Honoring the Dearly De-Pinted
Let’s put something out there first…I grew up a Breyers fan, switched over to Turkey Hill, and now, I’m a Blue Bell fan. But I’ve never been a fan of Ben & Jerry’s, not crazy about the different flavors. However, recently I stumbled across something Ben & Jerry’s that I had to learn more about….The Flavor Graveyard.
In Waterbury, Vermont, you will find the sweetest graveyard in the world filled with headstones for dearly de-pinted ice cream flavors. It is a place where tears of sadness are shed for Ben & Jerry’s flavors that are no longer.
Ben & Jerry’s Flavor Graveyard began in 1997 to give a happy resting place to retired or discontinued flavors. The first flavors laid to rest in the new graveyard included Dastardly Mash, Economic Crunch, Ethan Almond and Tuskegee Chunk. Since then, other flavors have been laid to rest…Wavy Gravy, Miz Jelena’s Sweet Potato Pie, Dublin Mudslide, Holy Cannoli, and many more beloved departed flavors.
Each grave marker has a clever epitaph that sums up the lifespan of that flavor. Beneath the markers, warm memories of the flavors which includes the brisk reality their demise. While there are reasons flavors end, the diminishing popularity and decline in sales are usually the reasons the flavor is laid to rest. For these reasons, flavors are terminated or retired to make way for future newborn flavors.
When the flavor What a Cluster melted into oblivion, Ben & Jerry’s held the first ever flavor funeral. They wanted to pay their respects, along with fans of the flavor, providing the flavor a memorial fit for ice cream royalty. A real lowering of the spoon moment of silence.
Ben & Jerry’s receives thousands of requests each year from ice cream lovers begging to ‘rein-cone-ate’ a favorite fallen flavor. Though most will never come back, ice cream miracles have happened; flavors have been known to be resurrected from time to time.
Over 300,000 annual visitors tour the Ben & Jerry’s factory and their respects at the Flavor Graveyard. Tours are 30-minutes long and are on a first come, first serve. Check the Ben & Jerry’s website before visiting, as hours change based on the season.
(This is not an endorsement for any brand of ice cream)