Ben and Jerry's Factory Tour

The tour of the Ben and Jerry's Waterbury, Vermont, factory costs only $3 and lasts 30 minutes. It consists of three parts -- a 6 minute video of the company's history, a look at the production floor from a glassed-in mezzanine, and a visit to the "FlavoRoom" for a taste of whatever new flavor they are dispensing that day. Photos are not allowed of the production area, but here's the tasting room with a tray of the new flavor "Orange with Cream" which was delightful and reminscent of the "Dreamsicles" of my youth...





The grounds include this huge lid where we pretended we were Ben and Jerry...


Behind the plant is a hill with a playground, and beyond that, a "Boot Hill" type cemetery they call the "Flavor Graveyard." They have discontinued 200 or so flavors over their 3 decades and 27 of the defunct flavors are "honored" here...


...with gravestones displaying a poetic epitaph. Here's the one for a flavor called "Peanuts! Popcorn!" (Click photo to enlarge.)


A visit to their gift shop will amuse you and perhaps tempt you into an impulse purchase, and a stop at their ice cream stand for a full portion of your favorite flavor is also a must!