Alberta’s Best Ice Cream and Gelato Makers

Here’s our list of Alberta’s best ice cream and gelato makers. They are worthy of a scoop regardless of the weather but especially while summer is still here for a few more weeks.

CALGARY

With locations in Calgary and Edmonton, Made by Marcus’ flavours are next level. Marcus uses his Master’s in Food Science background to produce the smoothest texture and loves to experiment with unusual flavour combinations with ingredients sourced locally from farmers, coffee roasters, and distillers. 

Village Ice Cream first opened in 2012 and has become a Calgary institution. There are five locations, all offering hand-made ice cream with core and seasonal flavours.  They also serve a variety of vegan and gluten-free options.

Calgary’s Noto Gelato uses traditional Italian techniques and equipment to make its gelato. The menu has more than 16 flavours, including black cherry, stracciatella, and pistachio. 

EDMONTON

Kind Ice Cream is chef-driven and uses as many local ingredients as possible. Along with 12 classics like maple bourbon pecan, mint chip, and deep dark chocolate, Kind keeps it fresh with a rotating list of seasonal flavours. 

Yelo’d Ice Cream and Bakeshop specialize in soft-serve ice cream with various Filipino-inspired flavours. Each of their classic and special ice creams are handcrafted using Alberta milk.

Edmonton’s White Rabbit Ice Cream started as a food truck. Its focus is on nostalgic flavours with locally sourced ingredients.

For over 40 years, Pinocchio Ice Cream has been using quality Alberta dairy in the gelato-style formulation of its ice cream. This is a true Edmonton ice cream gem. For a list of retailers, visit their website. 

It was a French pastry chef who opened the wildly popular Little Bear Gelato. They make small-batch gelato, sorbet, and sandwiches. You can get your Little Bear Gelato at one of several local farmers’ markets.

BOW VALLEY

Canmore’s Lovely Ice Cream is Bow Valley’s own small-batch ice cream maker. They create all their flavours from scratch. Regular flavours include mint, triple chocolate, vanilla caramel, coffee, vanilla, and dairy-free orange ice cream. For the more adventurous, there are flavours like spicy margarita, strawberry balsamic, and custard blueberry. 

MacKay’s Ice Cream has been making delicious ice cream in downtown Cochrane since 1946. After three generations of ownership, this shop continues to draw tourists and locals for good reason.