Hanover Scoops

Ice cream.  I eat a lot of ice cream.  At least once a day.  For me though, ice cream is usually an accompaniment to a warm fruit crisp, crumble, slice of pie, or other "real dessert".  Sometimes I'll be low key and use it as a stuffing for an ice cream cookie sandwich.  But I very, very rarely have just a scoop of ice cream, particularly hard serve.  But soft serve I have a soft spot for (see what I did there?).  A warm day, a cone of soft serve with sprinkles, in the sun, and in those circumstances, I need nothing more.  "Just ice cream", if it is good soft serve, is all I need.

Whenever I visit my family on the east coast in the summer, ice cream outings are a way of life.  80+ degree days, a mother who loves ice cream and wants to spend time wtih me, perfect match.  The thing is ... there just isn't great ice cream around town.  The main ice cream place in town, Dairy Twirl, sometimes has a decent soft serve flavor (they do a particularly good mint, lemon, and amaretto!),  but, its pretty expensive and generally just average.  A bit further away is Ice Cream Fore-U, that is I think is slightly better, and better priced, but not worth the extra 10 minute drive.  If I'm craving super sweet, there is Mac's Maple, for soft serve maple creamies that are good, but, very sweet, and it too is a bit far away.  And that is it, besides McDonald's and Burger King, for soft serve.

So when I saw a new place opening in the town next door (Hanover), with locally made ice cream (mostly hard serve), but also vanilla, chocolate, and maple soft serve I had to check it out.  I hoped to find a new gem.  Hanover Scoops is the second location for the brand, the other is in Woodstock, aptly named Woodstock Scoops.

Spoiler: I did not find a new gem.  If you are looking for good soft serve in New Hampshire, there is a gem, King Kone, it just is 1.5 hours away from my parent's house, so not particularly practical (but seriously, best soft serve ever!).

Signage.

Hanover Scoops is located next to the Nugget movie theater, with a sign out on the sidewalk to draw you in.

Ordering Area.

Inside is quite simple, with a small area to line up and order, with an ice cream cooler on the side.

Bar.

The ice cream freezers and machine are behind a high bar, that has some basic toppings on display.  All looked pretty generic brand/quality.

The only unique offerings are maple syrup or maple sprinkles, along with the aforementioned maple soft serve.

Vanilla & Chocolate Twist.  Kiddie. 
w/ chocolate sprinkles.

The day I visited we were met with sadness.  No maple soft serve.  Only basic vanilla and chocolate.

I opted for a kiddie cone, which was about the size I'd expect.  The ice cream was ... fine.  Creamy, but fairly plain vanilla, creamy but not really the style of chocolate I like chocolate.  Very, very average.  Same with the cone, and the fairly waxy generic sprinkles.

There was nothing interesting about this cone really, and I wouldn't go back for it.

**+.