Talk:Ice cream float

Ice cream sodas were around WAY before 1968
I have a Junior Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (for children) from 1955 (it was my mom's), and there's an entire chapter of ice cream soda recipes. Where on earth did you get that it was first invented in 1968??? I'm assuming "1968" is a typo for "1868"? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.241.166.156 (talk) 20:29, 14 July 2016 (UTC)

Cream Soda
look on cream soda it says that cream soda tranional added ice cream to it there for that it basically this here it should be noted instead of americans coping other people ideas and in the part with roat beer should be the tranional version with cream soda you added all the other version. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.22.199.25 (talk) 03:22, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

The article confuses ice cream sodas with floats. While similar, they aren't the same. An ice cream soda always uses soda water and syrup (chocolate, strawberry, et al), may include milk and the ice cream is usually on the edge of the cup and not in the soda (a variation does both) and it is usually topped with whipped cream and a cherry. A float is ice cream in a soft drink (premix).

The picture is of a float, not an ice cream soda. The Library of Congress does identify it as an ice cream soda but it appears to be a float.

216.226.186.92 (talk) 21:44, 5 August 2011 (UTC)Archena

Removed Recipe
Instruction manuals - while Wikipedia has descriptions of people, places, and things, Wikipedia articles should not include instruction - advice (legal, medical, or otherwise), suggestions, or contain "how-to"s. This includes tutorials, walk-throughs, instruction manuals, video game guides, and recipes. Wikibooks is a Wikipedia sister-project which is better suited for such things.
 * -Ancanus 19:33, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

Can you please give me the recipe, as I need to make one, they sound good.--Witeandnerdy 23:20, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

Use the "History" tab at the top of each page to find older versions. You would look for an edit by Ancanus around the time of his entry on this discussion page. Here is an older version of the page with the recipe intact: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ice_cream_soda&oldid=44918030 Of course, you should also learn to rely on Google to do research; in this case you might search for "ice cream soda recipe" and get plenty of hits. 71.57.52.253 00:38, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

Shouldn't there be a link to the appropriate wiki_ entries? I'll try to add them. --smIsle

Merge
Unless someone objects, I'm going to merge Root beer float and Snow White (ice cream float) here. We really only need one article about this kind of dessert/drink. Rhindle The Red (talk) 17:21, 26 November 2007 (UTC)
 * Be bold and go for it. Terraxos (talk) 02:38, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

Black Cow
Some additional references for referring to a root beer float as a "black cow": [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE7D7163AF931A35754C0A963958260&scp=9&sq=%22black+cow%22&st=nyt QUICK BITE/Point Pleasant Beach; O, for a Draught of Root Beer? Get Thee to Stewart's] from the New York Times, Andrea Higbie, July 2, 1995; ANYONE FOR A “BLACK COW” ? by Ginnie, who worked at a soda founain in 1950 in Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, Black Cow Ice Cream Soda recipe from Gourmet, Feb. 1998. —Preceding unsigned comment added by DMellis (talk • contribs) 23:35, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Also, this press release discusses what is supposedly the first "black cow" or root beer float. —Preceding unsigned comment added by DMellis (talk • contribs) 23:38, 4 July 2008 (UTC)


 * I don't have references here, but black cow was/is extremely popular at Hong Kong's mass level localized Western food outlets like cha chaan teng or Hong Kong style Western restaurants using cola and vanilla ice-cream. Another variety named golden cow uses mango ice-cream and lemonade/lemon soda like 7-Up or Sprite.--JNZ (talk) 07:01, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

I have added a small edit that "black cow" in addition to "brown cow" is known to some as made with cola. I have to say I have never in my life heard of a root beer float called a "black cow," only an ice cream float made with cola. It makes sense that a root beer float would be a "brown cow" whereas a cola float would be known as a "black cow" just due to the color differential. Jeisenberg (talk) 01:32, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

No love for the great Steely Dan song? Uptown, baby! :)207.45.240.18 (talk) 15:54, 30 January 2014 (UTC)Steely Dan fan

James William Berweick
This supposed Canadian inventor of the ice cream soda was added in a anonymous edit in Sep 2008. Finding no non-Wikipedia related mentions of him on the Web, I have removed him from the article. Rmhermen (talk) 19:45, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

Foam-ability
I don't think a "citation needed" tag is required for this. It's like putting a tag after a sentence that says "There are 5 fingers on the human hand". There's even a picture clearly demonstrating the frothy properties of the drink right next to this quotation.

