Cockeye BBQ in Warren's started expanding its horizons with ice cream. It's turned into a delicious science experiment, inventing new flavors in the kitchen.

It started, with an idea for new desserts at Cockeye BBQ and quickly became a great idea, what's now turning into Cockeye Creamery.

"I'm an ice cream junkie, and I'm a chef, so of course I want to make my own," said owner Erik Hoover.

It's led to flavors you aren't exactly going to find anywhere else, like turning their signature dessert, buttermilk pie, into ice cream.

"It's incredibly fun. Not everything is a winner," said Hoover. "Our dishwashers here are mostly young kids, and there's no bad ice cream to them. It doesn't matter what I put in it; they're taking it home with them, so I apologize to their parents for giving them all that."

They've made the standard vanilla and chocolate, but what really gets the kitchen busy is a bunch of people standing around a bucket, taste-testing a flavor like cardamom, rhubarb, and lime.

"We're going to make a flavor today that we've never made before, but in my brain, it works," said Hoover.

It's a balancing act. The base is vanilla. They know that's good.

Beyond that, there's a lot of taste-testing involved. They add a little cardamom and out come the spoons. After that, sprinkle in a little more and try again and again and again until they get it just right.

It's been a hit.

"We can't make enough ice cream. What I thought would be a part-time job for an ice cream maker, and scooper is a full-time position," said Hoover.

If you've been by the place recently, you've noticed there's a little bit of construction next door. That is the ultimate home for Cockeye Creamery, which will expand the possibilities tremendously.

"Our intentions are to get our dairy processing license with this facility. We're building it as a separate facility because we can actually manufacture our ice cream for wholesale. You may see it popping up in local grocery stores," said Hoover.

It's scheduled to open August 1st with somewhere in the realm of 18-to-27 flavors.

Right now, the ice cream is available in limited quantities at Cockeye BBQ in Warren for $5/pint or a $5 three-scoop flight.