Holidays are exciting milestones for everyone here at Turning Stone Resort Casino, but perhaps no one group of Team Members gets as jazzed as our Pastry Team. Perhaps this explains why the crew celebrates just about every holiday with a new boozy milkshake at Upstate Tavern.

The newest option commemorates St. Patrick’s Day, and it has just about every detail you could possibly imagine. Especially if you are a leprechaun.

The green shake is available all month long.

Technically, the St. Patrick’s Day Shake is the brainchild of Pastry Chef Lorena Ortega and her team of merry sweet-tooths. The base comprises vanilla ice cream, vanilla vodka, and crème de menthe—a minty liqueur that makes it green. The glass is then rimmed with a sprinkle mix of gold, white, and green sprinkles, green shamrocks, and gold balls.

On top, our pastry team puts whipped cream, chocolate coins, two lollipops, and two donut holes with buttercream centers dipped in sprinkles.

“It’s very festive,” Lorena said. “The whole idea is to try to capture the feeling and flavors of the holiday in the milkshake so that people aren’t only having something they like, but also something that celebrates the day.”

Putting together these special milkshakes is as much a science as an art.

Lorena explained that she and her team spend weeks conceptualizing the drinks, often planning decorations months in advance to make sure they can obtain the ingredients they want. She aims to make shakes colorful, eye-catching, and, of course, delicious. Lorena said she also tries to make her shakes unlike anything guests would have seen or tasted before.

Once our pastry team creates a new shake, they then bring the shake to a panel of chefs for taste-testing and final approval.

Our pastry team usually tries to create shakes well in advance of their specific holidays. Right now, for instance, Lorena and her team are working on shakes for the rest of the year, testing different flavor combinations, ordering different sprinkles, and working out recipes.

She noted that next month’s Easter shake is “memorable.”

Lorena declined to give specifics about the next shake, but when pressed, she offered a simple hint: Rabbit. Stay tuned for more details.