I love a float made with Diet Dr. Pepper. Its so tasty. I also enjoy a Chocolate Soda Which is what you have labeled as a Black and White. I make mine with chocolate ice cream instead and Ghirardelli makes a killer one. My father and I always get one when we get together in Orlando.

I recently made a float with pineapple sherbet, a shot of dark rum, and ginger soda. It was the perfect thing for a warm spring afternoon.

lazy_lurker's float sounds wonderful!

Now I'm itching to see what's possible with the pop at the local Mexican market... what goes with tamarind?

I love the Creamsicle - Orange soda and vanilla ice cream.

The best float I've ever made has been Henry Weinhard's Black Cherry Cream Soda with Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia. Oh, man. So delicious.

@gildeddawn -- that made my eyes tear up because I want one so bad! If I ever drink soda (besides seltzer) I always go for Cherry Soda and I have special love for Cherry Garcia - the two together might just send me over the edge.

We used to make milkshakes with cookies-and-cream ice cream and Sambuca. There has to be a float idea in there somewhere!!

As a kid I always liked 7-up with lime sherbet.

I second the Orange Soda & Vanilla Ice Cream Combo. It also works really well with OJ- not a soda, but...

What about a take on the affogato, now that coffee sodas are available, with coffee soda and vanilla gelato?

I've been lurking for a long time on this blog and never commented, but I felt compelled to register just to comment on this.

A Boston cooler is NOT just ginger ale and vanilla ice cream. A Boston cooler is VERNORS ginger ale and vanilla ice cream. A seemingly-small, but important distinction. Vernors has a more intense ginger flavor and is a lot less sweet than modern ginger ales. (But not quite Jamaican ginger beer intensity)

Furthermore, it's not a float, but a drink. You're supposed to blend the ice cream with the Vernors, (either in a shake-making blender, or regular blender), and it needs to be kept cold, so it is the consistency of a shake. It originated in Detroit, MI, where Vernors originated as well.

Also, Halo Burger still has the best Boston Coolers ever.

Sorry to be so nitpicky. Just wanted to set the record straight. Please return to your regularly-scheduled comments.

Thank you, SandyCat. We need details like this to be remembered and documented. (Perhaps you should Tweet this so that the Smithsonian preserves the info!)

I myself love the Creamsicle (straight or whirred) and the Chocolate soda described by Bobette.

Of course, none of these ice cream drinks can touch a classic Egg Cream. (Although I suppose it might be interesting to let a good vanilla ice cream melt completely and use that in place of milk...)

i had a similar idea to lazy_lurker. i definitely back ginger drinks and frozen fruit treats. although when i tried it, it was ginger beer and mango sorbet. it seems strange but turned out really well. not to mention the ginger beer i got down the street was a million times stronger than what i was used to so there was a lot of sorbet involved.

in philadelphia, we have this place called Franklin Fountain. it's an old fashioned ice cream shop and they make lots of different kinds of floats and have vintage style sodas. delicious.

the pineapple floats at disneyland are tasty treats, I think pineapple sherbet, pineapple juice and club soda

Cranberry soda/Vanilla ice cream. It's delicious and sweet and tart and frothy, especially if you use cheap ice cream with a high overrun.

Okay, now the tropical fruit sorbet dark rum ginger soda is going to be my go-to dessert this summer. Thanks lazy_lurker and missmaralaena!. The club soda will be good for not-so-sweet afternoon beverages too.

My late mother had a different bovine name for these types of drinks - Calf Slobber!

Klondike floats. Either with rootbeer or coke. You cut up the klondike bar into chunks and pour soda over it in a glass. It's amazing. All the little chocolate pieces freeze. SO DELICIOUS.

A local hamburger stand (XXX Rootbeer, in Issaquah WA) makes huge house-made root beer floats in frosty mugs with a disc of soft serve vanilla- it comes with a warning how to eat the ice cream to avoid a geyser of pent up bubbles. Yum!

As a treat growing up we'd have orange soda with orange sherbet.

I love ginger ale and orange sherbert, a purple cow, or a coke or root beer float.

Malted milk makes a good addition, sometimes.

Best served in a frozen mug or glass!

Thanks for posting about true Boston coolers, SandyCat! My brother-in-law, a Detroit native, made these for my family a while ago and we were all hooked...They are so good!

Too many years ago during summers on Cape Cod, my grandfather would make us kids what we all called "black cows," cola or root beer with vanilla ice cream. Never heard them called "brown" cows—and definitely never heard any mention of chocolate, either ice cream or syrup! That sounds kind of gross. Memories, though, are delicious.

In Japan the floats are melon soda and vanilla ice cream. And ice...they were always insistent on the ice. Good minus that.

I'm drinking a JavaHead stout right now and, after reading this post, really wish i had a scoop of ice cream to add to it!

You may have overlooked regional differences. Around Chicago years ago a Brown Cow matched your definition of a Root Beer Float. When I went east to New York, I learned the second term for my favorite ice cream based drink.

Amending my previous comment, I meant Black Cow for Chicago, not Brown Cow. Having a senior moment.