I have no validated reason for loving the holiday, but ever since I was young, I've adored St. Patrick's Day. If it is green and Irish, odds are I'm down. So naturally, once March rolls up, I get ecstatic and spend far too much time in the McDonald's drive-in. 2017 is already a blessed year specifically due to McDonald's providing four new shamrocks drinks along with the traditional Shamrock Shake. With all of this being said, I consider it my honor to taste each of the Shamrock options and give you a ranking of which are the best and why. Enjoy!
5. Shamrock Hot Chocolate
This was overall a weird drinking experience. I was expecting fireworks and nothing but smiles and instead, I got a confused facial expression and hesitation before taking another sip. While there is a Shamrock, minty aftertaste, the drink itself isn't very minty at all. It sort of tasted like a hot chocolate that went wrong.
Basically, if I were blindfolded and given this drink, I wouldn't realize it was supposed to be mint at all. I would quite literally guess, "A cheap, typical hot cocoa?" Truthfully, if you are looking for a minty hot cocoa, I would wait for it to be Christmas time and then go grab a peppermint mocha from Starbucks. Sorry 'bout it.
4. Shamrock Chocolate Chip Frappe
Personally, I am not a super crazy sweets person, so at first sip, I was shook. This drink is very sugary. As I kept drinking, I ended up enjoying it more. Because of the chocolate syrup and chocolate chips, the mint is easily covered. The flavors are unbalanced in my opinion. There's too much chocolate and not enough mint. There are Shamrock drinks that have a stronger mint flavor, but that fact didn't stop me from enjoying the drink. It is a good Frappe, but not minty enough.
3. Chocolate Shamrock Shake
This drink has the mint flavor with chocolate rather than vanilla, like the traditional Shamrock Shake. Having this mix, however, is like drinking a liquid version of Thin Mints. Chocolate and mint have always had an amazing relationship. From cookies to mint-chocolate chip ice-cream, to this magical dream of a milkshake. The mint syrup does take a while to set it, but once it does, everything is sunshine and rainbows. A fun fact about this drink is that before it was blatantly on the menu, it was a secret menu option. Did you try it before it was cool?
2. Shamrock Mocha
It was hot outside on this day, so I went for an iced version. Personally, I love my drinks cold so I was fine with this. First things first with this drink, I would advise you to stir before drinking. The syrup tends to collect at the bottom causing you to drink straight mint for a bit and then plain mocha for the rest. I found this drink to be absolutely perfect if you are trying to decide between getting coffee or getting a Shamrock Shake. It is quite literally the best of both those worlds. However, if you are really looking for that Shamrock taste, I would reach for one of the shakes because the mocha coffee taste does lessen the strength of the mint flavor.
1. Shamrock Shake
The traditional shake wins for me. It's the original queen, the first, the best, nothing can beat her. The mint flavor is so evident when paired with vanilla. The appearance wins as well because it is the most green of all the drink options. It is the mintiest, the prettiest, and the original shake. The first one that captured my heart. Since there are no flavors combating with the Shamrock flavor, you get to really focus on the mint. If you are going for mint, this is the shake with the strongest flavor.
I applaud McDonald's for the endeavor and blessing they have provided for my taste buds. The drinks are sort of like spin-off sitcoms. They are entertaining and funny enough, but never really as good as the original. I was and still am super happy to see all of the Shamrock Shake's friends, but the good 'ole tradition shake wins every time. With all of this being said, have a great, green, glee-filled St. Patrick's Day. Make him happy and go drink those minty drinks. I know I will continue to enjoy this incredible time of year and sip these sugary drinks with an enormous smile on my face.