Hot Licks began in 1986 as a joint venture between two brothers, Geoff and Adam Wool. Hot Licks was their response to the conclusion that there was no super premium ice cream in Alaska. The two brothers had recently arrived from Boston at a time when the resurgence of old fashioned, high quality, batch made, ice cream was at its peak. Adam came to Fairbanks to complete his requirements for a physics degree from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and Geoff came to work as a Special Education teacher. They thought that in their spare time they could work together to bring quality ice cream to Fairbanks.

What started out as a lark became an overnight college town sensation. Adam, an accomplished jazz drummer, organized the Hot Licks Jazz Band and Hot Licks Homemade Ice Cream was synonymous for the best ice cream and the hottest jazz around. In addition to ice cream, Hot Licks made soups, fresh baked breads, and cinnamon rolls, all from scratch. They were known in Fairbanks as the home of the four basic food groups: Soup, Bread, Ice Cream, and Coffee.

Adam decided to leave Hot Licks in 1990.  He went on to create Fairbanks' premier night club, The Blue Loon, where he can still be seen, on occasion, playing the drums.  Geoff, with his wife Dorothee, carried on the original Hot Licks vision for twelve years before they decided to retire the restaurant business. They quit the soups and breads to devote all their energy to ice cream.

Today there are three Hot Licks locations: two in Fairbanks and one in Denali Park. Franchise opportunities are offered in the State of Alaska, and may be made available, on a limited basis, outside Alaska. In addition to supplying franchises, Hot Licks is a purveyor to a number of the finer restaurants and hotels in Anchorage and Fairbanks.

The term "Homemade" refers to the production method. Hot Licks ice cream is made by the individual batch, forty quarts at a time, as opposed to the continuous flow system used by large companies to turn out thousands of gallons of each flavor.

The batch freezing method, combined with the use of the very finest ingredients obtainable, imparts an "old fashioned" or "homemade" characteristic to the ice cream that is absent from even the best of the national brands. Batch freezing also allows for tremendous flexibility and virtually unlimited flavor possibilities.

Alaska may have a lot of cow moose, but dairy cows are in short supply. In our early days our ice cream mix was made for us by a local dairy but even then additional cream had to be sent up from Oregon. As our usage increased, we found that the Alaska dairies did not have enough cows to produce our ice cream mix. Today all of our mix is made for us by Lochmead Dairy, a third generation family farm in Oregon.

Lochmead dairy does not use bovine growth hormone. The mix is made according to our own proprietary formula. Only fresh cream and milk are used along with sugar, milk solids and egg yolk. A butterfat content of 16% places our ice cream in the super premium classification. To this mix Hot Licks adds the finest all natural ingredients such as pure Nielsen-Massey Vanilla, wild Alaska Blueberries, real Guittard Chocolate (not chocolate syrup) and fresh or frozen fruits. Artificial colors, flavors and stabilizers are never used.