6 Discontinued Ben & Jerry’s Flavors We Wish Would Come Back

If you visit the Ben & Jerry’s factory in Waterbury, Vermont, you’ll find a “Flavor Graveyard,” where they’ve built tombstones to commemorate their discontinued flavors, which they describe as the “dearly de-pinted.” Honestly, it’s pretty adorable, at least by graveyard standards. 

But unlike most graveyards, these dead flavors can come back to life at any time, as there’s nothing stopping the company from revisiting a long-lost flavor. (Although, I imagine some of the licensing rights might need to be re-negotiated for discontinued celebrity-based flavors like the Dave Matthews Band Magic Brownies.) In the past, the company has even held a Raise-A-Flavor contest to bring a discontinued flavor back to store shelves, even if only for a limited time. 

So while these kinds of lists are usually only about nostalgia, there’s a real chance that any of these discontinued Ben & Jerry’s flavors might return to your store shelves someday. Here’s a list of the ones that we’re hoping we get a chance to try again, even if it’s only once. 

Crème Brûlée

Lasting from 2007 to 2012, this flavor was made up of a sweet custard ice cream with a swirl of caramelized sugar. You had to have a pretty big sweet tooth to get through this one, as the custard and caramelized sugar delivered a pretty hefty punch to the sweet centers of your tongue. Luckily, that’s what I loved about it, especially the little notes of rich caramel you got from that sugar swirl. It may have been a bit too much to eat it all in one sitting, but doesn’t that describe just about every Ben & Jerry’s flavor? (And I’ll admit, I still eat all of it, anyway.)

Devil’s Food Chocolate

Offered from 1996 to 2001, this was a mix of light and dark chocolate sorbet—part of their low-fat line of assorted sorbets. It was also delicious, with both types of chocolate playing off of each other well and keeping it from being just a one-note chocolate treat. Although, one tasting at the time of its release described it as having a slightly gummy texture and a hint of artificial vanilla taste. I remember it having a rich, chocolatey taste, however, that was over twenty years ago, so I could just be wrong.

Fossil Fuel

This Ben & Jerry flavor sold from 2005 to 2010, offering tasters a sweet cream ice cream with chocolate cookie pieces, fudge dinosaurs, and a swirl of fudge, too. According to the Ben & Jerry’s website, they decided to stop offering it because they wanted to discourage the use of real fossil fuels, which is a noble goal, but it unfortunately cost us all some delicious cookie bits and fudge dinosaurs.

Vermonty Python

One of the shorter-lived Ben & Jerry’s flavors, this one was only available from 2006 to 2008, offering a delicious coffee liqueur ice cream, mixed with a chocolate cookie crumb swirl and fudge cows. This one might have a slightly harder time coming back, as the company would presumably have to license the Monty Python name and trademark again. And while I really enjoyed this flavor, if you want the best coffee-flavored Ben & Jerry’s flavor, you might want to check out the next item on this list…

White Russian

Available from 1986 to 1996, this pint featured a coffee ice cream mixed with Kahlua coffee liqueur. And you can wonder if it might have gotten a spike in popularity if it had still been in stores when The Big Lebowski came out in 1998. As it was, the flavor did get a bit of reprieve when it was resurrected as a flavor in the Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shops, but these days, it’s no longer on the menu. Guess it’s just one more thing for the Dude to abide.

Wavy Gravy

First hitting shelves in 1993, this one was a caramel cashew Brazil nut ice cream with a chocolate hazelnut fudge swirl and roasted almonds. It was named after Wavy Gravy, the 1960s countercultural entertainer and activist. Like the man who inspired it, this flavor was kind of hard to sum up in one description, although the high point for me was that great roasted nut taste. (I’ll have to admit that it took me a while to try this one, as the name kind of put me off. I love desserts and gravy, but not together.) It was discontinued in 2001, but it won the 2005 Raise-A-Flavor contest, returning to stores for a limited time. So, it could always come back for another round, perhaps for its 25th anniversary in 2028?