When it comes to sweet treats, milkshakes are the coolest. Blending ice cream with milk, shakes are the perfect addition to — or replacement for — a meal, especially on a cold winter day. Wait, what? That’s right. With ice baths and cold plunges gaining cold-weather currency as a wellness trend, we’re subverting the expectations of seasonal sweets by promoting the milkshake as the ultimate winter dessert.
Luckily for the Flathead, a number of local vendors offer their own scrumptious iterations of a shake with a variety of traditional, daring and delicious flavors.
Here are just a few of the best places to get a sugary drink to keep you cool all year long under the Big Sky.
Norm’s News
Regarded as the Flathead’s “only old-fashioned soda fountain,” Norm’s has been serving up burgers, fries and tasty sweets to locals and tourists in downtown Kalispell for 80 years. While its menu boasts a number of sandwiches, breakfast options and fountain sodas, the locale’s most popular item is its shakes. Enticingly topped with a cherry and homemade whipped cream, the traditional drinks come in two sizes and can be ordered in a number of flavors, including licorice, rocky road and mint chip.
Sweet Peaks Ice Cream
This well-known ice cream vendor, which was first established in Whitefish in 2010, has earned its reputation as a mainstay for frozen treats in Montana. Slinging scoops of its specialty flavors at additional store locations in Bigfork, Kalispell, Missoula and Bozeman, as well as at an out-of-state site in and Spokane, Wash., it’s become even more tempting to sample Sweet Peaks’ local ingredients and creative flavors as they expand across the Rocky Mountains. But even the most committed cone-heads shouldn’t sleep on Sweet Peaks’ milkshakes, with the blended options coming in numerous flavors, like chocolate, mint chocolate chip and espresso mocha chip, topped with whipped cream.
The Huckleberry Patch
This cannery, restaurant and gift shop has been a Hungry Horse staple since 1949. Aptly named, the Patch incorporates huckleberries into a variety of products from huckleberry lip balm and soap to huckleberry fudge and homemade huckleberry pie. Arguably the shining star of the huck-dominated menu is the huckleberry milkshake, which is served with a huckleberry topping for a sweet, tart, chilly treat. Dedicated to the huck with interior decor that evokes the coloring of the fruit, the Patch is located in Hungry Horse on U.S. Highway 2.
Burgertown Dairy Freeze
Established in 1970 just south of Bigfork’s town center on Montana Highway 35, Burgertown is a local favorite for hand-pattied burgers, crispy fries and, of course, cold summer shakes. Customers can order shakes in three sizes, including a large 21-ounce drink, and can choose to stick with traditional flavors like chocolate and caramel, or choose to be a bit more adventurous with marshmallow, pineapple or coconut ice cream for their sweet treat.
Frugals
Though originally established in Washington, Frugals opened its fourth location in Kalispell on U.S. Highway 93 more than 15 years ago. Its local popularity has since led to new locations in Missoula and north Kalispell. The franchise is known for its burgers, fries and double drive-thru, but it also offers quality shakes. While its menu includes a number of standard flavors, the fast-food joint also offers monthly specialty tastes. In fact, the restaurant in Port Angeles, Washington has been selected as the local vendor with the best milkshake more than 20 times by the Peninsula Daily News.