Everyone loves a scoop or two (or three) of Ben & Jerry's ice cream! It's a little expensive, but treating yourself to a pint can be a perfect pick-me-up. Of course, everyone has their favorite flavors and with the sheer number of options, it's likely not the same one as all your friends!
Ben & Jerry's knows how to admit defeat, however. They released their list of "biggest flop flavors" and frankly, we haven't even heard of some of them! The company also released their most polarizing flavors, and it's interesting to see how some people's favorites are hated by others!
Let's start with the most polarizing:
Brewed to Matter
What's in it: This exclusive flavor consists of coffee ice cream with fudge chunks and a brownie batter swirl
Why it's polarizing: "Maybe it's the coffee ice cream, because we can't believe people would turn down fudge chunks or brownie batter swirl." -- Ben & Jerry's
Peanut Butter Fudge Core
What's in it: chocolate and peanut butter ice cream with mini peanut butter cups and peanut butter fudge core
Why it's polarizing: "Maybe it's the lack of jelly. Yeah, that has to be it." -- Ben & Jerry's
Chocolate Peppermint Crunch
What's in it: chocolate ice cream with peppermint and fudge swirls and mint chococlate cookie bits
Why it's polarizing: ""Put mint chocolate cookies in a pint," they said. "People will love it," they said. Lots of our fans do, but many more opt for our other minty flavors." -- Ben & Jerry's
Chunky Monkey
What's in it: banana ice cream with fudge chunks and walnuts
Why it's polarizing: "We don't know why some people stay away from this flavor, but we sincerely hope it's not because they think it's full of monkeys." -- Ben & Jerry's
Pistachio Pistachio
What's in it: pistachio ice cream with lightly roasted pistachios
Why it's polarizing: "For every one person who turns up their mustachio at Pistachio Pistachio, we think there are at least two who crave its sweet-and-salty fusion." -- Ben & Jerry's
Red Velvet Cake
What's in it: red velvet cake ice cream with red velvet cake pieces and a cream cheese frosting swirl
Why it's polarizing: "We think we have a knack for turning cakes into ice cream flavors. Some say this one went too far, though. We tend to think that they just don't love cake as much as we do." -- Ben & Jerry's
Cherry Garcia
What's in it: cherry ice cream with cherries and fudge flakes
Why it's polarizing: "We don't get it, either. Cherry Garcia used to be our top seller. Now it's second. Have cherries fallen out of favor? Has the whole world gone crazy?"-- Ben & Jerry's
But which flavors couldn't cut it in the ice cream world?
Sugar Plum (1989-1990)
Plum ice cream with a swirl of caramel...what could possibly go wrong? A lot, apparently. According to Ben & Jerry's, they only sold one pint of this flavor in the first three weeks of it being released. It's been deemed the "worst flavor they've ever had."
Fred and Ginger (1988)
What was supposed to be a tribute to Fred Astaire and Ginger Roberts turned into a bad dance sequence. The ginger ice cream with chocolate bow ties was so unpopular in scoop shops, only two of the 47 locations that carried it re-ordered the flavor when they ran out.
Mocha Walnut (1981)
"Mocha Walnut is my all-time favorite flavor," says Ben. "But when we packed it in pints it turned out to be our all-time worst selling ice cream. Jerry is fond of saying that there is no accounting for taste." It's hard to believe that such a "normal" flavor would be so unsuccessful, but I guess to each their own.
Black & Tan (2006)
Cream stout ice cream with chocolate ice cream doesn't sound terrible, but it was the name that turned a lot of people off.
"We made this flavor to invoke the beverage popular in pubs in the UK, a mixture of stout and pale ale all in the same pint glass," the company writes on their website. "Sadly, though, we had forgotten our British history and did not think of the drink's namesake: the paramilitary police force of British World War I veterans recruited during the Irish war of independence. Irish ice cream fans reminded us of the unsavory connection, and we apologized."
Pina Colada (2013)
This flavor featured no rum, which is probably why it flopped. The coconut ice cream with pineapple chunks just wasn't enough to sustain people's interest.
Anything Hazelnut (1988-2015)
You would think with all the Nutella-obsessed people out there that a hazelnut flavor of Ben & Jerry's would do well, but you'd be wrong. The company launched a Chocolate Hazelnut Swirl in 1988 but it didn't do well. Since then they've also tried a basic Hazelnut, Coffee Hazelnut Swirl, and Hazed & Confused Core, but none of them have stuck.
Aloha Macadamia (2001-2002)
Maybe there was just too much going on here? The ice cream was milk chocolate cashew brazil nut butter flavored, with macadamia nuts in white and dark fudge, and a milk chocolatey swirl. Wow. That's a lot of flavors happening in one pint.
Oh Pear (1997)
In theory, it doesn't sound TOO bad. Fresh pear ice cream with a hint of almond and a light fudge swirl isn't awful, but the flavor was so unpopular it was yanked from shelves within a year.
"We've learned our lesson: no more pears."
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