Stuart Phillips chuckled to himself as he thought about his newest creation.
“I’m proud to say it completely sold out in two days,” he said of Russian Meteorite. The vodka-roasted-beet flavored ice cream, made with fudge and malted milk balls, is the newest in a long line of outrageous flavors from Red Wagon Creamery.
Stuart and his wife, Emily, have been dreaming up crazy flavors for the past two years. Their company, which was born out of Emily’s desire for independence after her 13-year tenure as a chef, sells locally and organically produced artisan ice cream out of two food carts in Eugene. Flavors range from Liquored Leprechaun to Pear and Gouda but always change with the seasons. “If it’s not in season, you shouldn’t expect to find it,” Stuart Phillips said.
The couple prides themselves on taking the chemicals out of ice cream and turning it into real food. “We hand-make all of our ice cream. We start with milk and organic sugar, then tailor each recipe to that particular flavor. Each one is really unique,” he said.
“We truly make our ice cream from scratch and don’t use mixes,” Phillips said, which he claims gives the couple flexibility in the production process. “If we have a flavor with a lot of strawberries for example — strawberries have natural sugar in them, so if you have a mix with sugar in the base, it will be too sugary. So we cut back the amount of sugar in that particular recipe until it’s right. We tinker the formula for each and every flavor.”
Red Wagon’s process differs from commercial production in that shelf life is never a concern. “Commercial ice cream has to be shelf stable for a long time, so companies are forced to add stabilizers, take out cream and add milk solids and all sorts of chemical substitutes for flavors that would go bad. Since we’re here, we’re making it every day, so the oldest you get it is a few days and we don’t have to do any of that,” Phillips said.
The company, which began two years ago as a single cart, now has two carts and is preparing to relocate to a shared storefront this May with PartyCart. The new venue will allow the couple to explore a new array of flavors but will also offer them a micro-dairy, processing-certified kitchen, their own pasteurizer and the ability to sell their ice cream to local grocery stores. “For us, the move is about being able to do the same thing we’re doing now, but on a slightly larger scale,” Phillips said.
Red Wagon Creamery is enjoying success in Eugene, which Phillips attributes in part to the spirit of the city.
“If we weren’t in Eugene, or a place like it, it would definitely be different,” he said. “Artisan ice cream is something that can catch on anywhere, but the creativity of the flavors needs an audience that can appreciate it.”
In fact, folks are driving across town just to get the stuff. Heather Goskie was hooked on Red Wagon’s ice cream after she tasted the salted caramel after attending a fundraiser at a winery. There was no food at the event, so she stopped by the cart. She stopped back one afternoon because, she said she’s been dreaming about the Phillips’ concoctions ever since. Goskie only ever buys the salted caramel flavor and doesn’t see a reason to try another.
“I don’t really like ice cream,” she said. “I don’t need to like anything else.”
Though Red Wagon is preparing to settle in to its new location, its carts will still be operational. In the meantime, you can find the mobile creamery set up at a farmer’s market or on a street corner around Eugene.
Michael Arellano and Eder Campuzano contributed to this report.