille opened his own ice cream shop, and his sons became involved in the business, including Tavss' great, great grandfather Giovanni, who opened several shops around Glasgow. 

According to Great Italian Chefs, opening up an ice cream café became a popular business venture for Italian immigrants in the early 1900s, and the shops not only helped new arrivals earn a living but also helped them integrate into Scottish life. Tavss' great grandfather, Frederico, also went on to open ice cream shops, this time throughout Scotland and England, and even became president of the Ice Cream Alliance of Great Britain. So, you might say Tavss was born into the family business, but adding alcohol was entirely her own concoction. 

Tipsy Scoop was started by Melissa Tavss in 2014, according to Medium, but before she launched her company, she spent five years at The Baddish Group working on marketing for wine and spirits clients. It turns out a big perk of the gig was bringing home lots of samples — could we be more jealous? For the job, Tavss spent a lot of time learning tasting notes of different liquors. These tasting notes played a vital role in developing her own ice cream flavors, and it's a good thing they did!

According to Tavss, during college, her only requirements for choosing liquor were "cheap and in a plastic handle." It was during her time at Baddish that she began to appreciate the complex flavors of alcohol. "This was pretty revolutionary to me — liquors had complex interesting flavors — my tastes had really adapted from my college drinking days," she told Medium. Tavss first added a tablespoon of alcohol to an ice cream recipe to improve the consistency but later decided that the alcohol should play a bigger flavor role, which was better in the long run for us because we're not so sure we'd go for a Skol Sundae!

According to Tipsy Scoop's website, their ice cream is made with local and seasonal ingredients from New York City, but their flavors sound like something straight out of our dreams! With names like Mango Margarita Sorbet, Dark Chocolate Salted Whiskey Salted Caramel Ice Cream, Raspberry Limoncello Sorbet, and Cake Batter Vodka Martini Ice Cream, these creations have us pining for pints! They even sell liquor-infused ice cream sandwiches in flavors like Cake Batter Martini and Funfetti Cookies and Spiked Hazelnut Coffee and Chocolate Chip Cookie.

The company also shakes things up from time to time with limited-edition flavors, like Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey Ice Cream. Tipsy Scoop even created something special for hard seltzer enthusiasts in 2020. For a promotion, Tipsy Scoop transformed four of Truly's spiked lemonade flavors into frozen desserts. The original and black cherry spiked lemonade flavors were made into boozy ice creams, while mango and strawberry spiked lemonades were available as hard seltzer-infused sorbets (via Thrillist), meaning you could have been a real hero and checked off two categories, desserts and drinks, by bringing them to the potluck.

Social media has played a big part in Tipsy Scoop's success. Understandably, watching a video starring spiked ice cream makes a lot of people run out to look for some. In 2017, founder Melissa Tavss told CNBC, "One of our videos got like 7 million views in five days, something crazy like that." Then, people started showing up at the company's small production facility in East Harlem. At the time, Tipsy Scoop was only selling online and through retailers, but once they went viral, they started selling visitors the popular boozy ice cream straight out of the warehouse! 

From their Instagram page, currently at 105,000 followers, you can see that the company plays up the social media angle, with paper flags with catchy hashtags written on them like #icecreamwasted and #topcitybites popping out of pretty pints. The page also features lots of satisfying TikTok videos of alcohol and ice cream getting harmoniously mixed together, posted beside inviting images of bright piles of ice cream topped with everything from French fries to Lucky Charms. Be forewarned, if you look, you will experience some serious dessert FOMO.

If just the thought of having to attend one more virtual meeting has you flipping through your mental "excuse Rolodex," Tipsy Scoop has something on tap that might make you change your tune. The company sells corporate virtual ice cream cocktail party packages so that you and your colleagues can share a virtual toast with boozy desserts. All parties include a live demonstration, and some packages come with the ingredients needed for every participant to make two cocktails. Tipsy Scoop can even host a cocktail competition for your company. Now, those are some bragging rights we would love to get our spoons on.

You can even customize your party. (Please, please, please, let there be a Mashed Mocha Martini in our future!) If alcohol and co-workers can mix as well as ice cream and alcohol, then this sounds like a great time. Maybe the perfect Zoom meeting does exist? (Just be sure to mute your mic while slurping, please and thank you.)