Cincinnatians have their fair share of classic spots to grab hard ice cream year-round, but we’re certainly no strangers to a good ol’ dairy bar soft serve. There’s a special magic about only being able to get those twist cones in certain summer months.

To honor the city and the season, three CityBeat interns set out on a mission in search of the best soft serve, fending off brain freeze as the dairy dessert made its way into their hearts (and hair.)

A total of five cones was about the limit for one day’s soft serve intake, so while they couldn’t get to every creamy whip in Queen City, consider this a jumping off point for your next ice cream run. Just make sure to catch those drips as they melt down your cone.

Photos by Sami Stewart
Zip Dip 4050 Drew Ave., Westwood Everyone loves a classic. The top seller here is a basic small cone with a twist. But scrap the whole chocolate and vanilla idea. Zip Dip serves an orange and vanilla twist that will make you forget you ever wanted anything else. If you’re looking for more, Zip Dip has a whole heap of ice cream selections from chipwiches to sugar-free yogurt to banana boat parfaits. Those who prefer to drink their ice cream should skip the shakes and opt for a malt instead. Sami Stewart
Putz’s Creamy Whip 2673 Putz Place, Mt. Airy The pineapple sherbet is a must. It is creamy like soft serve and tangy like, well, pineapple. Sit down and enjoy five minutes of tropical paradise in the sweltering southern Ohio summer and pretend that the cars passing on I-74 are ocean noises. “Face cones” are also a hot commodity at Putz’s. The soft-serve cones are adorned with Necco wafer ears and mysteriously crunchy candy googly eyes. Sami Stewart
Mt. Healthy Dairy Bar 7840 Hamilton Ave., Mt. Healthy While they famously serve two-pound monster cones for dirt cheap, their rotating sherbet flavors are to die for. They offer a farmers market variety of flavors throughout the summer: Wild Mountain Blackberry, Bold Black Cherry, Lucky Lime and Perfect Pineapple to name a few. The Bold Black Cherry tastes uncannily like a cherry Starburst. Sami Stewart
Gold Top Dairy Bar 2810 Blue Rock Road, White Oak Gold Top is known for its famous blue raspberry ice cream, which often is just described as tasting “blue,” but the flavor also has hints of raspberry and vanilla. Outside of soft serve, they also offer a wide assortment of customizable cakes, housemade chocolate-covered bananas, cookies, chipwhiches (picture a cookie ice cream sandwich) and more. However, Emily Bick, who has worked at Gold Top for the past three summers says, “People get flurries and that’s the thing most people get. You can get any candy inside of it with your favorite ice cream flavor.” Gold Top has something for pups, too: They make dogs treats in house with yogurt, peanut butter and bananas. Sami Stewart
Sports Page Restaurant 626 Vine St., Downtown You can’t go wrong with a traditional vanilla and chocolate swirl on a cake cone, which they pile high for the fair price of two dollars, however Connie says that strawberry is a crowd favorite. When their twist machine us up and running, make sure to get a peanut butter flavor burst (a type of treat created by a machine that which adds a choice of flavor — peanut butter, blueberry or strawberry — to vanilla ice cream.) Or a flurry with M&Ms. Sami Stewart
Lizzy, Morgan and Sami, our editorial interns, at Putz Creamy Whip Sami Stewart