My wife and I had a hankering for ice cream yesterday and went out in search of it. I know there’s a Baskin Robbins store near my home but that’s not what we wanted. BR is really a dumbing-down of ice cream experience, comparable to drinking coffee from Starbucks or eating at the food court in the mall. It’s like the lowest common denominator of what people will eat and pay for.

It’s not bad, but it’s not good enough for me to want.

I figured we might find some nice, independent ice cream store between Ballston and Rosslyn but never found anything. Have all the mom and pop places been put out of business by the giant conglomerates like Baskin Robbins?

So tell me – what area ice cream places do you recommend? Sometimes a guy just needs a bit of cool sweetness on a warm day.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Carl Weaver

Carl Weaver is a writer and brewer for RealHomebrew.com and has been making beer and wine for more than 20 years. He is also an avid photographer and writer and just finished his first book, about a trip he took to Thailand to live in Buddhist monasteries. He considers himself the last of the Renaissance men and the luckiest darned guy in the world. Follow him on Twitter.