Making a Pilgrimage to Keith’s Personal Mecca…Ben & Jerry’s

We have history with Ben & Jerry’s.

Keith went to college at the University of Vermont back in the early 1990s.  During that time Ben & Jerry’s was all the rage.  All the cool kids in Vermont were getting their pints of Cherry Garcia or Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream.

Keith absolutely loved to treat himself Ben & Jerry’s during his four years at UVM.  If you ask him, he’s fairly sure he ate his weight in Wavy Gravy.  So, it’s probably a good thing he ran track and cross-country…

Years later, we got our first house together in Columbia, South Carolina.  A Ben & Jerry’s shop opened less than a mile from our house right after we moved in.  Keith thought it was serendipity.   And for some reason, our dog Sadie seemed to get lots and lots of walks down in that general direction.  

Given this affinity for Ben & Jerry’s, it was only natural Keith declared we had to make a stop at their headquarters in Waterbury, Vermont for a tour of their ice cream factory during our travels.

Spoiling our dinner

 

If I’m completely honest with you, we actually visited the Ben & Jerry’s factory twice over the course of three days.  

The first visit was after our hike on part of the Long Trail.  We got a late start that day, and didn’t finish our hike and get back to the car until well after 5:30 pm.  

Unfortunately, the last Ben & Jerry’s tour starts at 6pm.  There was no way we were going to make it there in time for the tour.  We should have just headed back to our campground and had a nice, healthy dinner.  But our route back took up directly past the Ben & Jerry’s factory. 

How could we NOT at least stop for a cone??  We’d just hiked for three hours.  We made it to the top of a mountain.  Didn’t we DESERVE a little ice cream?  

So, we decided stop at Ben & Jerry’s for a quick cone (of course we did).  

And on that day, I simultaneously became the best wife and the worst mother in the world.

You see, all three of us ordered ice cream in waffle cones.  At 6 pm in the evening.  And when we got back to our campground nearly an hour later, none of us could muster the appetite for anything else.

I’m ashamed to admit it.  But we literally had ice cream for dinner that night!! 😯  Mothers around the world are probably cringing and judging me right now. My only response: at least it was “good” ice cream.

Factory tour – take two

 

I had the chance to make up for my poor timing during our hike up Mt. Mansfield two days later.  Once again, the Ben & Jerry’s factory was between our campground and our hiking spot (I’m starting to think Keith planned it this way).  

We spent the next several hours hiking to the top of Vermont’s highest peak.  Once we arrived on the summit and found a spot that somewhat sheltered us from the wind, we ate a picnic lunch.  And we talked about Ben & Jerry’s.  When we made it back to the car this time around, it was a more reasonable hour.  We definitely had time to take the factory tour.

After buying our tickets, we had a solid 30 minutes to kill before our tour would begin.  So why not get in line for a little ice cream?   

Are you ready for the Vermonster?

 

Standing in line, we scrutinized the flavor menu like we were studying for our SATs.  It’s not like the flavors changed in the past two days.  But we were riveted.

After debating back and forth between flavors, Keith turned to me and announced he had a solution that would solve our dilemma.  And he asked me whether I was game for a Vermonster.  

For those not in the know, a Vermonster is insane!!   It’s the most gluttonous sundae ever.  It comes with 20 scoops of ice cream, 4 sliced bananas, three cookies, a brownie, 40 ounces caramel or hot fudge, 10 spoonfuls of chopped walnuts, heaps of sprinkles, and it’s finished off with about a can of whipped cream.  Oh yeah, and it’s served in a giant plastic bucket to emphasize how obscene it is.  

I had to put my foot down.  We were NOT getting a Vermonster.  Twenty scoops of ice cream is a stomachache (and ice cream headache) just waiting to happen.  I’m already severely lagging behind on Mother-of-the-Year points after our last visit to Ben & Jerry’s.  No way!

But, I did concede to a compromise of sorts.  We could order a mini Vermonster.  With just 4 scoops of ice cream and 20% of the original Vermonster’s grandeur, we could get the same experience.  That was at least reasonable for three people, right?  Plus, we’d get a mini plastic bucket so Keith could relive his glory over and over.

Making our mini Vermonster took so long, I had to exchange our tickets for a tour that ran 10 minutes later – just to be safe.  But, you can bet that when that bucket arrived, my two guys put that ice cream away.  And I might have gotten my spoon in there once or twice too.

The tour

 

We may have had a little problem focusing on the the tour with all that sugar surging through our systems.  

From what I can recall, there were some cow jokes.  Then there was a short 6-7 minute movie about how Ben & Jerry’s got started.  As well as a little bit about their social awareness campaigns.  

Next, we walked to a room with windows looking down onto the factory floor and learned about their ice cream making process.  

Finally, we ended in a tasting room where we gleaned a little more Ben & Jerry’s trivia.  We learned that their most popular flavor is currently Half Baked.  And that each employee gets three pints of ice cream a day (Keith is filling out his application now).  

And then…wait for it… they serve you more ice cream.  We probably should have declined.  But, have I mentioned that Keith likes Ben & Jerry’s ice cream?  And it had been a solid 25 minutes since his last dose.    

After the tour was over, we took a walk up the hill to visit the ice cream flavor graveyard, where previous flavors are “put to rest.”  Keith paid his respects to the infamous Wavy Gravy (1993-2001).  Oh, that delicious caramel cashew Brazil nut ice cream with a chocolate hazelnut fudge swirl and roasted almonds.  You will be missed more that words can express.