Flight Ice Creams serves up ice cream a little different in Dripping Springs

DRIPPING SPRINGS — Ice cream is a delicious treat for kids and adults alike, especially in the scorching Texas summer heat. Faced with competition from major companies and ice cream products stocked on grocery store shelves, one local pop-up has been making strides in serving dessert in the community.

Flight Ice Creams is a family-owned micro creamery business in Dripping Springs that was established last summer by Matt Sorenson after, per the request of his two sons, he experimented with making ice cream from scratch at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. While it only started as a hobby, it turned into a business after family members and friends tasted the ice cream and the family found an opportunity for their product in Dripping Springs.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LAUREN CLARK PHOTOGRAPHY
The faces behind Flight Ice Creams: Matt Sorenson, back left, Hayley Sorenson, Max Sorenson, front left, and Turner Sorenson.[/caption]

The family has a unique take on their business model. Instead of having a standard brick-and-mortar location, they rent kitchen space from Dripping Springs Chocolate Company and sell their ice cream through mobile pop-ups.

“We have day jobs and it’s much easier to balance the mobile business as opposed to a brick-and-mortar location. That would likely need to be open pretty much every day for several hours to keep the lights on, literally,” Sorenson said. “We do make a premium craft ice cream made with really great ingredients and no fillers or anything like that. It’s honestly something that we believe you should enjoy in moderation and probably not every day. We’ve seen people are willing to travel.”

Some of the most popular flavors include all-time best seller OREO, Snickerdoodle Cookie Dough, Bourbon Caramel Brownie, Chocolate Brownie Chip, Chocolate Covered Strawberry and dairy-free, vegan, gluten-free OREO Swirl.

Sorenson prides himself on collaborating with and supporting other local businesses in not only having pop-ups at their locations, but also using specific ingredients in their ice cream.

“We always like to see local collaboration flavors,” he said. “It's been part of our success, too. We love to buy featured products and let companies feature their companies whenever possible.”

“Our Coffee + Dark Chocolate flavor uses locally roasted coffee from Weathered Hands Farmhouse Coffee and 65% dark chocolate from Dripping Springs Chocolate Company. Another example is that we use leftover topping from Rolling in Thyme & Dough's famous pecan sticky buns and small pieces of the delicious rolls to create our collaborative Pecan Sticky Bun flavor,” Sorenson continued. “When we do pop-up events at breweries, we'll often create a flavor that is flavored with the brewery's beer, such as Hilco + Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (Ghost Note Brewing) or Dark Skies Caramel Brownie (Vista Brewing).”

Along with the local business collaborations, Sorenson said that they have seen an overwhelming amount of support from the community for the past year.

“The support from our local community has been overwhelmingly positive and it’s what keeps us going. From being invited to large community events to catering birthday parties, employee appreciation events and church gatherings; we love that our community seeks to include us in their celebrations! Partnering with other local businesses has been incredibly rewarding as well as we seek to elevate other local businesses in creative ways,” he said. “Our customers continue to follow us around town to different events and even suggest new flavors. We've also instilled a culture of giving back with our company, including creating charity flavors where we'll donate to a local charity for every serving sold or to supporting local school PTAs, veteran support organizations and athletic groups.”

Flight Ice Creams will be celebrating its anniversary and National Ice Cream Day from noon to 7 p.m. on Sunday, July 16 at Fitzhugh Brewing in Dripping Springs. This will be a family-friendly event filled with activities for all ages.

The schedule of events is as follows:

• Noon-2 p.m.: Meet former NFL athlete and local entrepreneur, Kevin Garrett, who will have copies of his ice cream-themed children’s book, Scoops of Life, available for purchase and signing.

• 2-4 p.m.: Kids of all ages will join a family-friendly Disney sing-along with Camila Guitierrez. She will be singing popular Disney songs and encouraging children (and adults) to join the fun. Guitierrez is a recent Dripping Springs High School graduate currently pursuing a degree in musical theater.

• 5-7 p.m.: Local Texas blues singer/songwriter, Scott “Janky” Lindsey, will be performing his unique juke blues.

• 5-7 p.m.: Come pet and take a photo with a baby dairy cow. Other friendly animals will be there as well.

For more information about Flight Ice Creams and its products, visit . Details about the National Ice Cream Day and Flight Ice Creams anniversary event can be found at .