The best ice cream we know — from the Trattberghof

Martina and Hannes Millinger make ice cream in Winkl from the milk of their own cows. We sat down with them and turned it into something you will only find here.

We are not an ice cream parlour and have no plans to become one. But when ice cream better than anything else we know is made a few minutes from the bar, it would be foolish to leave it off the menu.

It started with a small ad

In the spring of 2004 Martina and Hannes Millinger read an advertisement in the farmers' paper and got the idea of making their own ice cream. It has been made at the Trattberghof in Winkl, part of St. Johann, ever since — from fresh milk and cream, with no artificial flavours, no colouring, no preservatives.

In summer the cows are up on the family's own alpine pasture in the Lindtal near St. Ulrich am Pillersee. That milk goes into production as quickly as possible. You can taste the alpine herbs in it — that is not a marketing line, it is why the ice cream tastes different in summer than in winter.

By now there are more than three hundred recipes in the book and more than fifty flavours in the range, from dairy ice to sorbets, vegan ones among them.

We have tasted a lot of ice cream. Martina and Hannes make the best we know — and it comes from here.
LIANE OMENZETTER, FEIER·ABEND

What we made of it

We sat down, tinkered and tasted until the pairs worked. This is how it stands on our menu:

For home as well

BauernEis is not only served here — it is also sold by the jar in selected shops around the region.

Why it belongs here

It is the same reasoning as with the beer and the wine: we want to know who stands behind what we serve. With Martina and Hannes we can drive over, watch and ask — and the answer comes from the people who made it.

It still will not turn us into an ice cream parlour. What we keep is a short, chosen list — ice and glass combined so that both come out better.

Best of all in the evening on the terrace, when the sun comes round.

bauerneis.com