Businessweek

No More Sober Sundaes! Boozy Ice Cream Is Summer’s Hottest Treat

Thriving startups across the country are finding ways to get the bite of alcohol into the most innocent of desserts.

Boozy scoops (from top): Proof bourbon-caramel; Scoops on Tap cookies & cream and blackberry; Salt & Straw mango; Oddfellows gimlet and La Finca; Tipsy Spoon banana; and Proof strawberry.
Photographer: Ted + Chelsea Cavanaugh for Bloomberg Businessweek

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By Kate Krader

July 29, 2021 at 12:10 PM UTC

This article is part of the August 2, 2021 issue of businessweek.

“‘Can I get drunk on this?’ That’s the No. 1 question I get,” says Melissa Tavss, founder of Tipsy Scoop LLC in New York. On the 8-year-old company’s website, customers have to verify they’re older than 21 to peruse specialty flavors such as a whiskey-infused dark chocolate with salted caramel or a mango-margarita sorbet, punched up with tequila and orange liqueur. They can reach 5% alcohol by volume (ABV).

Tipsy Scoop is one of several sloshed startups that have gotten into the international ice cream market, valued at $65.8 billion in 2020. Revenue for the segment of the market dedicated to alcohol-infused ice cream, which was estimated at more than $335 million in 2019, is expected to exceed $450 million by 2025.