The Monster Boston Shake at Snowman – Troy, NY

This summer has given rise to an all new obsession for me, and that is soft serve ice cream. Because my diet and exercise plan has come together so nicely in a project deemed “Operation: nWo“, I have allowed myself to indulge in an ice cream sundae about once per week. As you well know, my favorite place for this has been Snowman Ice Cream located at 531 5th Avenue, Troy, NY 12182. I’ve written about the Snickers sundae, and, since the 1 year of derryX party, where I briefly mentioned the Boston shake, I have gone just about weekly for this sundae. I make myself feel better about it by ordering their Only 8 frozen yogurt, which is really, really good!

But, every time I go, I joke about experiencing the Monster Boston shake, which is listed on the window for $7.45. In Pulp Fiction, John Travolta’s character, Vincent Vega, wants to know what a $5 milkshake tastes like. Well I needed to know what an $8 milkshake tasted and, more importantly, looked like.

On top of that, my buddy, Daniel B. wrote a feature for All Over Albany earlier this summer describing the greatness that is the Boston shake from Snowman Ice Cream.

Indeed, this monster has been taunting me and eluding me all summer.

This past Saturday night, Labor Day weekend, I put the monster to rest.

It may not seem impressive from the image, but it is 32 ounces (which is a volume measurement based on the density of water — milkshake is denser than water) of some of the thickest milkshake available for miles topped with a huge scoop of hard ice cream then topped with hot fudge and further topped with whipped cream and a cherry. Here’s a scale reference of the shake next to a 2 scoop ice cream cone:

It’s not as easy as walking up to the window with $8 and ordering a “Monster Boston shake,” believe it or not. First, you have to pick the flavor of your shake, then you have to pick the flavor ice cream that tops the shake. This was a fact that Daniel B. reminded me of during a recent lunch; it was a revelation that forced me to do my homework.

This was a considerable task, especially since I have anxieties about holding up lines. Snowman has 30 flavors of hard ice cream as well as soft serve and frozen yogurt and sherbert flavors. One day before that faithful night, I had to sit down and debate over the flavors and combinations within my own mind. There are many ways to approach this. My approach was to stick with a particular ice cream flavor throughout the whole concoction and mess with the stuff mixed in to the ice cream. The choice came to me one day at work; I needed the base shake to be coffee mocha chip, and the ice cream to top it coffee Oreo. [Oddly enough, upon further review, Daniel B. outlined a similar combination in his AoA article.]

See? At work.

How was it?

Glorious!

During the time I took to take shoddy cell phone images of my shake, the hot fudge sunk to the bottom of the shake. I decided to take the spoon and eat through the whipped cream and the ice cream before drinking the shake. I’ve actually never tried their hard ice cream before, and the coffee Oreo ice cream was great. It’s like good cookies and cream but with coffee ice cream instead of vanilla, and their coffee ice cream has a notable coffee flavor while not being overpowering or weak.

Once I got to the shake, I was pretty glad I kept the same flavor base. The coffee ice cream made for a great shake experience, since it seems like a good amount of milk was added to dilute the shake. The best part was that, with the hot fudge sitting at the bottom, occasionally, the straw would slip and let some hot fudge, mocha chips, and residual Oreo cookie to come through. Even better, I still had the spoon, so I could scoop up some of this goodness.

I let about 25 milliliters (<1 oz) of the shake go to waste, because I was pretty full by that point, but I can finally say that I have enjoyed the Monster Boston shake from Snowman without getting too carried away.

And the ice cream season of 2011 has come to an end for derryX.