Shamrock Shake

Shamrock Shake

A customer’s Shamrock Shake sitting on a table at a McDonald’s in 2012
Owner	McDonald’s
Country	United States, Canada, Ireland
Introduced	1970

The Shamrock Shake is a seasonal green mint flavored milkshake dessert sold at some McDonald’s restaurants during March to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in the US, Canada and Ireland.

Origin

The Shamrock Shake was first introduced in 1970.[1] Rogers Merchandising in Chicago created the shake. Initially, the shake was lemon/lime flavored with vanilla ice cream, lemon/lime sherbet, and vanilla syrup. By 1973, the shake was merely a green colored vanilla shake, eliminating the lemon/lime sherbet. It is now mint flavored.[2]

Shamrock Shakes are sold at select U.S.[3] and Canadian stores during the months of February and March,[1] as well as in Ireland.[4]

Advertising

During the 1980s, McDonald’s used the Uncle O’Grimacey character (a relative of Grimace who came to visit in March) to market Shamrock Shakes. McDonald’s has since phased out that character from their mascot lineup.

In 1980, McDonald’s introduced the Shamrock Sundae which consisted of vanilla ice cream topped with a mint green Shamrock syrup. The product was discontinued after one year due to poor sales.[3]

In 2017 McDonald’s introduced a few variants of the Shamrock Shake including the Shamrock Chocolate Shake, the Shamrock Chocolate Chip Frappé, the Shamrock Mocha, and the Shamrock Hot Chocolate.[5]

References

1. ^ a b Huguenin, Patrick (2007-03-16). “Shamrock Shake Shocker: It’s Disappeared!”. The New York Daily News. p. 46. Archived from the original on 2009-03-16. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
2. ^ “People Are Really Excited That McDonald’s Shamrock Shakes Are Back”. Travel & Leisure.
3. ^ a b “Ultimate Shamrock Shake Guide”. Gluttoner. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
4. ^ “McDonald’s mint flavoured Shamrock Shake returns to Irish stores”. Irish Mirror. 2019-02-15. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
5. ^ Saelinger, Tracy. “McDonald’s has 4 new chocolaty Shamrock Shakes and we tried them all”. Retrieved 2019-02-21.

External links

• Media related to Shamrock Shake at Wikimedia Commons
• McCafé Shamrock Shake official nutrition page