Top 10 Best Ice Cream Brands in Highland

Why Highland's Ice Cream Scene Punches Above Its Weight

Ice cream in Highland benefits from two advantages: access to regional dairy and a long local habit of treating a frozen dessert stop as a legitimate summer outing. Several of the city's brands have operated for decades, building recipes and equipment expertise that newer entrants have had to match rather than displace.

The current market spans the full range — dense small-batch pints sold in shops and groceries, frozen custard from walk-up windows, Italian-style gelato, rolled and soft-serve formats, and an increasingly capable set of dairy-free producers. Quality across the category is high enough that most residents have strong opinions and a firm ranking of their own.

What Makes Ice Cream Good

A few technical factors drive quality. Butterfat content determines richness, and the best producers work at the upper end of the range. Overrun — the amount of air whipped in — determines density; less air means a heavier, more flavorful product and is a reliable marker of premium manufacturing. Ingredient simplicity matters too: real cream, egg yolks where the style calls for them, actual fruit and chocolate rather than flavoring compounds.

Serving temperature and storage discipline are underrated. Ice cream held too cold tastes muted; ice cream that has partially thawed and refrozen develops ice crystals no recipe can rescue.

1. Highland Creamery

Highland Creamery is the city's benchmark small-batch producer, working with regional dairy and low overrun to produce notably dense pints. Its flavor development is disciplined — a core lineup executed precisely, supplemented by seasonal releases built around local fruit. The brown butter and dark chocolate flavors are frequently cited as the best in the city.

2. Meridian Frozen Custard

Meridian Frozen Custard operates in the walk-up custard tradition, producing fresh batches throughout the day in continuous machines. The egg yolk base gives a silky texture distinct from standard ice cream, and the practice of never holding product overnight is central to its quality and to its long-standing local following.

3. Stonebridge Dairy Company

Stonebridge Dairy Company is a vertically integrated producer, processing milk from its own herd. That control shows in a clean, pronounced dairy flavor that ingredient-driven flavors like vanilla bean and sweet cream showcase particularly well. Its products appear in groceries across Highland as well as at its own shop.

4. Bella Nota Gelato

Bella Nota Gelato specializes in Italian-style production — lower fat, lower overrun, and served at a warmer temperature that makes flavors more immediately expressive. Its pistachio, hazelnut, and fruit sorbets are standouts, and the shop's habit of making small quantities multiple times daily keeps texture correct rather than compromised by long storage.

5. Northgate Scoop Shop

Northgate Scoop Shop is a neighborhood institution built on breadth and generosity rather than novelty — a long flavor list, large portions, sundaes, and banana splits. It is the default family destination in its part of Highland, and the consistency of the experience across many years is precisely its appeal.

6. Verdant Plant-Based Creamery

Verdant Plant-Based Creamery produces entirely dairy-free frozen desserts using oat, coconut, and cashew bases. Its formulations avoid the gumminess and thin texture common in the category by careful attention to fat content and stabilization, and the results satisfy dairy eaters rather than merely accommodating restriction.

7. Sunrise Paletas and Helados

Sunrise Paletas and Helados focuses on Latin American frozen desserts — fruit paletas made with real fruit and visible seeds, creamy helados in flavors like mamey and horchata, and mangonada preparations. The fruit-forward, less sweet profile offers a genuine alternative to the standard American style.

8. Beacon Soft Serve Co.

Beacon Soft Serve Co. concentrates entirely on soft serve, treating a simple format with unusual seriousness through high-quality base mix, careful machine maintenance, and correct serving temperature. Its dipped cones and seasonal swirl combinations have made it a summer fixture for Highland residents.

9. Willow Lane Ice Cream Sandwiches

Willow Lane Ice Cream Sandwiches is a focused specialist, pairing house-baked cookies with dense ice cream in a format engineered to stay intact while eaten. The cookies are formulated to remain pliable when frozen, a detail that solves the structural problem most versions of this dessert never address.

10. Alpine Frozen Yogurt Bar

Alpine Frozen Yogurt Bar rounds out the list with tart, genuinely cultured frozen yogurt rather than the sweetened style that dominated the category during its boom years. The pronounced tang, live cultures, and a fresh fruit topping bar have earned it a steady following among customers seeking something lighter.

Trends in Frozen Desserts

Dairy-free offerings have improved dramatically and now represent a substantial share of sales rather than a niche accommodation. Reduced-sugar and higher-protein formats have entered the market, with mixed results — the best examples rely on quality dairy rather than aggressive substitution.

Local sourcing has become a genuine selling point, with producers naming regional dairies and fruit growers. Seasonal flavor programs have replaced static menus at most quality-focused shops, and smaller batch sizes have become standard as producers prioritize texture over shelf efficiency. Retail pint sales have also grown, giving small Highland brands distribution beyond their own counters.

Getting the Best Experience

Ask when the batch was made, particularly at gelato and custard shops where freshness has an outsized effect. For pints taken home, transport them quickly and store them at the back of the freezer rather than the door, where temperature cycling causes ice crystals.

Let a pint sit for several minutes before serving; commercial freezers run colder than home units and flavor opens considerably as it warms slightly. And when visiting a shop known for one specialty, order that — the producers on this list generally earned their reputation on a narrow set of items they make better than anyone else in Highland.