Friday, June 12, 2015

Ben & Jerry's Factory Tour (Waterbury, Vermont)

On my road trip from Boston to Montreal, we passed by the Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory in Waterbury, Vermont (close to Burlington) so we made a quick pit stop for a factory tour!

Ben and Jerry's

The factory is a fun place with colorful and playful decorations and touches all over the place.
Ben and Jerry's

The tour typically costs $4 but here's a tip: if you check in on Foursquare, you'll get a free tour! The factories aren't always in production, however, but you can still see where the ice cream is made. We caught them during the cleaning period so we didn't see the machines in action. Oh, well. They do a deep cleaning every time they change the flavor they're making.
Ben and Jerry's
First part of the tour was a video of the history of the company, which they've made to be quite entertaining.


There's no photo allowed of the factory and production process themselves, but they take you step by step from the milk to adding the flavors. After, you'll go into a small room where they have the Flavor Lab.
Ben and Jerry's

This is where they test new flavors, and they'll talk about what flavors will be coming up soon. We had a funny and friendly tour guide, which really made the tour in my opinion.
Ben and Jerry's

Of course, each tour ends with an ice cream sample! The flavors change all the time but I had the cookies and cream during our tour.
Ben and Jerry's

Snowshoe check in? Well, when the snow gets going in Vermont, that may be the only way to get here!
Ben and Jerry's

Walk up the hill after the tour to see the Flavor Graveyard. It's not part of the tour but you shouldn't miss it if you visit the factory!
Ben and Jerry's

This is the graveyard for the "dead" aka discontinued flavors. There was little boy giving flowers to one of the flavors, aww ... It was fun to read the gravestones as they wrote funny ditties for each.
Ben and Jerry's

Ben and Jerry's

Of course, there's a shop at the factory where you can buy ice cream. I was trying to try one of the newer flavors so I went with speculoos!
Ben and Jerry's
The tour goes pretty quick and it was a fun place worth stopping by on my drive up. There's also a playground near the graveyard, which makes this stop even better for family travelers with small kids. If you're in the area, you should certainly check it out if you have never been, and don't forget to check in on Foursquare to get a free tour!

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