Old-Fashioned Floats: Brown Cows to Boston Coolers

Emma Christensen
Emma Christensen
Emma is a former editor for The Kitchn and a graduate of the Cambridge School for Culinary Arts. She is the author of True Brews and Brew Better Beer. Check out her website for more cooking stories
updated May 11, 2022
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(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

Ice cream floats were one of our favorite desserts as a kid – and still are! Combining scoops of rich ice cream and “only on the weekend” soda, they seemed like the ultimate treat. Back then our tastes were simple, but check out all these different kinds we’ve discovered!

Wouldn’t it be fun to do an ice cream soda bar at a party and make several of these?

Root Beer Float – Root beer plus vanilla ice cream, this will always be our favorite

Brown Cow – We found conflicting versions of this drink. It’s either (or both!) root beer with chocolate ice cream or coca cola with vanilla ice cream, sometimes with a shot of chocolate syrup.

Purple Cow – Grape soda and vanilla ice cream

Pink Cow – Strawberry soda and vanilla ice cream

Boston Cooler – Ginger ale and vanilla ice cream

Snow White – Lemon-lime soda and vanilla ice cream

Black and white – Soda water, chocolate syrup, and vanilla ice cream

Hoboken – Soda water, pineapple syrup, and chocolate ice cream

What’s your favorite ice cream soda?

Related: Beer Float! With Hoppin’ Frog Oatmeal Imperial Stout

(Images: AllPosters.com; Mikkel Vang/Gourmet)

Filed in:
Beverages
Dessert
Drinks
sweets