Root beer float sentimentalism
Am I the only one who finds the story for the "black cow" a bit wistful and folk-story-ish? It seems terribly unencyclopedic, but I'd hate to just nuke the section if there is some sort of citation available for it. Either way, it might need a rewrite to be a little less like a grandpa story. -Matt S. (talk) 00:16, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Ice cream soda vs. Float in the US
In the US, a float is an ice cream soda made from a premade soda. The term ice cream soda is generally reserved for one where a syrup and club soda are used.--RLent (talk) 16:52, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

Invention of Black Cow
I find the credibility of the story of the invention of the black cow to be lacking. The story is being peddled by the great nephew of the supposed inventor over 120 years after the invention as a "family tradition" on http://www.cripplecreekbrewing.com/. The only book that I can find that discusses Wisner inventing the black cow is Chase's Calender of Events, a book that requires to verification for inclusion of submissions. The Washington Post reference is merely a "This Day in History" entry that was probably taken out of Chase's. It was not part of a story where it might be factchecked. The entire story of being inspired by the moon and Cow Mountain to create a black cow comes across as unbelievable and seems like a family tall tale that has been promoted to fact. No one else has ever claimed to invent a root beer float, probably because it seems like an obvious invention that was probably invented multiple times over multiple places. Nightkey (talk) 20:16, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Bizarrely specific
From the article:
 * 'Coke float' is also a common term in the West Coast of Scotland for any cola-based ice cream soda

Why specifically the West Coast of Scotland? It's certainly used in my part of the world (English Midlands) and in other places too. Any particular reason for that region to be singled out? Loganberry (Talk) 15:39, 30 June 2010 (UTC)

people at school love it maybe you should have it as sale one day!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.170.52.235 (talk) 06:54, 23 August 2010 (UTC)

A Black Cow is a BLENDED root beer float
I'm quite confused as to the definition of Black Cow here. A black cow is not just "another name" for a root beer float. It is specifically a BLENDED rootbeer float. I've never seen one made any other way. The only references listed that call it "just a root beer float" are non-accredited even. I wanted to bring this up here first though and see what others thought. RaggTopp (talk) 19:04, 18 May 2012 (UTC)


 * I suspect that it's a regional thing. I am not at all familiar with the term "black cow" except for a darkly pigmented bovine. However, I am well familiar with a "float", root beer or otherwise: Put some ice cream in a glass and pour some carbonated beverage over it. 173.22.149.127 (talk) 21:51, 7 June 2012 (UTC)


 * You are correct in noting that this is only a regional variant. The term "Black Cow" was used regionally by a number of Detroiters in the 50's, 60's and 70's by locals to refer to a Vernor's Ginger Ale float made with vanilla ice cream. I personally am most familiar with this usage.:: Infinityseed (talk) 14:33, 21 March 2013 (UTC)
 * "Blended" root beer float? Huh?  I'm from Northern Illinois, am by no means young, and like root beer and root beer floats.  Outside this Wikipedia entry, I literally never have heard it claimed that a black cow is "specifically a BLENDED root beer float."
 * I suspect you heard this definition from someone who was misinformed yet confident. What you're describing is, ahem, a "root beer float."
 * I definitely have heard "black cow" used to describe a Coke float or a root beer float made with chocolate ice cream. I won't die on either of those hills, but it certainly is not "specifically a BLENDED rootbeer float."
 * Absent a citation, this claim needs to go. 168.91.229.28 (talk) 19:25, 20 June 2023 (UTC)

Boston Cooler
I would like to see credible references that support the assertion that a Boston Cooler is the official name for a float composed of Vernor's Ginger Ale and vanilla ice cream. I grew up in the suburb's of Detroit in the 1970's and 1980's, and the only name I ever heard in reference to this particular variant of a float was the term "Black Cow". Since Vernor's was so important to Detroit locally for a number of years, I would think that merits some consideration. Where did this term come from? I know that there are businessmen today who are trying to market the "Boston Cooler" as the original and official name for that float, but I have a hard time accepting this version of history without proper citation of its source as it does not truthfully reflect my personal experience regionally prior to the 1990's. All references to the term shown in the article are post-2000. I would like some verifiable reference to the term "Boston Cooler" that existed prior to the 1990's, well after the time when the Vernor's bottling facility in Detroit was shut down (1985). Infinityseed (talk) 14:40, 21 March 2013 (UTC)

