About Shamrock Shake

The Shamrock Shake was first introduced in 1970. Shamrock Shakes were widely available across Canada and the United States until the early 1990s. They were recently brought back and are still available at select Canadian and American stores during the month of March.

The Shamrock Shake, a green, mint-flavored milkshake, is a seasonal dessert sold at McDonald's during March to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

McDonald's website describes the shake as, "the minty green treat". The ingredient list for the shamrock shake syrup includes high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, water, sugar, natural flavor (plant source), xanthan gum, citric acid, sodium benzoate (preservative), yellow 5, blue 1. These are not the same ingredients included in the vanilla shake syrup.

During the 1980s, McDonald’s used the Uncle O'Grimacey character to market Shamrock Shakes, but has since been phased out.

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.

In 1990, the Shamrock Shake at McDonald's restaurants in the Washington, D.C. metro area were used in a fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald House Charities, and cups featured a child's artwork for the duration of the promotion.

The McDonalds website says, "It all began with a little girl, a football team, and a visionary doctor."

The Philadelphia Eagles tight end Fred Hill's daughter was diagnosed with leukemia and began treatment. The Hill family were camping out in waiting rooms in hospitals and saw other families doing the same. They realized that many families travelling long distances to visit their sick family members had nowhere to stay and could not afford hotel rooms. The Hill family did something about it.

Hill and his team decided to raise some funds. The team's general manager, Jim Murray, called a friend in McDonald's advertising and suggested the team on the next promotional push. It just happened to be St. Patrick's Day.

The Shamrock Shake raised enough money to buy a four-story house which was the first Ronald McDonald House Charity.

In 2008, McDonald's Canada brought back the Shamrock Shake for a limited time only starting on February 26. At that time, it had not been available in Canada for five years.

In 2010, McDonald's switched the cup style for Shamrock Shakes from white soft drink style paper cups to the clear plastic McCafe cups and began offering whipped cream and a cherry as topping options.