[twitter]MacKay’s Ice Cream
220 1st Street W, Cochrane, Alberta [map] 403-932-2455

Every city needs a legendary ice cream shop. A place where the flavours run wild, the lineups are long and the trip always worth it.

In Vancouver, the favourite summer stop is La Casa Gelato, a gelateria featuring more than 200 dizzying flavours of handmade milky goodness. In Calgary, you need to hike a few kilometres west to get the creative flavours served at MacKay’s, an olde fashioned ice cream joint in Cochrane, Alberta.

The MacKays took over the Cochrane General Store in 1946. Two years later, to capitalize on daytrippers from Calgary, they started making ice cream. The crazy flavours arrived in the 70s, when a couple of the children got involved. Dill Pickle didn’t catch on, but the 80s inventions of Durian, Mango and Green Tea were hits.

When we stopped in this weekend, we selected Spanish Caramel (a rich dulce de leche-ish treat), Spotted Cow (a chocolate and vanilla swirl with chunks) and Beer For My Horse (which tastes like a brewery smells). There is twitter talk they will bring a Mini Donut flavoured special to The Calgary Stampede in a few weeks.

Living on the west side of Calgary makes it an easy 20 minute trip to get to Cochrane, even if you live in the deep south of the city, it’s still worth a pit stop on the way home from your weekend in the mountains.

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