Ben & Jerry's FACTORY TOUR
Yep you read the title right. I got to go on the Ben & Jerry's factory tour over Thanksgiving break. While lounging around Brett's parents house in a post-Thanksgiving food coma and discussing what to do with the rest of break, Brett's mom suggested we drive to Vermont and go on the Ben & Jerry's factory tour! Oh the magic of the Northeast. You want to go to the other end of a different state? No worries, its only three hours away!
So that is exactly what Brett and I did on the day after Thanksgiving!
Now, before I continue on the with the story, I need to tell you a bit of our family history so you can understand how important this trip was to me! Our parents met in Burlington, Vermont back in the early 1980s, and frequented the very first Ben & Jerry's on the regular. As in, Ben and Jerry, themselves, scooped my parents ice cream. So Ben & Jerry's is basically in my blood and this wasn't so much a trip as it was a pilgrimage to my ancestral homeland. So to speak.
Obviously, our first activity upon arriving to Vermont was going on the Ben & Jerry's factory. The factory you can get a tour of is located in Waterbury, VT, which is about 30 minutes south east of Burlington. The other Ben & Jerry's factory in Vermont is in St. Albans, Vermont which is about 40 minutes north of Burlington. My guess is more ice cream is produced in St. Albans than in Waterbury, because the factory seemed on the small side.
After purchasing tickets, the first part of the tour was a quick video about Ben & Jerry's history. One interesting story I learned about in the video was the story of the cowmobile. in 1986, Ben and Jerry converted a mobile home into their cowmobile and drove it across the country to give away free scoops of Ben & Jerry's as a form of marketing. However, after four months, the cowmobile burned down in Cleveland, OH and Ben called it "the world's largest baked Alaska." Although tragic, the incident garnered quite a bit of publicity for the company.
Next, we got to see the factory. We were not allowed to take pictures, in case, as the tour guide explained, any of use were Haagen-Dazs spies. Sadly, as it was a holiday weekend, the factory was not running. It was a big disappointment. However, it only means I will have to go back! Oh darn.
Last, we got our free samples in the "FlavoRoom." Inside the FlavoRoom is also a kitchen for making small batches of flavors they don't sell in stores. Apparently, the free samples are often of these unique flavors, but again, since it was a holiday weekend, there was no one working in this kitchen. Employees also get to eat and take home the flavors made in this kitchen. The flavor being made in this kitchen the past week was called Sweet Sassafras and described as Root Beer ice cream with caramel swirls. Yum, I wish they sold that in stores!
Our free samples were of Sweet Cream & Cookies, a scoop shop only flavor. I'd heard the samples were on the small side, but I was impressed with how much ice cream we were given. There were also more samples than people on the tour so we were invited to have seconds, which of course we did.
After the tour, we got ice cream at the scoop shop, but I'll save the reviews of the ice creams for the end.
After Brett and I got ice cream at the scoop shop, we walked over to the flavor graveyard. No pilgrimage would be complete without paying homage to the ancestors! It seemed like the flavor graveyard hasn't been updated in a while, because some of the more recent flavor deaths didn't have gravestones, but it was still fun to look around. There were some tasty looking flavors which had bitten the dust, like Aloha Macadamia described as Rich milk chocolate cashew Brazil-nut butter ice cream with macadamia nuts covered in white & dark fudge & milk chocolatey swirl, which was only sold from 2001 to 2002, and some not as tasty looking flavors like Sugar Plum, described as Plum ice cream with a caramel swirl, which was only sold from 1989 to 1990.
Last, Brett and got dinner in Burlington and visited the location of the first Ben & Jerry's store! After this stop, the epic pilgrimage was complete!
I have been searching all over Iowa for the new flavor made with New Belgium ale, and so far have come up empty handed. The flavor, called New Belgium Salted Caramel Brown-ie Ale, is described as New Belgium Brown Ale ice cream with salted caramel swirls & fudge brownies. The flavor, in addition to the beer made by New Belgium called Salted Caramel Brownie Ale, benefits Protect Our Winters, which fights against climate change by working with the snow sports community.
This flavor was fantastic. The ale base had a pretty light ale flavor compared to other beer ice creams I've tried. Brett thought it tasted too much like beer. I feel like there are only two stances on beer ice cream, you love it or you hate it. If you are in the latter camp, like Brett, any beer ice cream, no matter how light the beer flavor, is going to taste too much like beer. I think the light base flavor brought together all of the elements of this flavor nicely. Too strong a beer base, and the strong beer flavor, plus the chocolatey brownies, plus a caramel swirl would have been too many strong flavors clashing together. The brownies were moist and fudgey, even more so than I remember Ben & Jerry's brownies being. Lastly, the caramel swirl was thick, gooey, and abundant, but wasn't incredibly salty. This flavor was great and I still want to find a pint of it so I can appreciate it even more.
I also got a scoop of scoop shop only fall flavor, Maple Walnut. Yes, I ate a ton of ice cream this day. This flavor is described as Maple ice cream made with VT maple syrup and walnuts. Also being in Vermont, you've got to get the maple flavor or you're doing it wrong.
This flavor was simple and tasty. I would have preferred an even stronger maple base flavor, but you could still tell this was made with real maple syrup. The walnuts were moderately abundant and in medium sized pieces. You could get a bit with three or four pieces or a bite with none.
