Calder Brothers Dairy

For those looking for raw milk, they don't sell it here. Old fashioned, cozy, family oriented and friendly, makes some of the best milk. The people who come here are a part of the community and everyone knows each other. It's a little bit expensive but that's because it's fresh and local. They have a farm which has been operating long before I was born. Not only do they sell milk and ice cream, they also sell butter, bread, cream, cheese, chips, cakes, pies, peaches, relish, beets, jams and much more. I highly recommend checking this establishment out.

How do I describe it? If you know you know. The prices tend to be much higher than what you can get from a supermarket but the quality is so much higher that it is no contest. Ultimately despite the greater expense I feel that there is higher value in the quality product you can find here because it will take less to satisfy you than the store brands. Still enjoying yourself while eating less is good for your health too.

Best Ice Cream around, better than Dairy Queen. I love the parlor but the store is even better, it feels old fashioned and the cashier is super nice, I always leave the guy their a tip. I highly recommend this place.

This place is so awesome! The grocery store milk can't compare at all. They even have buttermilk.

My husband went in tonight, because I was craving some blue moo ice cream. He came back with lots of good stuff. Chocolate milk in a glass bottle and milk! Soooo delicious! Highly recommend this place will be a new place to pick up our milk.

If you want the best dairy products, this is and has always been the pillar of freshness. I highly recommend anyone who likes great ice cream and egg nog. It's been there since I was a child and the quality has never changed.

Their ice cream exceeded my expectations. I like the yogurt milk ...it is the closest product the Rwandan IKIVUGUTO [ butter milk] . I grew up with IKIVUGUTO and finding Calder Brothers Dairy products in metro Detroit, help me relive my childhood. I have kids and they like the Calder Brothers Dairy butter milk [ yogurt ]. Their ice cream is beyond my expectations. Very satisfied and products worth the money. If you're passing by Detroit, your Detroit experience won't be complete until you visit the Calder Brothers Dairy.

I love calders icecream. We choose to try the icecream shop next door instead of getting a tub like we normally do. It’s full of ice crystals and tastes freezer burnt. I walk back inside seconds later and explain it’s gross and you could literally hear the ice as I scooped into it. I ask if I could give that back and try a different flavor or get a refund. He says they don’t do anything and he’s had many issues. Would not do anything for us when both our ice creams were gross and we only asked about the one. I left it on the counter and told him to throw it away and walked out. Highly disappointed by the service here.

Some of the freshest and tastiest milk around , especially the Chocolate Milk and the Strawberry Milk(when available) around. And, they still have glass bottles and they have home delivery within their delivery area.

I used to love this place, They had the best Chocolate Milk around!!! It was so thick and creamy!! Well recently i noticed its not the same, its not as thick, so its not as good, Before recently i would of gave a 5 star review , why would you change something that was perfect?

The best ice cream Downriver! Fresh from the farm. Great variety of other things such as milk and eggs. If I lived nearby I would go here often.

Excellent products, fairly reliable order fulfillment, DISGUSTING milk crates used with delivery. It's been a while since I was in the store, but I do remember it being tiny and smelling like soured milk. Again, good products!

One our Downriver gems. Unbeatable quality and worth it to go in and clack the cooler doors.

i love this place, the ice cream is so good, great service, i would definitely go everyday if i could.

Best ice cream and egg nog around. Once you try it you won't ever want to go back!

The best EGG NOG ever!! I definitely plan on making many stops here. Their dairy products are the best offered in the State of Michigan.

Chocolate milk so thick it could stand to be diluted with milk . But so good on it's own Very good Ice cream !!! Great place to take the kids for a cone in the summer . I hear the eggnog is great as witnessed by the lines out the door at Christmas time .

