The Shamrock Shake does not rock my world

I cut this a little fine, as I bought my one and only mint flavoured Shamrock Shake from McDonalds on their last day of sale at 10pm. Even though I (sensibly as it turns out) got a small I still said yes to whipped cream and a cherry because you have to jump in with both feet. Brave explorer etc. So I signed up for an astonishing 500 calories of milkshake. The calorie count was not the only astonishing thing. It really was THAT GREEN. No fancy filters here. Just more luminous, green, enormously processed food for St. Patrick's day. As an aside, so much "St. Patty's Day" stuff, not St. Paddy's.... why?

You see how the shake is kind of stripey, that's because the shake machine squirts green liquid and then white milkshake and then green and then milkshake and so on. I couldn't find a way of surreptitiously taking a photo, but fortunately the history of the shake is preserved in its layers - stratigraphy! The layers are kind of runny though, particularly the green liquid stuff (ug, it all sounds so unappetising - how did I drink ANY?!). I have to admit that I wasn't excited about trying the shake, even before I saw the squirty machine and the layers, and afterwards, well.....

Unsurprisingly, even after mixing the shake remains really quite green.

For some reason, this is still quite layered......

It tasted very green. I mean, it was kind of minty, but it was mainly GREEN. It even tasted kind of familiar, probably like some luminous foodstuff from my eighties childhood, before such bright colours were frowned upon. I drank an inch or so of the shamrock shake over the course of about 45 minutes and then gave up. I even had a jetlagged visitor who I attempted to palm the rest off onto. She agreed that it tasted green and managed about two slurps before saying it was just too sugary. This was a person that hadn't sleep properly for over 24 hours and badly needed energy. So instead of Shamrock shakes we ate Chipotle chips and some nutritious, very green, but not luminous at all (fortunately) guacamole.

Alarmed face! A least the milkshake nearly matches my cardigan?

Shamrock shakes are a seasonal St. Patrick's day McDonalds thing, which were available nationwide for the first time in 2012. I imagine they were always available in Boston though. Unusually, for a luminous minty foodstuff, I do not recommend them. Sorry. With any luck they won't cross the pond.

PS Here is the official McDonalds Shamrock Shake page - but hurry, it'll be gone soon! I don't think I'll miss it.