How Retro.com: Milkshake Glasses

From Hallmark.com

I've got a bit of a thing for milkshake glasses. I think it's the whole ambiance they conjure - summer, lazy days, fun, sun..childhood. A traditional milkshake is consumed via a particular shaped glass; clear glass or pastel coloured and tall and ridged, with a stem.

A Snippet of Milkshake History

The term milkshake wasn't used until around the 1880's and then they were an alcoholic whiskey drink, not the wholesome, if sweet, frothy milk drink we know and love today. However, they were promoted as a kind of "tonic", but then so was Godfrey's Cordial, which contained opium.

Hamilton Beach Milkshake Mixer

By the turn of the century the whiskey milkshake had metamorphosed into a flavoured milk drink - the whiskey having been exchanged for strawberry, chocolate or vanilla syrup. Soon after, dollops of ice-cream were added to the concoction and sometimes malt, which may have some throwback connection to malt whiskey. "Malted milk" and "milkshake" are basically the same thing except one has malted milk powder added, supposedly as a health additive.

The Malt Shop, a precursor to the Soda Fountain, sprang up in the 1930's as a hangout joint for students and miscellaneous young folk. Up until 1922, when the electric blender was invented, commercially made drinks were made, either by shaking everything up in a container or using a Hamilton Beach Mixer, which had been around since 1911. Domestic blenders weren't in widespread use until much later.

A Real Treat

Classic Milkshake Glasses

It's because milkshakes were such a treat that they came in their own special glasses, which were meant to suggest gaiety and a holiday theme, purpose made for flavoured milk drinks. Shakes in the early soda fountains were served in 12 ounce Y shaped glassses.

Archaic Soda Fountain Jargon:

Burn One All the Way - choc malt with ice-cream

Shake One in the Hay -strawberry shake

Twist It, Choke It, and Make It Cackle - choc malted with egg

White Cow - vanilla milkshake

Oddly, it seems quite hard to find traditional, good quality milkshake glasses, unless you buy them in bulk, in sets of 24. If you're a cafe owner looking for a supply, there's a set of (fairly expensive) classic milkshake glasses on sale at ebay right now. Also at Maven Supplies. Amazon do sell milkshake glasses but I couldn't find any in the classic design.

Best MilkShake Mixers

Candy-striped paper milkshake cups, from Alibaba