Fair use candidate from Commons: File:Soft Drink.svg
The file File:Soft Drink.svg, used on this page, has been deleted from Wikimedia Commons and re-uploaded at File:Soft Drink.svg. It should be reviewed to determine if it is compliant with this project's non-free content policy, or else should be deleted and removed from this page. If no action is taken, it will be deleted after 7 days. Commons fair use upload bot (talk) 21:22, 27 May 2014 (UTC)

Fair use candidate from Commons: File:Soft Drink.svg
The file File:Soft Drink.svg, used on this page, has been deleted from Wikimedia Commons and re-uploaded at File:Soft Drink.svg. It should be reviewed to determine if it is compliant with this project's non-free content policy, or else should be deleted and removed from this page. If no action is taken, it will be deleted after 7 days. Commons fair use upload bot (talk) 21:36, 27 May 2014 (UTC)

Carbonated water
Its not carbonated water you use. You use bubbling water made with bicarbonate of soda. Hence the name soda water. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:1C01:46C2:1900:55CF:CF80:C7DF:8061 (talk) 16:16, 16 March 2020 (UTC)

Root Beer Float Date
How is the root beer float invented a year before root beer was invented? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.96.38.42 (talk) 22:28, 26 July 2020 (UTC)

Regional Names Section Could Be Improved - Also Float Varieties Are Missing
The ‘regional names’ section is oddly worded and explained, it goes on a weird and irrelevant digression about Coca Cola and other brands of cola being called ‘coke’ in the U.K (even though many Americans do the same thing), lists various regional terms for carbonated beverages in the U.K and then goes on to describe American floats typically being made with root beer rather than Coca Cola anyway! I should be flattered as an Englishman but this is a bit of a mess as it stands.

‘Float’ should simply be defined as any drink with ice cream on the top, the article should then go on to explain that they tend to be made by combining ice cream with pop rather than other soft drinks but that other types of float are possible. For example this American website has recipes for coffee floats, wine floats and even a recipe for what is oddly referred to as ‘granny’s float’ (though this seems to essentially refer to a home-made version of the sort of fluffy mousse that is sold in the U.K as Angel Delight rather than a drink.). Mentions of ‘lemonade floats’ that refer to floats made using flat American-style lemonade can also be found online, as I’m sure can references to one’s made with fizzy U.K-style lemonade (though this falls into the category of floats made by combining ice cream with pop, it’s not currently mentioned in the article.).

‘Ice cream soda’ (soda water plus syrup plus ice cream) could then be mentioned as an exclusively American type of float where, instead of shop-bought pop being combined with ice cream, the pop is itself manufactured there and then by the person making the float (as when pop is made in a factory it is formed by adding soda water to syrup, after all). Overlordnat1 (talk) 03:03, 24 December 2021 (UTC)

recipe seems wrong
numerous google hits give the recipe for eg a chocolate ice cream soda as 3 tablespoons chocolate syrup in each of four 16-oz. glasses. Add 1/4 cup milk and 1 cup carbonated water to each; stir until foamy. Add two scoops of ice cream to each glass. https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/old-fashioned-ice-cream-sodas/

and this is certainly the standard recipe in the Boston area: choc syrup, milk, soda water, Ice cream — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.245.17.105 (talk) 21:16, 16 May 2022 (UTC)

In Australia - Spider is the colloquial term.
The term 'Spider' is used commonly in Australia, the most famous being the 'lime spider' which is lime soft drink (just lime flavoured and it's green in colour, not Sprite) and vanilla ice cream. Coke Spider and other variations also exist. The term 'float' is also used. Phauna (talk) 01:22, 7 December 2023 (UTC)

Is 'The Great Levroney' real?
The claim that floats were first mentioned in it is uncited and a cursory internet search returns only this article and posts likely stealing the exact phrasing from it. Can anyone even confirm this is a real book much less that it has floats in it? The edit was added by a user with no account. Im removing this claim for now, but consider re-adding if we can even find evidence this book exists. EVorpahl (talk) 15:57, 13 April 2024 (UTC)