Hollis and Fenn handmade candy crest with kettle and cherry ribbon Hollis & Fenn Fountain Confectionery · Est. 1948
Ledger index

Dubuque, Iowa · Copper kettle batches since 1948

Handmade candies with the taste of a 1960s fountain counter

Hollis & Fenn keeps one marble counter, four copper kettles and a ledger of every batch pulled here since the summer of 1948. Cream drops, lime rickey chews, birch beer barrels and orange blossom twists are still made the slow way — stirred by hand, cooled on marble, packed into keepsake gift tins that families hand down along with the candy dish.

Browse the archived collection Match a sweet to your palate
1948 Counter opened
42 lb Standard kettle batch
Nine Parlor flavor houses
Lot 048 Current archive series
Vintage soda fountain counter with chrome taps and jars of handmade candy
The north counter, restored 2019

Flavor house directory

Nine parlor families · tap a ribbon to jump into the archive

Archive series 048

Numbered collection lots from the parlor ledger

Every lot below is a working recipe, not a museum relic. Each card lists the flavor notes, the texture the kettle gives it, the batch size we run, and the occasions where it belongs on the table.

Sorted by kettle sequence
Updated for the winter assortment

Filter the archive by flavor family

Showing 8 of 8 archived lots

  • Lot 048-A
    Glass jar of vanilla malt cream drops on a marble parlor shelf

    Cream & malt

    Vanilla Malt Cream Drops

    Slow-pulled cream drops with Madagascar vanilla and a whisper of malted milk. The melt is long and buttery, the finish clean enough for a second handful.

    Batch 42 lb · 6 to 8 min melt · Best in the family candy dish

  • Lot 048-B
    Tall lime rickey fountain glass with crushed ice and citrus wheel garnish

    Fizz & phosphate

    Lime Rickey Chews

    Cold-pressed lime oil folded into a chewy phosphate base. Tart up front, sugared at the edges, and built to taste like the last sip of a drugstore rickey.

    Batch 38 lb · Chewy · Pair with iced tea and porch evenings

  • Lot 048-C
    Cooling tray of orange blossom marshmallow twists dusted with powdered sugar

    Twists & pillows

    Orange Blossom Twists

    Marshmallow pulled on the hook for twenty minutes, striped with orange blossom water, then cut into soft twists. Delicate, floral and gone quickly.

    Batch 24 lb · Soft pillow · Sits beside coffee and dessert

  • Lot 048-D
    Oak birch beer barrel with brass tap and stoneware jug of drops

    Barrel & bark

    Birch Beer Barrel Drops

    Birch bark, wintergreen leaf and a touch of anise aged in oak barrels for eleven days. The old taproom flavor, pressed into a hard drop.

    Batch 36 lb · Hard drop · Men's club and card table favorite

  • Lot 048-E
    Open keepsake tin of wintergreen mints and parlor cream drops on linen

    Mint & pastille

    Wintergreen Pastille Tin

    Pressed pastilles with a cool wintergreen center and a sugared shell. Kept in a hinged tin because the counter always had one within reach.

    Tin holds 12 oz · Slow dissolve · Ideal after-dinner sweet

  • Lot 048-F
    Three keepsake gift tins of soda fountain candy tied with gold ribbon

    Gift ready

    Parlor Assortment Trio

    Three tins, three flavor houses: cherry phosphate, cream drop and birch beer. Tied by hand and stamped with the batch number the day it was packed.

    Hostess and holiday gifting · Batch-numbered lids

  • Lot 048-G
    Restored 1948 soda fountain counter with jars of candy and parlor stools

    Gift ready

    Counter Keeper Sampler

    A guided tasting box of nine parlor sweets, one from each flavor house, with a printed card explaining what to notice first. Built for the curious gift buyer.

    Candy tasting box · Nine flavor houses · Care package favorite

  • Lot 048-H
    Copper kettle candy craft bench with marble slab and cooling cream drops

    Kettle sequence

    Cream Soda Foam Drops

    Aerated cream soda candy with a foaming sugar jacket. It fizzes on the tongue, then settles into caramel and vanilla the way a fountain head does.

    Batch 40 lb · Foam jacket · Pair with vanilla ice cream

The kettle sequence

Heritage candy craft, still done at 212 degrees

Nothing here is extruded, sprayed or shipped in from a co-packer. Four kettles, one marble slab and a batch card on a clipboard — the same sequence our founder wrote out in pencil in 1948.

Craft ledger · six stages
Recorded per lot

  1. Syrup on the scale

    Cane sugar, glucose and spring water are weighed to the ounce. Cream lots get a malted milk base; phosphate lots get a citric and tartaric blend that keeps the bite honest.

  2. Copper, then patience

    Each kettle holds 42 pounds at working volume. We bring it to 212 degrees and hold, skimming the surface until the syrup reads clear on the paddle.

