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America's Melting Pot
Root Beer Shake hero image coming soon
1900-1929 - American soda fountains, malt shops, drive-ins, malls, smoothie bars, and regional drink counters
Root Beer Shake pours old-school malt-shop cheer into a cold glass: Root beer float flavor blended into shake form.
Difficulty
Easy
Prep time
10 minutes
Cook time
0 minutes
Total time
10 minutes
Servings
2 servings
Region
Chicago, Illinois Walgreens soda fountains
Era introduced
1900-1929
Introduced by
American soda fountains, malt shops, drive-ins, malls, smoothie bars, and regional drink counters
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Root Beer Shake comes from the soda-fountain and malt-shop side of American food history. Root beer float flavor blended into shake form. Counters like those made cold drinks social: a place for dates, uniforms, jukeboxes, lunch breaks, and one more cherry on top. This version keeps the spirit generous and easy to make at home.
Research basis: Soda Fountain, Malt Shop, Mall, Drive-In and Smoothie Bar Drinks source list, adapted for home preparation. Provenance update: The modern thick ice-cream milkshake is commonly tied to Ivar "Pop" Coulson adding ice cream to a malted milk drink at a Chicago Walgreens in 1922; novelty flavors are mapped to that base soda-fountain form unless a more specific origin is later found. Source: Allrecipes, "Wait, Milkshakes Were Invented at... Walgreens?" (https://www.allrecipes.com/milkshakes-were-invented-at-walgreens-7559140).
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