Jilbert Dairy

I’m a local and have been buying ice cream here for a few years, but I’m pretty much done with this place now. There’s an older lady who works behind the counter who is always rubbing her face with her bare hands. Then she scoops up the ice cream with those same dirty hands, with no gloves. GROSS. She did it again last week when I was in there. I’m not a germ fanatic, but who wants to eat food served in these conditions?

Quick, friendly service delivered 7 different ice cream choices to our party. Butter pecan, pistachio almond, zanzibar, cherry amaretto, and cowpucchino were all recommended as do overs.

Still dreaming of that peanut butter Mackinac Island fudge ice cream. Jilbert’s is Michigan ice cream, and this location is «headquarters», so to speak. It looks rather industrial when you pull up because it’s where the semis load up and where they process the milk, but inside the little red barn building is the scoop shop!
Five stars for the ice cream! Jilbert’s had about 20 – 25 flavors out, and it’s creamy and delicious. Mackinac Island fudge is a classic. Sit outside and enjoy your treat on a picnic table under the enormous (like, a story high) plastic cow!
Four stars for the experience. The service was just meh and not super friendly. And I just can’t get over the industrial feel — I want to be in a brightly colored, whimsical scoop shop! Imagine if they transformed the inside with cow-​printed wallpaper and pops of color…

This is a must try if you are in the U.P. The ice cream is fresh with no added air or artificial flavors. Have an insane amount of flavors to choose from.
Just be aware when you are looking for the place keep pulling into the place even though it looks like you are going into the plant which is located at the facility as well.
Great ice cream! Enough said.

Personally I think Jilbert has some of the best ice cream in the U.P. If you venture south of the bridge or into Wisconsin, I’m sure they’d put up some fierce competition but as long as you’re in the Yoop, make sure you stop here and try it out for yourself.
It is a little out of the way and hard to find, but do yourself a favor and seek it out; It will be worth it. You get an ample amount of ice cream for the price you pay. It is creamy and flavorful with at least 24 flavors to choose from at any given time. Their «special sundae» is always a bargin @ $ 2.25 for a scoop of ice cream, a topping, nuts, whipped cream, and a cherry.
Their building however, from the dipping area to the dining room, needs a modern update. It looks like no one cares about the century old wooden tables that are split down the middle with years of dried drips of ice cream and sprinkles lodged in between. Or the chairs that will fall straight back if you don’t sit on them just right. The viewing area down the hall is a really neat touch, where you can actually see the workers bottle the milk, but, please make it smell nice at least! Every time I walk in there I smell a pungent odor that makes me question where my milk is coming from.
They have an array of different packaged ice cream, milk, and other dairy products, as well as a few shelves of «U.P. made» items for purchase. The patio is very nice to sit on outside by the giant cow. In the summer the flowers and plants make it a very relaxing place to enjoy your ice cream treat.
Overall, this is a must for any out-​of-​towners and locals alike!

Arguably the best ice cream in Michigan and it’s only available in the UP.
My first experience with Jilbert’s ice cream was at the ice cream parlor/​coffee café at the Lower Falls in Tahqaumenon Falls State Park. I ordered a scoop of Blueberry Crunch and a scoop of Black Cherry. My wife ordered a scoop of double dark chocolate. The ice cream was so rich, creamy and full flavored. An experience that I enjoyed so much that I went back in and ordered another. BTW – A two hour car ride back to the cottage is about what you need for your body to produce the right amount of insulin to counter that kind of intake.
Knowing how good Jilbert’s is our second experience was had in the parking lot of a grocery store in Newberry. We skipped lunch altogether and bought a carton of French Vanilla and four spoons. Pure Michigan. Pure ridiculous.
My point it is, the ice cream is fantastic and your UP experience is incomplete without trying Jilbert’s.

Mackinac Island Fudge is a must, the Amaretto version is my favorite

To this day, Jilbert’s is still one of my favorite brands of milk and of ice cream I’ve ever had the fancy of trying. Every time I’m back home for the summer/​winter, I always make a stop by the Dairy and try some of their new flavors. I am never disappointed with their offerings at all.
A must-​see for all locals and travelers!

5 stars for being an employer to my family for years, for providing me calcium after I kicked breast milk at 6 (jk), and for having THE best dairy products in the UP. Now if what Perry is saying is true, what a shame. I’ll give it a shot during X-​mas and update accordingly. My family still buys Jilbert so it can’t be that bad.

Best ice cream in the UP. Some of the new flavors that they have are just amazing. You have to try the birthday cake and/​or the apple pie. Two of the best one’s I have ever had. Jilbert’s milk is also the best. Morning Glory doesn’t even compare to it.

I use to love this place… I mean love this place… like rave about how good the ice cream was, how it was made by hand. How no place in the country could touch it.
Well I went back to Marquette for a visit and swore that I would stop by and get my favorite ice cream Moose tracks.
After one bite… I knew something was different. It did not taste the same, it tasted like your normal generic boxed crap ice cream.
So I went and asked my father what the story was.
He said several years back Jilbert’s got bought out by a huge corporate company. I think he said it was Dean foods. I would say this is a perfect example of corporate America ruining something as pure as snow from the sky… instead of real pieces of Reese’s peanut butter cups in the ice cream when I got to the bottom it was these little pods of peanut butter covered with chocolate.
So disappointing…
John Jilbert you should be ashamed of yourself for selling out.
I would say I will probably never stop here again on a trip home. The novelty is gone.

Best ice cream in the Michigan UP! If they had Jilbert’s in Chicago, I could see Baskin-​Robbins applying for Chapter 11. Jilbert’s is not just an ice cream shop, it is a dairy. They have their own milk and distribute their products all over Michigan. The thing about their ice cream is that it has big chunks of good stuff in it, whether it’s fudge, cookie dough, peanut butter, or whatever. They probably got about 30 flavors. Even their 2% milk tastes creamier than the usual milk I find around here in Chicago. The dairy is located behind a mall off of the main road towards Marquette (behind Shopko). The building is easy to spot, since it is their trademark red barn with a giant fiberglass cow (Jill) standing proudly next to some picnic tables outside. They are open longer hours in the summer, so stop by when you’re in town.