  3. Flavor at the pull

    Oils and extracts go in off the heat so the top notes survive. Lime rickey, orange blossom and birch beer are all added within thirty seconds of the kettle leaving the flame.

  4. Marble cooling

    Poured onto cold marble and turned with a wooden paddle until the batch turns glossy and satiny. This is where a cream drop earns its melt.

  5. The pull and the cut

    Marshmallow goes onto the hook; hard candy goes to the drop roller. Every piece is dusted, rested and inspected against the light for a clean, glassy face.

  6. Numbered and packed

    Each lot is written into the ledger with a batch code, then packed into tins the same week. No warehouse aging, no resale lots, no mystery inventory.

BATCH CARD · LOT 048-C · KETTLE TWO

Pulled Tuesday, cooled 41 minutes on marble, cut into 88 twists, dusted with powdered sugar and packed the same afternoon. Signed by the puller on the tin lid.

Copper candy kettle on the marble cooling bench with wooden paddle
Kettle two at the cooling bench, batch card clipped to the rail
Apothecary jar of freshly cooled vanilla malt cream drop candies
Lot 048-A after its rest: glassy face, soft center, clean snap

Interactive counter card

The two-step palate pull matcher

Tell the counter how much fizz you like and how sweet you take your sweets. Two taps and the card names the parlor sweet that matches your palate, with the batch note beside it.

Step one · Fizz level

Step two · Sweetness level

Counter card

Pick a fizz level and a sweetness level

Two taps are all it takes. The counter card then shows the parlor sweet that fits your palate, along with a tasting note from the batch ledger.

0 of 2 choices made

Flavor dossier

A tasting deck for the nine parlor flavor houses

Three flavor houses open here in full. Each dossier carries the sensory notes, texture profile and pairing ideas our counter staff use when a customer asks what to bring to a dinner table.

Tasting deck · three of nine
Full dossier at the counter

Jar of vanilla malt cream drops with pull-dated paper label on shelf

Cream & malt house

Vanilla malt cream drops, cream soda foam drops and buttermilk caramels. Soft-bodied sweets with a long melt and a clean dairy finish — the flavor house that most often ends up in the family candy dish.

Texture profile
Slow melt, tender bite, no snap
Pairing idea
Black coffee, vanilla ice cream, after-dinner brandy
Gift suitability
Anniversary tins, hostess gifts, retirement keepsakes
Batch size
42 lb kettle, packed in 10, 12 and 20 oz tins
Keepsake gift tins of cherry phosphate, cream drop and birch beer candies

Keepsake gift tins

Gifts for the people who remember the counter

Hinged tins, letterpress labels and a batch code stamped on the lid. Every assortment is built around a memory the recipient already owns — a five-and-dime counter, a grandmother's candy dish, the drugstore stool they spun on as a kid.

  • Holiday sweet assortments with three parlor houses and a printed tasting card.
  • Care package treats packed to travel, cushioned in paper shavings and ready to open.
  • Candy tasting boxes for the curious, nine lots with notes on what to notice first.
  • Anniversary and retirement keepsake tins with a hand-written batch line inside the lid.
Review gift-ready lots Visit our counter
“I bought a tin of the birch beer barrels for my father's eightieth. He set it on the sideboard, opened it once a week, and told the same story about the taproom on Main Street every time.”
Counter ledger note · customer entry, autumn series

Counter questions

What gift buyers ask us at the counter

Straight answers from the marble, written the way we would say them in person.

How long do handmade candies keep?

Cream drops and pastilles hold their texture for about ten weeks in a sealed tin; marshmallow twists are best inside three weeks. Every tin carries the packing date and lot code so you can plan a gift around it.

Which lot travels best as a care package?

Hard drops and pressed pastilles travel beautifully — birch beer barrels, wintergreen pastilles and lemon phosphate sparks all arrive intact. We pack them with paper shavings rather than foam, which keeps the tins from shifting.

Can I request a specific batch for a milestone gift?

Yes. Give us the occasion and the flavor house you have in mind, and we will pull from the next kettle run and note the batch code on the lid. Milestone tins are packed the same week they are pulled.

What is the difference between a cream drop and a barrel drop?

A cream drop is a soft, slow-melting sweet with a dairy body. A barrel drop is a hard, glassy candy whose root and bark notes are aged in oak. One is a candy dish sweet; the other belongs in a coat pocket on a winter walk.

Do you build assortments around a memory?

Often. Bring us the memory — a boardwalk shop, a soda fountain, a holiday tin your family reused for sewing buttons — and we will shape a tasting box around the flavors that fit it.

Where are the ingredients listed?

Every lot has a craft note page describing base ingredients, texture profile and gift suitability. The full allergen and craft advisory sits in the footer of every page for anyone packing a gift for a household with restrictions.