Halfway through their scheduled hour of public tasting, several student teams in the 2026 Ever Fresh — OSU Ice Cream Innovation Contest had already run out of ice cream, as hungry connoisseurs of all ages clamored for spoonfuls of original flavors like “Peach Don’t Kill My Vibe” and “Benny’s Buttered Rum.”
After the public tasting, the 12 teams of undergraduate and graduate students made their presentations to contest judges. The Scoop Doggs’ “Rootbeeramisu” (root beer + tiramisu) won first place, which means the team will receive a $1,500 prize and soon have their flavor featured at the OSU Creamery.
Second place and a $1,000 prize went to the Sundae Scaries for their “Butter Together” browned butter latte flavor, which also received the most votes from the public tasting. In third place and receiving a $500 prize was the team Nuts for Fruit with “Hot Swirl Summer,” a Mexican-inspired combination of cucumber and chamoy.
“This competition challenged us in many ways to refine not only our product development skills, but also our ability to analyze market trends and present confidently to esteemed professionals in the industry,” said Scoop Doggs member Aidyn Whitehead.
The competition was the kind of creative opportunity Whitehead was looking for when she transferred to OSU in winter term to study Food Science and Technology. “These skills are precisely what we will carry with us when we enter the field and will make us standouts in whichever paths we choose to follow,” she said.
The competition began in 2025 as a collaboration between the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences and the Ever Fresh Fruit Company, an Oregon supplier owned by private equity firm Tilia Holdings that provides fruit ingredients to producers of foods including ice cream, baked goods and beverages.
Ever Fresh will also include the winning “Rootbeeramisu” in their quarterly Feature Flavor Program, likely in the fall with other holiday-adjacent flavors, said Melanie Oeck, product development manager for the company.
For the competition, Ever Fresh provided students with kits containing various spices, natural colors, neutral bases and basic vanilla and chocolate ice cream mixes to help them build their own ice cream flavors. This year, the company also added a mentorship program to connect students with professionals currently in the food science industry.
Teams of two to four students, required to have at least one Food Science and Technology student per team, worked for six weeks to develop original flavors as well as a marketing presentation to pitch them to judges. For research and development, they had weeknight access to the Dan Smith Food and Beverage Teaching Lab in Withycombe Hall, the same space used by the OSU Dairy Pilot Plant for research and development.
“They can do whatever they like in there, but obviously the final product needs to be within the confines of the competition,” said pilot plant manager Brandon Riesgaard, who helped supervise the development process. “I think a lot of teams just kind of throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks.”
One group attempted to create a concentrated energy-drink flavor; several others went the spicy or “swicy” (sweet and spicy) route, which Oeck says is having a big moment in the ice cream world.
“What was interesting to me is that, from the public-tasting side, those were not necessarily winners, but our judges — industry folks who are either flavor people or R&D at regional ice cream facilities — loved those concepts,” she said.
Riesgaard mused about adding a “single spoonful” tasting option to the contest in the future, for guests to sample more unconventional ice cream creations that might not be appealing in large quantities.
“It was neat to see the students absolutely think outside the box and go running with these wild flavors,” he said.
For the Scoop Doggs, the trickiest part was balancing the root beer, coffee and chocolate flavors so they did not compete with each other, Whitehead said. At the public tasting, guests were intrigued by the combo.
“But as soon as they took a bite, we could tell we were right on the money,” she said. “Certainly they were surprised by the combination, and yet they were rewarded by a taste that felt familiar and comforting. That was precisely what we were going for.”
Last year’s winning flavor, “Cafe Con Limone” (coffee with lemon), has been available at the Beaver Classic Creamery for about six months now and is selling pretty well, despite not being ready in time for the shop’s first summer rush after the grand opening last spring, Riesgaard said. This year, he hopes “Rootbeeramisu” and the creamery will benefit from increased awareness and name recognition as summer approaches.
The Beaver Classic Creamery is located in Withycombe Hall on SW Campus Way and SW 30th St. It is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11 a.m to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