Cheat days are made for ice-cream. Yum, yum, gimme some! Normally I drive an hour and a half to Dietsch Brothers in Ohio to get ice-cream when I'm in Michigan. But I thought, why not try a local establishment like a normal person? I was deciding between Stroh's and Calder Bros (based on Yelp of course.) Calder's won, thanks to Fox E's awesome review! It was a tiny old-school joint. There was only employee which is typical I hear and the line felt like it took forever. I was rolling my eyes as the person in front of me took her time trying samples knowing I'd do the same thing when it was my turn. She even had the nerve to order a shake, sigh... I chatted with the regulars while waiting. The selection was a bit limited. There was no salted caramel or anything caramel (other than cappuccino) but it was definitely adequate. And when I saw the size of the scoops (you pay for one but really get two) and the prices, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! I got cookie dough. I figured that was the safer option since a fellow Yelper said they use artificial colors (sad face). It was light on the cookie dough, maybe three or four pieces, but creamy and melt in your life delicious! They don't have waffle cones but the tiny sugar cone was simply divine. It was worth it! Worth the wait, worth burning up waiting in line inside that hot establishment, worth the ice-cream melting in the car cause there was really nowhere within walking distance to enjoy my cone. P.S. I'd like to thank the nice guy who bought my cone after I thought he'd jumped me in line. Waiting for ice-cream makes me cranky! I salute you brother and hope to pay it forward. Real class act.. I highly recommend Calder Bros. and will definitely indulge again!

If you're losing hair, you're just gonna get BALDER If she spills her coffee, it's gonna SCALD HER If there is an X-File, better call MULDER But there's no ice cream better than CALDER If Calder's is a U-Haul, I just HAULDER HER If Calder's is a call girl, I just CALLED HER If Calder's is Johnny Depp, I'm GENE WILDER But there's no ice cream better than CALDER WHAT What to get: Ice Cream What else: Chocolate milk And then what: My cream Hey, I just met you And this is crazy But here's my belly fat From Calder's maybe? If you're going to get fat in Detroit, do it on Detroit style pizza, do it on Masri Sweets' Kanafa, and do it on the local ice creams and custards, which are absolutely divine. None moreso than Calder's - a local tradition, and absolute ice cream perfection. Calders is absolute heaven on a cone. Forget Matcha soft serve, forget "mix ins" and nitrogen ice cream... this is just the real, traditional, thick, dairy-heavy, original "stuff". The reason we all fell in love with ice cream in the first place. Some girl told me this wasn't the best ice cream in Michigan, but she'd never even tried it. So I Calder out on it. Their stuff is so fattening and so thick and so creamy and you can tell that the people who work here enjoy it. If you know what I mean. The girl on the grocery side was really sweet, and the boys on the ice cream side were insanely nice to me. Like super ridiculously nice. I'm not used to boys being so nice unless they're into me. Maybe they were. The caramel cappuccino ice cream was amazing - just as advertised on Yelp by the girl that I added while in line here - hi. And don't get me started on the chocolate milk. It's the highlight of the place. This is not like any other chocolate milk I've ever had. I can't decide if it's my favorite or if I like the ones in Rochester better, but those taste more like milk than chocolate and this one tastes more like liquid chocolate ice cream. It's so thick and so chocolatey and so good I'm very impressed. Much like my boyfriend. I also love all of the cow decor all over the place. Anyway it's time to mooooooooove right along to the next review.

I love this place! The products are so delicious and fresh. Most of the staff are friendly, but one lady in particular, Denise, is absolutely the best!! She is so friendly, and always makes me feel so welcome. She always has a smile on her face and is genuinely interested in how the customers are doing. She is the best!!

Great authentic ice cream ! Wish there were more places to sit down and eat though but very good. Lots of choices.

This is a first visit for us at this place. They have tons of flavors and they are all so delicious. I totally forgot that I'm lactose intolerant and of course, my stomach didn't agree with me after consuming a small cup of his deliciousness. I chose black cherry and mango and it didn't disappoint me. My husband got chocolate peanut butter in a cone and MIL got butter Pecan. The service was alright. Nothing to complain about. The store could use a little bit of renovation and maybe open up more spaces for people to sit down and eat ice cream. Other than that, I truly enjoyed our first visit and would definitely be back again. So glad I've found an ice cream place on the east side.

Real milk not 75%water 25% who knows what like what you buy in other places. They have an amazing icecream shop on the same sidewalk. I wish my health would allow me to go every week. Prices are fare. And they do delivery subscribe now!

