Grimace is back! Does anyone care? I’ve been wondering this since McDonald’s announced Grimace’s Birthday Meal, the weirdest “celebrity” meal the brand has launched so far (though surely the cheapest, considering it’s their own IP). McDonald’s celebrity meals are a blatant cash grab so it only holds that they would try to engineer a cheaper way to do these.

After years of ignoring them, McDonald’s has been celebrating its old mascots as of late. When they launched a new burger recipe last month, they brought out the Hamburgalar. Now they’re doing Grimace. Is Birdie the Early Bird next? Let’s… hope? I don’t know what to make of McDonald’s move to highlight their mascots but there is no reason to hate the randomness of it all when it comes attached to new menu options and Grimace’s Birthday Meal adds at least one new menu item into the mix, The Grimace Birthday Shake.

The full Grimace Birthday Meal consists of your choice of a Big Mac or 10 Piece McNuggets, fries, and a Grimace Shake. I’m not about to review combos that already exist on McDonald’s menu but this new shake intrigues me. What is that Grimace Shake? Is it just purple or is that a flavor? Is it good? Is it really Grimace’s Birthday? (YES, IT TURNS OUT.) How old is… it? (52??? JESUS, TIME IS COMING FOR US ALL!)?

Anyway, I had a lot of questions, some about the shake, most not. And then McDonald’s went ahead and hit us with this picture:

Consider me sold! I give you the greatest McDonald’s ad I’ve ever seen. Apparently, Grimace is the coolest McDonald’s mascot of all time, it drives a Delorean, it’s license plate reads “Grimace,’ meanwhile Ronald McDonald is a nightmare, the Hamburgalar is a creep, and Birdie The Early Bird is… look I don’t even want to get into how disturbing it is for a bird to sell chicken nuggets, but Grimace? Grimace f*cks!

So let’s taste this thing and hope it’s good because I’m all in on Grimace now. Russ Hanneman would agree.

The Grimace Shake

Tasting Notes:

The Grimace milkshake tastes exactly how it looks, a strong dose of vanilla greets you before evolving into a sweet berry-forward flavor with a rich and refreshing finish. I’m tasting hints of blueberry, grapes, and blackberry. It has a noticeable darkness that is counterbalanced by the vanilla in a really harmonious way.

The closest flavor analogy I could find would be a milkshake version of the best cereal milk you’ve ever tasted. It’s Froot Loops milk mixed with Cap’n Crunches Crunch Berries.

In the pantheon of McDonald’s milkshakes, I’d say this is hands down the best flavor in the lineup. It’s as rich as the chocolate, more exciting than vanilla, and captures the refreshing magic of a strawberry milkshake, with a darker, less intensely sweet, and more enjoyable character.

The Bottom Line:

You read it here and here only: Grimace f*cks! And makes good shakes!