WE ALL SCREAM z y ) o o ( FOR B ICE CREAM! Hardscoop Distillery in Charleston, South Carolina, makes boozy ice cream dreams come true. WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY CARRIE DOW
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razy ideas are often the best ideas. But getting an idea off the vision board and into people’s hands is where most fade into obscurity. Society calls those who turn crazy ideas into reality geniuses. I consider Jason Kirby and his partners at Hardscoop Distillery to be geniuses. Their momentous achievement? Combining the rich, decadent ice cream of our childhood with the decidedly adult tastes of booze. Is there a Nobel Prize for desserts? “We thought it was a simple, straightforward sort of thing to do,” said Kirby of the decision to start an ice cream distillery, “and we thought it was a good idea.” Good idea, yes. Simple to do, not so much. That’s because alcohol doesn’t freeze at the same temperature ice cream does. “We started working on the science behind that and came up with something,” Kirby said. As those who distill already know, the higher the proof of the alcohol, the lower the freezing point, making spirits difficult to freeze. That is unless your home freezer can get down to -173.2 F (-114 C), the freezing point of a bottle of 190 proof Everclear. Distilled wine, with its higher water content and lower alcohol levels, can freeze at about 20 F (-6.7 C). A pint of grape-based spirit Hardscoop is at eight percent ABV. “We feel like that’s a good gold zone,” Kirby said about their ABV sweet spot. “You have something that is not just a novelty. It has some kick to it.”
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While there are several brands of boozy ice creams on the market today, most companies buy the alcohol they put into their ice cream from somewhere else. Hardscoop, founded by Kirby, Rachel Solomon, and Chris Ledbetter, is, as far as we know, the only licensed distillery in the country making the booze that goes directly into their ice cream. Another thing they do differently is to make the ice cream with as much care as the alcohol. “We always say that we try to make an ultra-premium product,” explained Kirby. “We really wanted to make a good ice cream and a good sorbet to start with. You have to have good ingredients, especially when you’re trying to combine alcohol. You can’t skimp or it won’t work.” The company makes ice cream with 14 percent butter fat and then adds high-quality ingredients like Madagascar vanilla, locally roasted coffee beans, and fresh fruit from South Carolina farms, which means their ice cream will hold its own against a pint of Ben & Jerry’s or Haagen-Dazs any day. Then they add the booze, making it even better. In the beginning the trio spent a year doing endless testing and tasting — must have been rough eating all that ice cream — before they came upon a formula they liked. They then sold their first pints
“ You have to have good ingredients,
especially when you’re trying to combine alcohol. You can’t skimp or it won’t work.” — JASON KIRBY, Hardscoop Distillery
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