I'd probably give a 4.5, but upping it to 5. It may have just been the flavors I tried, but the ice cream is so rich and creamy! The Whitehouse cherry tasted like sipping a nice cup of creamy milk with some cherry flavor. I will savor that memory until the ice cream part is open again in the spring! However, I wish they did not use artificial color or flavors, which is a bummer. FYI: Cash only for the ice cream! Anyway, I'm so glad Calder's exists! Where else can you get local milk in a glass bottle?! Thanks for serving the Downriver area for decades!

This place is a great place to get authentic dairy real unadulterated dairy and ice cream check this place out you'll be very happy

I haven't been able to drink milk in years, but I tried this place and their milk did not cause me pain

Local farm...not trucked in from distant farms. Processed right here in Lincoln Park, not in in some mega agribusiness company. Great products -- ice cream, milk -- live nearby and use them exclusively for items they have. Best holiday eggnog; lines outside day/2 before. Hope that opening new store in Flat Rock won't eventually close down the original L.Pk facility. Support local, in favor of corporate sources!

The chocolate milk is the best! It taste like melted chocolate ice cream. The ice cream was delicious. I had the Holstein( coconut ice cream with almonds and chocolate), it's so creamy.

4 year's ago posted this Yelp removed. The States Best Dairy and Ice Cream A visit to the downriver area is not complete without a stop to the Calders Bros. Dairy. A family run operation since started in 1946 serving the best of milk, butter and ice cream products. They raise a special herd Holstein, Brown Swiss and Jersey cows to give you the highest butterfat and protein levels in any products made right here in Michigan. The farm and country store is located in Carleton which offers farm tours and daily feeding for all to enjoy. The classic ice cream is served year round along with the store open 7 days a week 7am to 10pm. The chocolate milk and butter is the creamiest in Michigan and the seasonal eggnog just came in which is a must try for your holiday guests to try. I know I've tried some of those other dairy farms and I truly think Calders is a classic and the best Michigan has to offer, hey it's close to I-75 and I-94 just a short hop off on Southfield, you really don't have a good excuse not to try the best. See my pictures and enjoy as my family have for three generations

Since I moved to Michigan, I've heard about Calder's Bros. and had the opportunity to try the ice cream while in the area. The butter pecan ice cream cone was delicious. I also bought a glass jug of the chocolate milk. That was fantastic. It may be the best chocolate milk I've ever had.

Very friendly staff, delicious and local ice cream, and lots of flavor selection. The parking sign on the top of the building is very confusing. You feel like you should pull down the alley (which we did) and then we were stuck backing up onto a busy road. There's parking in the back of the building - so just turn at the side street and head to the back. Otherwise great place with great prices too! Definitely stop in.

I really like the hometown feel of cold there's I love the ice cream I love every Christmas going to get their buttermilk for our Christmas breakfast just a great place to go and still has great service

If you want the best chocolate milkshake you've ever had, order the Josh Caps Special. Now, only one girl working there will know what this is, but explain it to whoever makes it, she'll whip it up for you. Josh Caps Special: Chocolate Chocolate Chip ice cream Chocolate syrup Chocolate milk They will blend it into 12 ounces of delicious, creamy, chocolately goodness and your mouth will cry of flavor sensation. Overall, Calder's is amazing. They accept cash only, have ample parking and are kid friendly. They'll make you whatever you want. Bring an appetite and a friend and you will never forget your first visit to Calder's.

I hold Calder in high regard. A family owned business in Michigan that has been around for many years. I can't say enough positive things about this place. If you want a quality product this is the place from their milk (especially the chocolate moo) to the ice cream and even the butter oh and don't forget the heavy whipping cream that is to die for! You can taste the difference and the quality. We are so lucky in Michigan to have Calder Dairy, I support this local business and what they do with all my heart. Keep up the good work! I also commend any local business that uses their products. When I get a latte from a local coffee spot that uses Calder dairy milk again it just taste that much better. Check out Germack in Eastern Market for the spicy chocolate latte they use Calder chocolate milk, it's incredible! Keep it up Calder Bros! Ohh and don't forget to pick up some onion dip for your Bettermade chips!

