An Annapolis-based ice cream shop and a Crofton brewery are teaming up for an unlikely pairing of ice cream and beer.

Always Ice Cream, owned by Mark and Adam Cohen, is an off shoot of the popular Annapolis venture Annapolis Ice Cream on Main Street. The brothers joined the family business in 2020 when their father, Ross, sold the Main Street location. After acquiring Annapolis Ice Cream, the duo planned a westward expansion. The first Always Ice Cream location opened in 2021 on the corner of Annapolis Street and Melvin Avenue in West Annapolis and its reach has grown since.

Since 2021, the Cohen brothers have opened ice cream shops in downtown Annapolis, West Annapolis, Edgewater, Pasadena and Crofton. Another branch opened in the Village Cross Keys in Baltimore last year. There are plans to go to Severna Park this spring near the B & A Trail, according to Mark Cohen.

When Always Ice Cream launched, the brothers began working with community groups to create custom flavors for events such as school spirit nights. This is the third year of a partnership with the Anne Arundel County Public Library to make a flavor that is sold in all of their locations for the month of February to mark Love Your Library Month.

Last year’s flavor was “Dragons Love Toffee,” a caramel ice cream with chocolate chips and toffee. A portion of the sales goes to the Anne Arundel County Public Library Foundation, a nonprofit owned by the public library system, according to Christine Feldman, spokesperson for AACPL. Last year, Always Ice Cream donated a little over $2,000.

This year’s flavor is “One Flew Over the Cookies Nest,” inspired by the 1962 novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey and made of cookie dough ice cream mixed with crushed Oreos and brownie bites.

In addition to ice cream eaters, beer drinkers can participate. Pherm Brewing, located off Route 3 in Crofton, is selling an American Brown Ale with Oreos and bourbon-soaked vanilla beans added after the fermentation process.

“It’s an inspiration from [Always Ice Cream] which is what we’re hoping to do, a real, true collaboration where we get to both be creative and put our heads together with making a local product that we’re really proud of,” said Henry Jager, brewmaster and one of the owners of Pherm Brewing.

While Pherm Brewing Company and Always Ice Cream have crossed paths before, this is their first time jointly raising money for the library system.

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