I can’t say that I knew what Tipsy Scoop was before their Ice Cream Dive Bar came across the news desk here at I Love Cheap Beer. By news desk, I mean my inbox. And it came across when my wife sent me a link to a Food Network article on it. Regardless, this ice cream concoction sounds like it is pitched right into our wheelhouse.
The dark chocolate exterior is speckled with what Tipsy Scoop says is “carbonated candy.” Surely this is better known as Pop Rocks. But the thing looks good, better than what you would get from the Good Humor man. And, please don’t get me wrong, I like things from the Good Humor man. From appearances, the Ice Cream Dive Bar seems more at the level of a hipster ice cream shop. Tasty, but maybe not worth your nine dollars.
Where the Ice Cream Dive Bar goes above and beyond and justifies its 6-pack for $36 price is with what is inside. Love is inside. The love of a good dive bar. At the treat’s heart is ice cream; ice cream infused with Miller High Life. In my mind, High Life is the quintessential cheap beer. And I would like to taste some High Life ice cream.
The party in the novelty does not end with the ice cream, though. Inside, there is a peanut swirl that, with its salty character, helps evoke the peanuts available at classier dive bars. There is also a swirl of caramel. In all its gooey and stickiness, the caramel is meant to remind you of the sticky floor at any respectable dive bar after a certain hour, often whatever time they opened. And, to top it off, a hint of tobacco smoke. Fortunately, they held off on the full smoke haze and aroma of many a solid establishment.
Now, I was pumped to check Tipsy Scoop’s Ice Cream Dive Bar out. But then I saw that they were sold out. And, digging later, after I had decided that I really wanted to try one of the bars, I found that thirty-six bucks was just for the bars. Shipping would be extra. And shipping ice cream, as I should have suspected, is pretty freaking expensive given the overnight nature and cost of ice packs and such. It turns out, one could have bought the six-pack, shipping included from a partner website, for ninety-nine dollars.
Ninety-nine dollars for a six pack works out to sixteen dollars and fifty cents a bar. I would rather take that money and have a couple good nights out at actual dive bars than having an Ice Cream Dive Bar. Walking out the door at Tipsy Scoop’s in New York City for $36, though, that sounds like better than you can do at any dive bar in the boroughs, let alone Manhattan.