Great old style milk, ice cream and delivery. Great at Christmas for egg nog. Tastes nothing like the chain store.

Great stop for some ice cream. A little pricey for the tubs, I think almost $7 each but we've never had a bad experience. By far the best thing they do here is the Chocolate Milk. You can find it in your local grocery store if you pay attention. A sip of that is like receiving some Sweet Chin Music from Shawn Michaels in the 90s. Greatness.

They have the best butter! This is the only place I buy buttermilk from, it is pure buttermilk. It does not have carrageenan added as a thickener, and Calders is the only store that doesn't add that. Every big chain grocery store ( Kroger, Meijer, Walmart) has this ingredient in their buttermilk. This includes the Borden and Diary Fresh brands.

Spectacular products!!!! The eggnog is to die for, the milk is delicious, every single product is beyond amazing. I'll be a client for life!

Oh my sweet goodness! Stopped at Calder Bros Dairy for some ice cream for dessert, and this is another place I will be visiting every visit from now on. BEST ICE CREAM EVER! I won't name names, but this puts the "gourmet" ice cream joints in Columbus to shame! I tried a couple flavors, and all were incredible, but settled for their chocolate chip cookie dough, and their chocolate peanut butter. YUM. And to make it even better.. $3 for 2 scoops...Where does that happen any more???

Love their stuff. They've been there for years. It's fresh from the farm. We're very fortunate to live near a dairy outlet. And the quality is bar none.

Word up. This chocolate milk? The ish. I give Calder's 5 stars on this alone. Holy cow (PUN!) is it great. Deliciously thick and chocolatey (and I have a high chocolate threshold so for me to say that is impressive). It's just perfect. But Calder's gets my love for many other products as well. The plain milk here is equally fabulous, coming in varieties of fat content--all in glass bottles. Refreshing! They also carry cream, half and half, sour cream, butter, yogurt, cheese, etc. Basically any and all dairy products you could hope for. In my last visit I picked up a carton of heavy cream to make my own butter with this week, some chocolate milk, and some bacon. Bacon? Yes! They also carry bacon and a slew of other grocery items. Awesome. They have great hours (open till 10pm during the week! Awesome!). Most specialty shops like this close early which makes popping by after work hours a bit difficult. But Calder's is open late which makes it really easy to grab what you need when you need it. The shop itself is a bit lack luster. It's also a little smelly. But not in a bad way--it smells like a dairy. In the back you can see the big tanks processing the milk from the farm. So you know your stuff is fresh as fresh can be! The shop is a little dingy and small but the products they keep make up for it completely. In the summertime they open up the ice cream parlor next door but in the dead of winter my chocolate milk was all the wonderful sweetness I needed!

It's been seven and a half years since my first review. Time for a little update. Driving by I had to stop. I picked up some of the famous chocolate milk. Still the BEST ever. I also picked up some onion dip. This too is rich, creamy and the taste just pops out into your mouth with every bite. Having eaten many french onion dips, the is by far the best. Since my last review, they now have the chocolate milk in plastic so you don't have to bring back the bottle (not local), but they still have the bottle as well. I left it for my next trip to get some ice cream.

The building itself isn't anything to write home about. In the front they have their store where they accept credit cards or cash for milk, sour cream, butter, yogurt, cheese, ice cream, etc. It reminds me of an old fashioned style storefront like inside the Cracker Barrel. They have honey sticks and different hot sauces and preserves. The main attraction: their chocolate milk. I grew up on this stuff. Calder's chocolate milk is the reigning champion of all chocolate milks! It is soo rich. I feel like chasing it with water afterwards. In the back entrance is their ice cream shop! This too is very cramped- only about 6 small stools with the attached tabletop- like the old fashioned school desks only smaller. And they have 4 big freezers showcasing their ice cream- no fancy displays, but it tastes sooo good! I paid roughly $4 for 2-2 scoop cones, and this girl made the scoops look like Frosty-the-Snowman size!! They have flavors like blue moo [which I got for kolten!], cotton candy, bubblegum, chocolate almond, chocolate chocolate chip, chocolate chip cookie dough, strawberry, banana, orange pineapple, mint chocolate chip, coffee, and I can't even remember! Remember these family owned businesses during times like today... it sure would be a shame if they closed their doors! I can't wait to go to Carleton to show kolten the cows!

