A Visit to the Penn State Berkey Creamery in State College, PA

Historical marker outside the Penn State Berkey Creamery

Date of Visit: July 27, 2024

Everyone in Pennsylvania knows about Penn State. Even if you have never attended a game at Beaver Stadium, you know about Happy Valley and the university campus where nearly 50,000 students attend classes each academic year.

But, you may not know that the University Park campus is home to one of the most inventive ice cream parlors, not only in the state, but in the country.

Set of glass double-doors iwth the words "Berkey Creamery" on the windows above

Penn State’s Berkey Creamery is located at the corner of Bigler and Curtin Roads, inside the Erickson Food Science Building in the heart of the campus.

We visited on a summer Saturday and still found the creamery packed with students, locals and visitors all looking to cool off with one of the unique flavors being dipped out.

Order counter at Penn State Berkey Creamery

During our visit, there were 20 flavors available. Standards like vanilla bean, chocolate and strawberry were joined by more adventurous offerings including Happy Happy Joy Joy (coconut with butter-roasted almonds and chocolate chips) and Alumni Swirl (vanilla with Swiss mocha chips and blueberry swirl).

I decided on what I would consider an in-between flavor: keeney beany chocolate. It was chocolate ice cream with the addition of chocolate chips and vanilla bean. I’ve always liked mixing vanilla and chocolate together, and this was the perfect combination of both with the vanilla bean giving a hint of the spice in the decadently creamy ice cream.

mother with young son and a toddler in a stroller showing off their ice cream

The creamery only serves cones, cups and milkshakes in one size – big. It’s somewhere between two-three regular scoops heaped on top of a cone or in a dish, like Julie and Jakob ordered. Julie went with a State College Favorite – grilled stickies.

row of coffee pots at the Penn State Berkey Creamery

Modeled after the grilled sticky buns from Ye Olde College Diner, the grilled stickie is cinnamon bun ice cream with sticky bun dough pieces and cinnamon streusel swirl. And it’s as amazing as it sounds.

Jakob has been on a mint chocolate chip craze this summer so he went with the creamery’s version called bittersweet mint. He polished it off in no time flat.

Refrigerated items at the Penn State Berkey Creamery

If you’re close enough to home or have plenty of ice or freezer packs, the Creamery has a freezer stocked with gallons to-go as well as a whole dairy section with milk, cheese, and other treats.

The Creamery is one of the many gems that can be found on the campus of Penn State University. Even if you aren’t a Nittany Lion (I’m not), there’s still a lot to appreciate on a visit to State College.

But I promise you that nothing will be sweeter than a stop at the Berkey Creamery.

When You Go

The Creamery is located on the campus in the Rodney Erickson Food Science Building. Visitors without parking passes will need to use the East deck which costs $2 for the first hour and $1 for each hour after that.
Cones come in one size – about two scoops – and only one flavor per cup or cone.
The Creamery also doubles as a market with to-go ice cream and dairy products plus other gifts including packaged grilled stickies, branded ice cream scoops, and t-shirts.