It started as Bev's
In 1989, Beverly Mazursky opened an ice cream shop in Lenox. Four years later the business moved to 5 Railroad Street in Great Barrington as Bev’s Homemade Ice Cream. Her son Danny had come to the Berkshires straight out of college to help run it, and he stayed, building the flavor list, managing production, and watching the line out the door get longer.
When Beverly stepped back, Danny took over and, in 2004, renamed the business SoCo Creamery, short for South County Creamery. The new name was a bet on the place: that an ice cream made in the southern Berkshires, for the people who live here, did not need to sound like it came from anywhere else.
What we make, and what goes in it
We source our dairy from a fourth-generation family farm in Vermont. We make our own inclusions — cookie dough, brownies, caramel — from scratch in our own kitchen, rather than buying them in by the bucket. The rest is ordinary care applied without shortcuts: local blueberries in season, real vanilla, high butterfat, small batches.
The flavor list rotates constantly. Some flavors come back every year. Some exist for a week because someone had an idea on a Tuesday. That is the point of a scoop shop — it can try things a national brand cannot.
Matt and Caitlin
Matt Scott started at SoCo in 2009 as a part-time truck driver. He became the flavor master, developing the lineup for close to a decade before leaving the Berkshires for an ice cream shop in Brooklyn, a large dairy plant, and a creamery in Red Hook, New York. In April 2025 he came back and bought SoCo from Erik Bruun, who had owned it since 2015 and stayed on through that first summer to help. He and his wife Caitlin now own and run SoCo Creamery. The changes have been deliberately small — brighter pint packaging, a few new flavors — because, as Matt put it, a shop that has been part of a small community for over twenty years is partly owned by that community whatever the paperwork says.
Railroad Street
Railroad Street is two blocks of independent shops running down from Main Street in downtown Great Barrington. No chains, no parking lot, nothing you can drive through. You park on Main Street or in the lot behind, and you walk.
That is the right way to arrive at an ice cream shop. On a summer evening, the line out our door is part of what the street looks like.
FAQ
When was SoCo Creamery founded?
SoCo Creamery took its name in 2004, but ice cream has been made at 5 Railroad Street in Great Barrington since 1993. The business began in 1989, when Beverly Mazursky opened a shop in Lenox. It moved to Railroad Street as Bev’s Homemade Ice Cream, and her son Danny renamed it SoCo Creamery.
What does SoCo stand for?
SoCo is short for South County Creamery. South County is what locals call the southern Berkshires — Great Barrington, Egremont, Sheffield, Stockbridge and the towns around them — where SoCo’s ice cream has been made for over 30 years.
What was Bev’s Homemade Ice Cream?
Bev’s Homemade Ice Cream was SoCo Creamery’s original name. Beverly Mazursky started it in Lenox in 1989 and moved it to 5 Railroad Street in Great Barrington in 1993. Same address, same kitchen; the name became SoCo in 2004.
Who has owned SoCo Creamery over the years?
Three owners in more than 30 years. The Mazursky family, Beverly and then her son Danny, built the business. Erik Bruun and a group of local investors bought it in 2015. Matt and Caitlin Scott bought it from Bruun in April 2025; Bruun stayed on through their first summer to help.
How long has there been ice cream at 5 Railroad Street?
Since 1993 — more than 30 years. The awning changed from Bev’s Homemade Ice Cream to SoCo Creamery in 2004, but it’s the same scoop shop on the same block of downtown Great Barrington.
Who created SoCo’s flavors?
Many of today’s favorites came from Matt Scott, SoCo’s “flavor master” from 2009 to 2017. He developed more than 100 recipes, including Blueberry Honey Lavender, before running production at Ample Hills Creamery in Brooklyn. He now owns SoCo with his wife, Caitlin.