The only thing as sweet as Sweet Cow’s ice cream is the mutual love between customers and this neighborhood favorite

Sweet Cow Ice Cream dominates the bracket.

After a matchup against some of Denver’s most well-known ice cream brands, Sweet Cow has been chosen as Denver’s best ice cream shop according to the 2026 Denver Gazette’s Ice Cream Bracket.

After a close matchup in the March Madness-style bracket against Little Man Ice Cream, Sweet Cow emerged as the final favorite with a score of 517-317.

After a tense matchup in the final four with Sadboy Creamery, with a score of 1,082-752 it was looking to be a close competition for Sweet Cow after Little Man Ice Cream swept the vote against local favorite Bonnie Brae 1,298-583.

“Winning the Denver Gazette ice cream bracket means that all of the hard work that we put into making our ice cream great and building a strong community and connection with people paid off,” says General Manager Sarah Grace. “That our customers value us in the way that we value them, and that we’re the best ice cream business around, in Denver, in Colorado, maybe even the world?”

Sweet Cow Ice Cream began as a community-oriented space that focuses on both flavor quality by carefully selecting local ingredients and on making something amazing out of simplicity, and the experience of enjoying ice cream scooped with smiles by the friendliest scoopers.

Being embedded in their local communities is part of what makes Sweet Cow extra sweet to their customers. Part of their flavor strategy in creating delicious and innovative flavors revolves around their friendly and approachable vibe.

“Part of our way of doing that is making sure that our flavors and ice cream is premium without pretense or posh,” says Grace.

Sweet Cow has more than just ‘good ice cream,’ but instead holds the nostalgic flavors of Denver’s favorites like Ozo Coffee for their coffee flavor, Hammonds Candies for peppermint and caramels, Sherpa Chai for their new flavors, and Savory Spice Shop.

Behind the scenes of Sweet Cow’s innovative flavors is founder and owner Drew Honness, who works with scoopers at each location to develop and test out new flavors, taking notes and remaking batches multiple times to perfect the simplest of ingredients.

“I think simplicity is key, taking two very simple things and then combining them into something that is really great,” said Grace. “Stuff like apple pie, where you’re just taking pie crust and apple filling and cinnamon and you’re just using the simplest ingredients but making it truly an amazing, fantastic flavor through high-quality ingredients.”