I can’t stress it enough, I am not exaggerating, this place has changed my life. I found the best ice cream on earth at Battenkill Valley Creamery [691 County Route 30 Salem, NY 12865 (which my GPS didn’t take) or Intersection of CR 30 and Joe Bean Rd, Salem NY (which worked for me!)]. If the name sounds familiar, you may have noticed their milk before. They sell it in a lot of Albany area grocery stores in the glass bottles and at the Troy Farmers Market. The milk is exceptional and if you don’t believe my word, trust the professionals. They won the highest quality milk of NYS award at the state fair, so you can imagine when they’re making ice cream out of that stuff, fresh at the farm, it’s going to be above and beyond. The drive out into Washington County will set your mood as you pass by the farms on the twisting country roads (just over an hour from Albany), the goal is to find the little red barn with the line of people.
I was going to get something simple, try out one of their homemade flavors you know? But Jeff ordered first. Once I saw what he got there was no way I could get anything else! A creamery creation: the McEachron Masterpiece. Your choice of ice cream (cake batter) with homemade brownie, homemade hot fudge, caramel, and nuts. I watched the young lady work diligently, taking the ice cream and putting it into the small cup. Normal, right? That was just to measure, though. The ingenious mad science started. She took the ice cream back out of the cup and slabbed it onto the stone counter.
From then she moved quick, pouring this ingredient in, mixing that, mushing them together, and heaping it all back into the cup. It was messy, just get over that fact and grab a napkin.
Dive. In. The consistency was heavenly, elastic and smooth. The generous hunks of brownie were soft and fresh tasting. The fudge, caramel, and nuts melded with the cake batter flavor to create a truly special concoction. This is the ice cream you would serve to a foreign king visiting your land, it is of grandiose deliciousness. There is more than just ice cream. Go inside to find additional farm and regional products.
Meet the friendly farm cats.
Don’t leave without seeing the cows! Honestly, these cows were the most exciting I’ve ever seen.
They were young and frisky, racing one another around the pen and enjoying life. Happy cows certainly must make the best milk and ice cream!
They really are the best, you’ll have a great time. Thanks so much for your kind words!!
Love their milk! The first time I bought it home because a young girl was giving out samples at Hannaford Groceries. Honestly I just wanted to make the girl feel good by getting a sale. I didn’t even sample it. Both my boys commented that the milk tasted different–better without seeing that it was a new brand. It’s been our #1 choice since then. Now I will have to visit their creamery on a nice sunny weekend ride. Thanks for all your posts. We are fans of hiking trails and fun local things to do while traveling as well.