Great ice cream with a homey vibe. When I have a cracking for some quality ice cream this is where I stop. The dairy has so much more than ice cream to offer and the cashier is knowledgeable and friendly.

I really love Calder Brother's milk. Their milk is SO good. I love their chocolate milk, best you can find anywhere. Their regular milk is fantastic too. It will taste nothing like the Dean's milk you find in the store. And that's a good thing. Since their milk is so delicious to me, Vikram and I both thought that the ice cream would be fantastic too. No... sadly not so. We had 4 scoops total (and one massive free taste), and we paid less than $5. A serious deal. The chocolate peanut butter ice cream is soooooo amazing. It reminded me of Margie's Candies in Chicago. Last time I had chocolate peanut butter ice cream it was Haagen Daz -- and it was terrible. The Calder Brothers make a perfect chocolate:peanut butter ratio ice cream with a perfect sweet:salty ratio. In short, it's the best thing ever and I may be back just to have a chocolate peanut butter malt. But everything else just was not good. The horchata ice cream while tasting like horchata was way too sweet. The black cherry was just "meh" and the mint chocolate chip (my normal favorite ice cream) just wasn't minty enough (Breyer's was sadly better). And the strawberry... tasted like it had freezer burn? My taste buds could have been off. But my eyes were fine and in the strawberry I saw no strawberry chunks. It was really terrible. It's a little dirty and cluttered on the inside of the ice cream shop (which faces the parking lot, not Southfield freeway). Like an old biddy losing her mind kind of feel. Disorganized, not everything is labeled, and a little dusty. Strangely, it did not smell like milk, cream OR ice cream in there. There isn't really anywhere to sit inside, but there are some cow printed benches outside as well as some octagon tables in the parking lot with ice cream stains on them. Vikram says I need to give this place 5 stars because it's got cow print all over the building. Normally, I would say he is right. But my mint chocolate chip craving was not satisfied. For that: 3 stars.

Okay. Just went back and got more chocolate milk. I just gave it the full 5 stars because now I think the barn animal smell inside gives the place an authentic farm feel. I just want to say that drinking their thick, creamy, amazing, chocolate milk from a glass bottle in a 90 degree humid day might be the best feeling your body will feel all summer long. Wow.

Solid basic ice cream flavors. Nothing exotic or cutting edge here. Good prices. Calder milk is great, especially the chocolate. Egg nog is some of the best, but a little pricey

Best milk and ice-cream ever!!! There chocolate milk is the best I have ever had. You can't beat it and a great selection of flavors.

Calder's is a place that will take you back in time to the good old days. I'm only 32 and just walking in their makes me feel happy inside. All of their products are fresh and delicious. The chocolate milk is AMAZING! The kids Love the ice cream (as do I). It is literally a place that if you have not been to, then you should. I promise you will not regret it!!

Freshest dairy products around. This store is actually a sales outlet for the Calder Farm in Carlton, Mi less than an hour away. Amongst other great products, their cottage cheese is the absolute freshest and best there is. In the summer there is a great ice cream store around back.

I have lived in Lincoln Park for my entire life. I had no idea the rest of the state didn't have such easy access to Calder's Dairy products. Man are they missing out. Their chocolate milk is legendary. I had no idea some people in the metro Detroit area had never gotten to experience the joy of rich, full fat chocolate milk from an old fashioned glass bottle. I'm so spoiled. I cannot go back to normal store-bought sour cream. It's Calder's or nothing. Their ice cream is divine. The ice cream parlor in the back of the storefront has been a regular staple in my childhood, and it was within walking distance from me. Yes, it's an older building. What do you expect? The ice cream shop in the back has issues with air conditioning sometimes, which is unfortunate, but this place isn't rolling in the dough. The employees try hard and are polite and friendly. It's a downriver landmark that keeps on trucking even though the economy hasn't been kind to it. Go here if you haven't before. Get the chocolate milk, sour cream, drinkable yogurt, and two gallons of ice cream. Then see what you've been missing.

