The Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory is one of the few tourist attractions in Waterbury Vermont that stays open after 5 pm, and for that we are grateful. It is chunk-packed with visitors when we arrive at 6:30 and it has much to offer: a tour, a gift shop stacked high with everything from tie-dye t-shirts to moose-turd chocolate patties, the “Flavor Graveyard” (more about that in a minute), even satellite attractions set up in tents along the sidewalk: one offering temporary tattoos, another extolling the virtues of composting. A giant Chocolate Chip Cookie ice cream flavor lid on its side, with Ben & Jerry head holes, beckons as a disturbing photo op. You be the counter-culture entrepreneur!
The most playfully gruesome aspect of the factory is its Flavor Graveyard, on a hill in back of the plant, beyond the bulk milk tanks.
The Graveyard exists because of Ben & Jerry’s never-ending experimentation with odd ice cream flavors; some are just too odd for their own good. Each year eight to twelve — those with the lowest sales — are “killed” and become candidates for this fatland Boot Hill. The company has eliminated over 200 flavors, but the Graveyard hosts 27 graves so far, perhaps enough to get the point across.
I have visited here many times. Three weeks ago was the last when i photographed the House of Tang. It’s is somewhat sad that Ben & Jerry’s has become part of the conglomerate instead of the little guys who took on an empire. Still great ice cream. For you cheese lovers visit the Cabot annex about 1-2 miles up the road.