Let me begin by saying that I am an ice cream fanatic. I scream for ice cream in any weather and at any time of day. When I studied abroad in Spain, I ate gelato everyday for two months (my hips don’t lie). On family vacations to Door County, Wisconsin, my little brother and I would scam my parents into taking us to a local ice cream shop daily for the entire length of our weeklong stay. When I lived on Capitol Hill, I walked eight blocks to Liks just to convince myself that it was acceptable to eat two scoops of strawberry ice cream with rainbow sprinkles in a waffle cone, as long as I burned some calories getting there and back. I’ve braved the line on a summer evening at Bonnie Brae, and I think their slow churned old school feel is a comforting classic that every Denverite should enjoy.
But late last summer, thanks to a dear friend and fellow foodie, I experienced Sweet Action Ice Cream for the very first time.
I applaud Liks and Bonnie Brae for delivering classic flavors like strawberry, chocolate, and butter pecan. Seriously, two thumbs up. While I love the simplicity of those flavors, I think that there’s plenty of folks that can master the classics…
How about black licorice sambuca, baklava, brown butter sage, banana Reese’s Pieces, and azuki red bean? That ain’t so simple, and with Sweet Action’s constantly rotating twenty-four flavors, you’ll find out-of-this-world homemade ice cream on 52 South Broadway seven days a week.
I can’t say I’ve tried them all, and there are some flavors that I’ve found elusive to taste because they’re so darn delicious and the whole tub is gone by mid-afternoon. (Brown sugar banana, you are an urban legend to me.) As of yet, almond butter chip and crunchy peanut butter are my favorites. With one lick of the almond butter chip, it’s obvious that there’s no extract or syrup. This stuff isn’t almond-flavored; it’s blended with real almond butter and chocolate chips. The crunchy peanut butter is mixed with whole roasted peanuts and reminds me of eating the gooey goodness straight from the jar (don’t judge).
Flavors change with the seasons, too: candy corn and pumpkin pie in the fall, candy cane and cinnamon gingerbread at Christmas time, Colorado peach during the summer, fresh fruit sorbets and Cadbury egg in the spring, and specific to Denver – beer-flavored ice cream for the Great American Beer Fest!
The staff at SAIC is super friendly – and patient. With all those oddball flavors, they’re handing out lots of samples. The most unique and well accomplished flavor I’ve taste-tested to date is baklava, with perfectly flaky bits of phyllo dough blended in to every bite.
Yes, there’s some that are so off the wall that I haven’t tried them…like honey mustard, Colorado sweet corn, and honey cornbread. But I give them an A+ for being ballsy about their frozen creations. 
Another reason I love these guys is because they keep it local and they keep it environmentally friendly. Most of their flavors contain local spices and ingredients, and all of their spoons and cups are compostable.
Their Facebook page is updated daily with their current list of flavors, but run when you see your favorite and buy a pint. The best ones don’t stick around for long!
I promise – you’ve never gotten action this sweet…