Get the scoop | Ice cream shops across Kentucky
IN KENTUCKY, WE ASSOCIATE JUNE with the arrival of fireflies and humidity, with schools emptying out and ice cream shops filling up.
The folks who serve ice cream have been preparing for that seasonal influx of customers to their shops, many of which are family-owned small businesses. Here are just of few of the many ice cream vendors across the state who are dedicated to helping us make summer memories, one scoop at a time.
Chaney’s Dairy Barn, Bowling Green
Signature flavors: How Now Brownie Cow, Big Red Rumble
Celebrating 20 years in business, Chaney’s Dairy Barn has grown into a robust dairy operation that produced almost 30,000 gallons of ice cream last year. Chaney’s used to make their ice cream from a mix, but owner Carl Chaney says, “Now that we have our hand in everything from the cow to the cone, we really see the difference.” Chaney’s premium vanilla even took home the gold medal at the 2022 Kentucky State Fair.
The success of their ice cream has helped Chaney’s grow into a full-service agritourism destination with a playground, farm tours, special events like “Moovie Night” and even a cow-milking robot. In warm weather, Chaney says, “We’ll have a crowd on the playground before we even open. We’ve been blessed.”
Forever Sweet Creamery, Paducah
Signature flavors: chocolate cayenne, sweet corn
“We’re very interested in the nostalgia of ice cream,” says Stewart Lofton, owner of Forever Sweet Creamery, where chatting and reminiscing happen as spontaneously as brain freeze. Sometimes older customers will come in and tell stories of ice cream shop visits in the past, of first dates and family outings.
Lofton, his wife, Susan, and daughter Makenzie run the shop on the Paducah riverfront and want to help today’s customers make memories they’ll want to share in later years.
That means putting in the work to produce homemade ingredients. If they offer blackberry pie ice cream, Lofton says, “We don’t go to the store and buy blackberry pie. We’re going to make that blackberry pie.”
He says it’s all worthwhile because there’s something special about this business: “Ice cream is one of those things—you can buy happiness with it.”
Roll Over Rolled Ice Cream and Boba Tea, Morehead
Signature flavors: butter pecan cheesecake, Ruth Hunt bourbon ball
This downtown Morehead ice cream shop is distinct in both menu and mission. Roll Over serves rolled ice cream (also known as stir-fried ice cream or Thai rolled ice cream), a kind of soft serve that’s spread on a super-cold cutting board that allows the ice cream to be shaped into vertical rolls that can be mixed with other ingredients at the customer’s request. Co-owner Angel Pope says, “The flavor is more intense because it’s made on the spot.”
Pope and her co-owner Angie Nelson met through Back Roads Rescue, an animal rescue nonprofit that Pope founded in nearby Carter County. They started Roll Over in part to fund Back Roads Rescue’s mission.
The Saber, a chocolate chip cookie dough flavor offered by Roll Over, is named for a dog who came through Back Roads Rescue. Photo: Ace Shelby
In fact, the items on Roll Over’s ice cream menu are named after actual animals that have come through Back Roads Rescue. The Oscar, for example, is a butter pecan cheesecake ice cream dish that commemorates a particular treeing Walker coonhound that, Pope says, “ate so many sticks of butter off my counter.”
Pope encourages customers to read about beloved dogs like Emma, Festus and Frankie at the store’s website (rolloverrolledicecream.com) while enjoying the M&M, Fruity Pebbles and Oreo rolled ice cream dishes named in their honor.
Rowlett’s Milkhouse Creamery, Campbellsburg
Signature flavors: bourbon eggnog, caramel apple
“I make all the ice cream,” says Sharon Rowlett, who co-owns Rowlett’s Milkhouse Creamery with her brother, Terry.
He runs the butter and cheese-making parts of the operation, which, like the ice cream, uses milk produced by the Holstein and Jersey cows on their Henry County farm. Sharon mixes the ice cream, making sure it’s free of stray ice pellets and placing it in a device known as a hardening cabinet, which chills the treats at minus 32 degrees.
Sharon, a retired elementary school principal, says she loves the interaction with customers and takes particular pride in being able to run the business while providing a delicious and affordable product.
“We have to pay our bills, but it brings families together and they should be able to afford it,” she says. “We haven’t raised prices since we opened.”
GRAHAM SHELBY loves to tell stories about Kentucky’s unique places, people, food and history. He lives in Louisville with his wife and sons, and frequently visits his family homeplace in Clay County.
Featured destinations
Satisfy your sweet tooth and make summer memories at ice cream shops across Kentucky:
9191 Nashville Road, Bowling Green
(270) 843-5567
Forever Sweet Creamery
116 Broadway St., Paducah
Facebook: Forever Sweet Creamery
(270) 556-0443
Roll Over Rolled Ice Cream and Boba Tea
169 E Main St., Suite 1, Morehead
(606) 783-0681
Rowlett’s Milkhouse Creamery
63 Commerce Parkway, Campbellsburg
Facebook: Rowlett’s Milkhouse Creamery, LLC
(502) 532-7533
Extra scoops
Multiple locations in Louisville
(502) 425-4979
Founded in 2009, The Comfy Cow has earned accolades from near and far including The Wall Street Journal and Southern Living, and even made BuzzFeed’s list of 27 Ice Cream Shops You Need to Visit Before You Die.
Crank and Boom Craft Ice Cream
Multiple locations in Lexington
(859) 288-2176
This small-batch artisanal ice cream shop has earned accolades from People and the Cooking Channel, among others. Crank and Boom sources local ingredients for signature flavors like bourbon & honey and Kentucky blackberry & buttermilk.
420 Fairfield Ave, Bellevue
(859) 431-3545
This Campbell County sweet shop makes ice cream and candy in its original 1939 location, using equipment, methods and recipes that are much the same as when Schneider’s was founded.
Grandma’s Homemade Ice Cream
107 Lincoln Way, Suite E, Bardstown
Facebook: Grandmas Homemade Ice Cream
(502) 252-1009
Dill pickle and maple bacon are the kind of flavor innovations you might find alongside classics like cookie dough and mint chip at this family-owned premium ice cream shop in Nelson County.
