From someone named Jason comes this message that I had to share with you all…
As an ex-employee of Ben and Jerry's (I was a former tour guide at the original factory in Waterbury), I can tell you why Vermonty Python is only available in pints: variety. In order to have the most flavors available at a given time, Ben and Jerry's makes some flavors pint exclusives, like Karamel Sutra and Vermonty Python, and some flavors scoop shop exclusives, like Bananas on the Rum. This way, they can keep making some of the less popular flavors that are on the cusp of going to the Flavor Graveyard™. Another reason is convenience. Vanilla Caramel Fudge is only available in pints because it was such a mess in the scoop shops (yes I also worked in a scoop shop, I was almost a lifer) due to the fact that the fudge and caramel pooled to the bottom of the 2.5 gallon tub, leaving a tasty, goopy soup. Hope that sheds some light on the subject.
It does…and it reminds me that I've never told my favorite Howard Hughes story here. It goes back to the period when Hughes was living on the top floor of the Desert Inn in Vegas. That's the hotel that tried to evict him so he bought the place.
Hughes was living in a darkened bedroom with coverings over all the windows. He would spend all day either fiddling with paperwork that never meant anything or watching television. A small, well-paid staff would wait on him, which usually amounted to bringing him fast food or TV dinners. Hughes would see a commercial for Arby's roast beef sandwiches and he'd say, "I want to eat that," so his handlers would fetch him Arby's for all his meals for a week or two. Then he'd see an ad for Swanson's TV dinners and he'd say, "Get me that," and that would be his meal of choice for a few weeks…and so on.
There was a brief crisis when Hughes tried the Swanson's entrees. He preferred the turkey over the chicken, but the turkey came with peach cobbler, which Hughes didn't like. He liked the apple cobbler included in the chicken dinners…so he ordered his staff to call Swanson's and tell them to switch the cobblers. The "Mormon Mafia" (as his employees were called) pretended to do this but what they'd really do is buy one of each dinner and swap the dessert when they served Mr. Hughes his Swanson's turkey dinner.
That's how one of the world's richest men dined for years — Arby's, KFC, Bird's Eye, etc. In the meantime, all the folks who waited on him were feasting at the most expensive Vegas restaurants…on expense accounts.
But that's not the story I wanted to tell. The one I want to tell — and as far as I know, it's true — began one day when Hughes saw a commercial for Baskin-Robbins and decided to try some ice cream. An employee was dispatched to the local 31 Flavors to bring back 31 scoops — one of each current variety. Hughes sampled them all and chose Banana Nut as his favorite. Thereafter, no matter what he had as a meal, he'd be served a scoop of Banana Nut for dessert.
This went on until one day when a staffer noticed their supply was running low. A runner was sent to buy more but he reported back that Baskin-Robbins had rotated the flavor off its current list. Someone called the ice cream manufacturer and asked when it would be back. The answer was, "Some time next year." None of Hughes' employees wanted to go in and tell the old man that they couldn't bring him the Banana Nut ice cream he loved…so they asked the company if they could make up a special batch for Mr. Hughes. The Baskin-Robbins people said they'd be glad to, but the minimum order was a thousand gallons.
Again, no one wanted to bring bad news to the billionaire…so they ordered the thousand gallons. They also rented refrigerated trucks to transport the order from the Baskin-Robbins plant in Southern California to Vegas, and ordered the kitchen manager at the Desert Inn to find space in their refrigerators for a thousand gallons of ice cream. This required several days of work and the purchase and installation of several new freezers.
The caravan of trucks arrived just in time. The day it all got there was the day they served Mr. Hughes the last remaining scoop of Banana Nut ice cream from the old supply. He finished it off and announced, "That was great but it's time for a change. From now on, I want French Vanilla."