The start of the winter holiday season is a heavily debated topic amongst the American populace. Does the Christmas season start right after Halloween, or is it right to respect the humble autumn atmosphere of Thanksgiving? Thanksgiving remains the disregarded DMZ between the fan favorites of Halloween and Christmas. Where do you stand?
Too late! Shake Shack has decided for you.
Shake Shack released their annual Christmas-time shakes at the beginning of November. This year, the flavors are Christmas Cookie and Sticky Toffee Pudding. This release is the third of the year, following the trio of shakes released in late May, a relatively large gap in new shakes for the brand. Between then and now, two new shakes made their way onto the menu: the limited edition Dubai Chocolate Pistachio Shake that departed earlier in the fall, and the newest addition to the permanent menu, the Coffee Shake.
This release only entailed two shakes, different then the usual trend of releasing three at a time as seen in almost all seasonal releases in past years. Alongside the new shakes, a variety of limited-time offerings include the Big Shack burger, the French Onion Burger series, released in September, Onion Rings, and Parmesan Garlic Fries. But the main wintertime festivities on the menu come from the new holiday milkshakes.
The Christmas Cookie Shake is described as “Sugar cookie frozen custard topped with whipped cream and holiday sprinkles.” This shake is a returning classic, being a consistent staple of the holiday shake menu since its debut in 2016. The shake has been a fan favorite for years, but there is a noticeable difference this year. While other releases of the shake have contained crumbled shortbread, adding more cookie texture to the shake, this year, the shake is standing alone with its sugar cookie frozen custard. This shake tastes almost identical to the soft iced sugar cookies from the grocery store, also known as Lofthouse sugar cookies.
Upon the very first sip, the consumer will be stuck with the taste of these cookies, as if they were mashed into a liquid form. The shake is extremely sweet, almost aggressively so, and it leaves a lasting sweetness in your mouth. The texture is smooth except for the very occasional crunch from the sprinkles on top. It is a relatively simple shake, sweet and thicker than other specialty shakes tend to be. It is important to note that this shake is fundamentally a different experience from the previous renditions of the shake with the same name, but a new twist on a fan favorite is not always a bad thing. The Christmas Cookie Shake gets 4.5 grocery store cookies out of 5.
The second shake is a new creation brought to the Shake Shack menu, the Sticky Toffee Pudding Shake. The shake is described as “Sticky toffee pudding cake hand-spun with vanilla frozen custard and caramelized brown sugar, topped with whipped cream and a drizzle of sticky toffee pudding sauce.” Sticky Toffee pudding is a classic British dessert, commonly eaten during the Christmas season.
The shake is sweet, not as aggressively so as the Christmas Cookie Shake. The shake is a bit thinner than its counterpart, with some bits of sticky toffee cake mixed in. The flavor of the toffee is light, arguably too light, but it adds a slightly rich flavor to the drink, as well as adding a slight warm color. The toffee flavor is not the only thing a little too light in this drink; as the bits of toffee cake are few and far between, making the texture not the most consistent as you drink. The concept is pretty creative in the world of holiday flavors, where the landscape is highly repetitive. The shake’s flavor is good but leaves consumers wanting just a bit more, 3.5 Gordon Ramsays out of 5.
The holiday shakes usually do not last very long, so those interested in beginning the holiday season early alongside every retail establishment, or someone is just interested in trying these two new holiday shakes, make sure to stop by your nearest Shake Shack before they melt away in the spring.