We all know that the best part of a rootbeer float is that sweet, milky, goodness, that amalgamation of soda and ice cream, the liquid that forms from making the float. This nectar of the gods can be gulped down by chiseling away at the ice cream, tediously mixing by hand, waiting for a chemical reaction to occur with the soda, and sipping gently. Then waiting, and stirring…and waiting, and stirring…and waiting, and stirring some more. Or you don’t have to waste time with the entire process, you can break out the blender and have a FloatShake.

This occurred to me weeks ago, just in time for summer, the beads of perspiration forming at my lips, and my sweet tooth hankering. I longed for something cool and refreshing, but a shake was too thick and filling, while a float was too laborious, but it was then that I had a culinary epiphany. I flipped the top off a bottle of rootbeer, scooped a heaping spoonful of french vanilla ice cream into the blender, and wwwhhhrrr…moments later the Rootbeer FloatShake was born.

Now I can’t stop thinking of what other FloatShakes to make: chocolate ice cream and seltzer water; cream soda and vanilla ice cream; or an Orange Julius of sorts, with french vanilla ice cream, flecks of real vanilla beans and orange pop. I don’t even like the saccharine sweet flavor of orange pop, in fact, I can’t even tell you the last time the dyed-orange flavor graced my lips. But an Orange Pop FloatShake? Sure, I can do that.