And if you didn't already think I'd eaten enough ice cream, Brett couldn't finish the two scoops he got at the scoop shop (wimp) so I helped him out a bit! So much ice cream, best day ever!!
So that is exactly what Brett and I did on the day after Thanksgiving!
Now, before I continue on the with the story, I need to tell you a bit of our family history so you can understand how important this trip was to me! Our parents met in Burlington, Vermont back in the early 1980s, and frequented the very first Ben & Jerry's on the regular. As in, Ben and Jerry, themselves, scooped my parents ice cream. So Ben & Jerry's is basically in my blood and this wasn't so much a trip as it was a pilgrimage to my ancestral homeland. So to speak.
Obviously, our first activity upon arriving to Vermont was going on the Ben & Jerry's factory. The factory you can get a tour of is located in Waterbury, VT, which is about 30 minutes south east of Burlington. The other Ben & Jerry's factory in Vermont is in St. Albans, Vermont which is about 40 minutes north of Burlington. My guess is more ice cream is produced in St. Albans than in Waterbury, because the factory seemed on the small side.
After purchasing tickets, the first part of the tour was a quick video about Ben & Jerry's history. One interesting story I learned about in the video was the story of the cowmobile. in 1986, Ben and Jerry converted a mobile home into their cowmobile and drove it across the country to give away free scoops of Ben & Jerry's as a form of marketing. However, after four months, the cowmobile burned down in Cleveland, OH and Ben called it "the world's largest baked Alaska." Although tragic, the incident garnered quite a bit of publicity for the company.
The original cowmobile.
Next, we got to see the factory. We were not allowed to take pictures, in case, as the tour guide explained, any of use were Haagen-Dazs spies. Sadly, as it was a holiday weekend, the factory was not running. It was a big disappointment. However, it only means I will have to go back! Oh darn.
The kitchen inside of the FlavoRoom
Last, we got our free samples in the "FlavoRoom." Inside the FlavoRoom is also a kitchen for making small batches of flavors they don't sell in stores. Apparently, the free samples are often of these unique flavors, but again, since it was a holiday weekend, there was no one working in this kitchen. Employees also get to eat and take home the flavors made in this kitchen. The flavor being made in this kitchen the past week was called Sweet Sassafras and described as Root Beer ice cream with caramel swirls. Yum, I wish they sold that in stores!
Our free samples were of Sweet Cream & Cookies, a scoop shop only flavor. I'd heard the samples were on the small side, but I was impressed with how much ice cream we were given. There were also more samples than people on the tour so we were invited to have seconds, which of course we did.
After the tour, we got ice cream at the scoop shop, but I'll save the reviews of the ice creams for the end.
A picture of the outdoor scoop shop at the factory.
After Brett and I got ice cream at the scoop shop, we walked over to the flavor graveyard. No pilgrimage would be complete without paying homage to the ancestors! It seemed like the flavor graveyard hasn't been updated in a while, because some of the more recent flavor deaths didn't have gravestones, but it was still fun to look around. There were some tasty looking flavors which had bitten the dust, like Aloha Macadamia described as Rich milk chocolate cashew Brazil-nut butter ice cream with macadamia nuts covered in white & dark fudge & milk chocolatey swirl, which was only sold from 2001 to 2002, and some not as tasty looking flavors like Sugar Plum, described as Plum ice cream with a caramel swirl, which was only sold from 1989 to 1990.
So sad for the de-pinted flavors. And twilight means perfectly spooky conditions for graveyard exploring.
Last, Brett and got dinner in Burlington and visited the location of the first Ben & Jerry's store! After this stop, the epic pilgrimage was complete!
I have been searching all over Iowa for the new flavor made with New Belgium ale, and so far have come up empty handed. The flavor, called New Belgium Salted Caramel Brown-ie Ale, is described as New Belgium Brown Ale ice cream with salted caramel swirls & fudge brownies. The flavor, in addition to the beer made by New Belgium called Salted Caramel Brownie Ale, benefits Protect Our Winters, which fights against climate change by working with the snow sports community.
This flavor was fantastic. The ale base had a pretty light ale flavor compared to other beer ice creams I've tried. Brett thought it tasted too much like beer. I feel like there are only two stances on beer ice cream, you love it or you hate it. If you are in the latter camp, like Brett, any beer ice cream, no matter how light the beer flavor, is going to taste too much like beer. I think the light base flavor brought together all of the elements of this flavor nicely. Too strong a beer base, and the strong beer flavor, plus the chocolatey brownies, plus a caramel swirl would have been too many strong flavors clashing together. The brownies were moist and fudgey, even more so than I remember Ben & Jerry's brownies being. Lastly, the caramel swirl was thick, gooey, and abundant, but wasn't incredibly salty. This flavor was great and I still want to find a pint of it so I can appreciate it even more.
I also got a scoop of scoop shop only fall flavor, Maple Walnut. Yes, I ate a ton of ice cream this day. This flavor is described as Maple ice cream made with VT maple syrup and walnuts. Also being in Vermont, you've got to get the maple flavor or you're doing it wrong.
This flavor was simple and tasty. I would have preferred an even stronger maple base flavor, but you could still tell this was made with real maple syrup. The walnuts were moderately abundant and in medium sized pieces. You could get a bit with three or four pieces or a bite with none.
And if you didn't already think I'd eaten enough ice cream, Brett couldn't finish the two scoops he got at the scoop shop (wimp) so I helped him out a bit! So much ice cream, best day ever!!
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