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Boozy Ice Cream 'Barlour' to Serve Up Liquor-Infused Scoops in Kips Bay

By Shaye Weaver | April 13, 2017 5:29pm | Updated on April 17, 2017 8:56am
 Tipsy Scoop will sell scoops, pints, flights and ice cream cakes.
Tipsy Scoop
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KIPS BAY — Maple bacon bourbon, tequila Mexican hot chocolate, and chocolate stout and pretzel are a few of the ice cream flavors on tap at a new "barlour" opening on East 26th Street next month.

Tipsy Scoop, which serves liquor-infused ice cream, will open its first brick-and-mortar shop at 217 E. 26th St., near Third Avenue, on May 7.

Customers will be able to select from 15 classic flavors, which include dark chocolate whiskey salted caramel, spiked hazelnut coffee, and strawberry rhubarb bourbon, as well as a to-be-determined seasonal flavor that changes monthly.

Tipsy Scoop uses a wide range of liquors in its ice creams, including, vodka, tequila, sangria with wine, whiskey and bourbon.

"You can pick your poison, so to speak," partner Lyz Nardo said. "It's definitely boozy — it isn't your Häagen-Dazs rum raisin."

Patrons can order by the scoop ($4.50 for a single and $6.50 for a double) or dive in to an ice cream "flight," which includes four different flavors, for $10.50.

The ice cream — which can only be bought by those 21 and older — has an alcohol by volume of 5 percent at the most, according to the company's website.

Right now, Tipsy Scoop can only be bought by the pint online or at certain retailers like Morton Williams, Gristedes and Whole Foods. But it has other options, like a boozy ice cream cake for $75 and a boozy ice cream sandwiches for $60 a pack. The cake and pints will also be available at the store.

Nardo launched Tipsy Scoop three years ago with Melissa Tavss, whose Italian ancestors sold ice cream in the 1800s in Scotland and England, when they realized they could infuse liquor into ice cream. Nardo worked as a public relations and marketing specialist and watched chefs add it to their food.

Tipsy Scoop started as wholesale business and then eventually moved into specialty food stores and supermarkets.

Fans eventually started showing up at the company's East Harlem production facility looking for an ice cream shop.

"The ice cream is not easy to find, so we wanted to give people a true storefront," Nardo explained. "The shop is going to feel more like a bar than a typical ice cream shop. There will be tall stools and a custom built bar dipping cabinet."

To celebrate the opening, the first 25 customers will get $1 scoops and the first 50 will get free tank tops or a tote bag.

"We’re just excited to be there with our own storefront — a true place to visit and try flavors. It's a pretty unique experience," she added. "When you see kids getting a giant ice cream there's a look of awe on their faces. Tipsy Scoop refreshes this idea. It's a new, grown-up twist on it. Adults have same sort of look when getting booze-filled ice cream."

The shop will be open from noon to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from noon to 9 p.m. on Sundays.