"Lavishly crafting joy" is the motto for High Point Creamery, where the flavor menu changes with the availability of ingredients — Photo courtesy of High Point Creamery
When passion and purpose come together, the results are bound to be good. Even delicious. Decadent. Deliriously satisfying.
Welcome to High Point Creamery, opened in Denver’s Hilltop neighborhood in 2014. It's both the passion and purpose of Erika Thomas – co-owner and ice cream maker – and her husband Chad Stutz.
“My mother used to say, ‘If you can’t laugh, why bother?’ I wanted to work at a happy business, where I love coming to work every day,” Thomas says. “It helps that my obsession with ice cream affords me the luxury of doing just that. My job is to create amazing ice cream, and because our kitchen is front and center in the shop, I get to see our guests discover our flavors in real time and watch the joy spread across their faces. It’s hard to have a bad day in an ice cream shop.”
Those who love their ice cream in a cone have three choices: cake, sugar and house-made waffle cones — Photo courtesy of High Point Creamery
That goes for customers, too, who have a choice of such flavors as Basil with Blackberry Swirl; Coconut and Ginger; Chamomile Flower with Strawberry Glass; and Blueberry and Lemon.
Chocolate-lovers will not go hungry. The flavor menu includes Milk Chocolate, Darkest Chocolate, Salty Dog Chocolate, Mint with Chocolate Bark and Coconut Chocolate.
The company even uses some local vendors, including Corvus Coffee, which is served as a beverage and as a flavor of ice cream.
There are plenty of flavors to satisfy kids, but some will likely attract a more sophisticated palate, including Tin Cup Whiskey and Pistachio Brittle, as well as Earl Grey with Shortbread Cookies. Queen Bee and the Sunshine Seeds is a delectable combo that features honeyed ice cream; organic Meyer lemon curd; and roasted, salted sunflower seeds. Yum!
Sometimes Thomas collaborates with guest chefs to create seasonal flavors.
“We recently worked with Executive Chef Dustin Beckner of Nocturne here in Denver. One of Nocturne's founders has a farm in Boulder and grows rosemary, so we steeped the rosemary in our cream (from Colorado cows) and swirled in a house-made apricot jam,” says Thomas.
An idea whose time has definitely come: a flight of ice cream! Five flavors plus one decadent sauce equals ice cream heaven. — Photo courtesy of High Point Creamery
Thomas and Stutz have developed a menu of flavors that will satisfy traditionalists, but it also embraces current culinary trends, from a focus on fresh, local ingredients to sweet and savory combos your grandparents never imagined. But their most brilliant offering is the flight.
Flights of wine have long been offered in tasting rooms. Breweries offer flights of beer to showcase their range of brews.
Squarely in the “Why didn’t someone think of this before?” category, a flight of ice cream is one sweet idea. Who hasn’t stood in front of the freezer case staring, unable to choose just one flavor? Flights are the answer.
Served on a board carved by a Colorado craftsman, each flight includes five flavors (each a three-ounce portion) and one of the shop’s sauces.
“We make a fudge sauce which, don’t get me wrong, is delicious,” Thomas says. “But our caramel sauce is my favorite. We start with brown and white sugars and we burn the caramel ourselves to develop this sauce. We finish it off with a little bit of vanilla bean, and taste buds everywhere are happy.”
Pints can be shipped almost anywhere in the United States. Sorry, Alaska and Hawaii, you'll have to visit Denver and High Point Creamery in person. — Photo courtesy of High Point Creamery
The Bombe, a trio of ice creams hardened in stages in a copper mold and sliced like a cake, is another of High Point’s specialties, and the waffle cones are made in-house.
The best news of all may be that even if you’re a visitor to Denver, don’t despair that you must leave High Point Creamery behind. The company can ship pints anywhere in the continental United States. And Big Pinky, the company's ice cream truck, can be found around Denver as well.
Great ice cream is never far away!
