What better way to relax than a glass of wine and a pint of ice cream? What if I said you can have both at the same time? Winecream is an ice cream store and a winery creating boozy ice cream in Baltimore, Maryland. Last weekend, we did a tasting tour of their facility to get the scoop!

Crossroads LLC was a company founded by a few friends in 2014. After having a lot of ice cream and wine after Christmas, they decided to combine the two. The company has been making  ice cream at festivals and private parties for a while, and recently opened up a production facility, where they prepare pints and conduct tasting tours.

The building is in a warehouse in West Baltimore, an old undergarment factory that has now been sectioned off into a variety of different businesses. On our way to the Winecream space, the tour guide took us to Cotton & Reed, a vintage furniture and upholstery store.

On first thought, one may think this is your regular bottle of two buck chuck mixed with some vanilla ice cream. In reality, Winecream makes wine out of a variety of fruits, like mango, strawberry, and peach. They ferment the fruits into wine and hand churn it with a cream base at a lower temperature than normal ice cream to keep it frozen. Come to think of it…i’ve never had grape ice cream, have you?

First we went to the small production room. There, they process the fruit wine and churn the ice cream. Because they produce both, they have to abide by alcohol production laws and FDA regulations on food production. Fun!

After the production room, we went to their tasting room, which had a few tables and bar seating to their kitchen stand. For the tasting parties, they make the ice cream using a nitrogen tank instead of a churning method. The tour guide, one of the owners, mixes in the fruit wine, ice cream base, and mix ins in a steel bowl, then dispenses liquid nitrogen while mixing the contents for a quick freeze. We each got small Dixie cups and the assistant gave us each a spoon for a taste.

We tried six flavors, two each with the different bases of wine: very berry, strawberry chocolate, mango ginger crunch, chocolate mango, peach cobbler, and peach blueberry. While it felt like the later flavors had more booze – he reassured us that each mix had the same amount of alcohol – we were just getting tipsier.

I thought the flavors were good, especially considering the constraints of using specific fruits for the wine. However, as they get more resources, Winecream could get more creative with their flavor combinations. Mango chocolate is a little basic – along with the peach blueberry flavor. Their flavors as good as is, they could use that valuable shelf space to make something more creative – like a tropical mango flavor with coconut and pineapple, or a strawberry and chocolate cake flavor. A few more years in some (very boozy!) R&D and they’ll get there. For now, the novelty of wine ice cream is good enough.

What does boozy ice cream taste like, you ask? Like a normal, creamy ice cream with the aftertaste of booze. Some have a more tannin-like feel like a normal wine, but others just taste sharp like alcohol. After 6 tastings, we weren’t tipsy – but we could feel the alcohol. Each pint is 8.5% alcohol, or half a bottle of wine.

As you may have noticed, this is not a fully functional store yet. Winecream has tasting tours every weekend through the end of September. They also sell scoops at Wicked Sisters Tavern in Baltimore, pints at Harbowview Liquors in Baltimore, and pints in Pearson’s Wine and Spirits in Glover Park, DC.

We bought a pint of the mango ginger snap to take home. Because of the alcohol, the freezing point is much lower than normal ice cream. A pint of Ben and Jerry’s will survive the 15 minute drive home from the grocery store – but with this stuff you’re cutting it close. We drove 20 minutes home and stuck it in the freezer all day, but the consistency was soupy 6 hours later when we tried to eat it. I’d recommend eating it immediately or packing it with extra insulation in your freezer, or buy a scoop after your tour!

Be prepared, the prices are higher than normal ice cream. The tickets for the tour are $15, scoops are $8, and pints are $16. This makes sense, it’s like buying a pint of local homemade ice cream for $8 and a bottle of (not two buck chuck) wine for $8. Choosing the scoop option allows you to custom mix your own flavor, which is a fun option.

This ice cream is undeniably good. Their concept is fun, the execution is actually great, and it’s a small family owned business trying to combine some of our favorite things into one delicious product. If you can get a tour, I’d highly recommend hearing their story and seeing it in person. I am looking forward to their business expanding and seeing Winecream in more stores around the area!

The Bottom Line

Amazing concept, good execution – but eat it fast!

Cones: 4 Cones 

Price: $$ (15$ for a tour)

Location: Baltimore, Maryland

On the Internet: Winecream website