You screamed. We heard. Ultimate Ice Cream has Xpress readers hooked. While we're sure that the classics are quite good, it’s the funkier flavors that make ice cream lovers sit up and take notice. Even the vanilla is not so, well, vanilla. We're talking real Madagascar vanilla beans up in that frozen concoction. Chocolate? That's for sissies. How about Aztec chocolate, spiked with cinnamon and cayenne? It's like the school yard bully of dessert.
Looking for something slightly outrageous? Done. Ultimate Ice Cream, after all, has brought us flavors like mission fig and goat cheese, and also makes a to-die-for maple-bacon with local Hickory Nut Gap pork. Sound gross? Great, more for us. You want beer in your ice cream, you say? I think we'll get along just fine. Ultimate makes a great Black Mocha Stout ice cream with some of Highland Brewing's finest, as well as a Pisgah Brewing apple-honey mead.
Lucia Barnes, who owns Ultimate with her husband Kevin, says that the rather contemporary flavors tend to keep the creative juices flowing.
"We really try to make it fun,” she says. “Kevin's always trying to get creative with goat cheese or feta, pine nuts and pepper, just trying to jazz things up."
When it comes down to it, what keeps people coming back for more isn't necessarily what's written on the menu — it's what's inside that counts.
"Our ice cream is really fresh; it's made right here in small batches. We use premium quality ingredients, local and from around the world as needed,” says Barnes. “It's made with love. I know that sounds corny, but we really do try to make it the best we can."
— Mackensy Lunsford
