{"id":85801,"date":"2025-05-16T15:16:28","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T22:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=85801"},"modified":"2025-05-16T15:18:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T22:18:20","slug":"long-beach-creamery-anniversary-custom-flavors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/food\/long-beach-creamery-anniversary-custom-flavors","title":{"rendered":"This local ice cream shop, with custom flavors and unlimited samples, is turning 10 years old"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Have you had Charcolate ice cream? No, not chocolate, Charcolate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Saturday, Long Beach Creamery will launch the new flavor to celebrate 10 years at its Bixby Knolls location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flavor came as a happy accident, the organic ice cream shop\u2019s founder Dina Amadril said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s basically a chocolate that I burnt,\u201d Amadril said. \u201cI charred it, but I didn’t do it on purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It turned into a happy accident. Charcolate\u2019s rich chocolate flavor is reminiscent of burnt marshmallow. But because Amadril said she\u2019s not exactly sure how long she left the chocolate to char after turning off the wrong stove burner,  Saturday might be your only opportunity to try the flavor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also a chance to celebrate the success story of a thriving local business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The aroma of vanilla buttercake fills the room as Dina Amadril, co-owner of Long Beach Creamery, takes cake out of the oven at her store in Long Beach on Thursday, May 15, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A decade in, Amadril said she still enjoys the process of crafting new flavors, but most of her time is spent managing finances and other big-picture business matters related to the Bixby Knolls and Downtown stores that now have 20 total employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Konrad Freimuth, Amadril\u2019s nephew, moved in with his aunt about two months before the business opened. Over the last decade, he intertwined himself with operations so much that Amadril made him a co-owner a few years ago, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freimuth crafted the customer experience, which includes offering unlimited samples of the store\u2019s flavors and educating customers on how the ice cream is made, Amadril said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n Link<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The tactic is not always popular when there\u2019s a long line, but Freimuth said he finds joy in telling customers why the Banana Chip Sorbet flavor isn\u2019t artificially yellow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long Beach Creamery\u2019s attention to detail when making and serving its ice cream has kept customers coming back for years to try new flavors Freimuth and Amadril whip up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shop has also become deeply intertwined with some Long Beach residents\u2019 personal lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One married couple, who first came in when they were dating, now bring in their daughter to enjoy the organic offerings, Freimuth said, and a custom Long Beach Creamery flavor was served at the wedding reception for former Long Beach mayor and current congressman Robert Garcia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That flavor, previously called Purrfect Wedding<\/a>, is now called berry buttercake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A customer orders a scoop of Reverse Turtle ice cream at Long Beach Creamery in Long Beach on Thursday, May 15, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Amadril\u2019s foray into ice cream making began one night in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After having dinner with her neighbor, Farm Lot 59 founder Sasha Kanno<\/a>, Amadril ate a homemade peanut butter ice cream crafted by Kanno, Amadril said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After asking how Kanno made it, Amadril realized she had the same equipment \u2014 a KitchenAid mixer attachment \u2014 in her garage. So she dove in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first, she started making ice cream as a way to relieve stress from the marketing job she had worked for the past 25 years since moving from Rhode Island to Long Beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, \u201cI got addicted to the way that the cream could translate a flavor,\u201d Amadril said. \u201cSo anything I ate, I started thinking \u2018I could make that ice cream.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She didn\u2019t like the first flavor she whipped up, blueberry malt, but she enjoyed the creative process of tweaking the recipe, Amadril said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Konrad Freimuth, co-owner of Long Beach Creamery, mixes pomegranate and sweet lime sorbet to create a pomegranate twist at his ice cream store in Long Beach on Thursday, May 15, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Through posting pictures of her creations to Facebook, she gained a following that was willing to come taste her early creations, Amadril said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, dedicated tasters wanted to buy ice cream by the pint, and she started a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for the dairy room that creates ice cream for both Long Beach Creamery locations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She landed her Bixby Knolls location on Long Beach Boulevard by hearing about it from a Facebook friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dina Amadril, co-owner of Long Beach Creamery, pours chocolate chips while preparing a base for chocolate sorbet in Long Beach on Thursday, May 15, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The first day that store opened, Amadril sold out in four hours, depleting her store of ice cream that took her nephew and her four days to make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite 10 years of flavor creation, Long Beach Creamery hasn\u2019t run out of ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One example is their current Midnight Oolong flavor, a black pearl oolong tea that gives the store\u2019s chocolate ice cream \u201ca fudge finish,\u201d alongside best sellers like Burnt Caramel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of her employees, Cal State Long Beach grad Kate Maleki, creates the logos for each new pint of ice cream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Quarts of Charcolate were made at Long Beach Creamery in Long Beach on Thursday, May 15, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Although she has her hands full overseeing both locations, Amadril said she doesn\u2019t see her ice cream-making days ending anytime soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSometimes I make a flavor just because I like a name,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long Beach Creamery will raffle off 10 prize packages for any customers who buy from its Bixby Knolls location, 4141 Long Beach Blvd., on Saturday and Sunday. The Bixby Knolls ice cream shop is open from noon to 10 p.m. on Saturday and noon to 9 p.m. on Sunday.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Born out of one local woman\u2019s addiction to experimenting with new flavors, Long Beach Creamery is now a community staple.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23521,"featured_media":85795,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32323],"class_list":["post-85801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85801"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85806,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85801\/revisions\/85806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85801"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=85801"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=85801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}