Fresh milk and ice cream. All dairy products. It may cost a little more but definitely worth it!

This place is legendary for a reason, and there's not much I can say that others haven't. Go for the ice cream, leave with fresh milk or a dozen eggs. Or even more ice cream. I highly recommend the caramel coffee.

Their creamline milk is the closest I can get to raw milk since it's hard to find around Metro Detroit, and I buy it from Calder's because: 1. It's vat pasteurized: a lower temperature than the more common flash pasteurization, 145 instead of 161.6 degrees Fahrenheit, but for a longer period of time, 30 minutes instead of 15 2. It's not homogenized: fat molecules float to the top in their natural size resulting in a natural cream layer instead of being put through a microfilter to spread evenly throughout the milk, so be sure to shake it before use 3. It's available in glass containers, which really does affect the taste, in my opinion. 4. It's a way to support a local business. 5. It's basically organic, although it hasn't undergone the expensive certification process, according to one of the cashiers. I also emailed Calder's to confirm that cows are not given any hormones and their milk is only used when antibiotics, if deemed necessary by a vet, are fully out of their system, which is verified by testing the milk. I guess they could be given GMO feed and/or feed sprayed with pesticides, which would be terrible, but I hope not. 6. It's a reasonable price: If you buy the half-gallon size, you'll get a better deal of $2.69, and the refundable deposit is still only $1.50 even though it is obviously bigger and has more glass. Only when the half-gallon flash pasteurized homogenized organic milk goes on sale in Kroger/Meijer does it go down to 2/$6.00, so it's actually a little bit cheaper. I've tried their ice cream and thought it was really full of flavor and creamy. It's a shame though that some flavors contain hydrogenated oils (such as cotton candy), which should never be consumed. I haven't had Oberweis, a comparable company, in a while, but I think I remember it being tastier. As others said, the chocolate milk is good and worth trying once, but I find it too pricey. The French onion dip is great, too! I wish they made regular yogurt. The thing that's missing here is presentation. It's in need of remodeling because the place is pretty shabby inside. It doesn't look nice, and the cheap styrofoam cups used for the ice cream further perpetuate that image. Oberweis, for example, serves ice cream in glass and has a really nice and large seating area, but it's also farther away.

Where to begin????? Ok the chocolate milk would make Bill Cosby cry it was so good. Like melted pudding, thick and chocolaty. The whole milk and their natural milk with cream floating on top are nothing like you've had from the plastic jug crap they have at Krogers. And oh yeah the milk still comes in a glass bottle what a difference that makes. I just had their butter yesterday for the first time when i had company over for spaghetti night. 3 loaves of bread were devoured all slathered with butter that everyone couldn't stop talking about. Their ice cream is just so creamy and their buttermilk makes the best biscuits and pancakes. Oh my god I almost forgot about their egg nog. You can stand a spoon in it it's so thick. It's a artery clogging delight

Ohh Calder's Dairy, you wicked little thing. I grew up with their milk. It is rich and fabulous. The chocolate milk and their EGG NOG are truly their shining stars. The holiday meals weren't the same if there weren't a few bottles of Calder's Egg Nog in the fridge. I have to admit though, I have never been to the actual store, so I know nothing in regards to their ice cream or customer service, etc. All I can say is, worth every penny!

I love to ride my motorcycle out to the farm in the summer, where I can savor the White House Cherry Ice Cream. When the weather is cold, stop by the dairy in Lincoln Park for great ice cream. Also, the butter is to die for...

There is nothing in this world better than Calder's old fashioned milk with the white cap and their cottage cheese. They are the best and nicest people on the planet and they deliver to my home in Northville. The driver is the hardest working young man alive today. He runs to deliver your milk. God Bless Calder Dairy.