2012 Shake Test Results

This year we added a new participant, Jake's, and added an old participant, Chevron (because they have a sign that said they were voted best raspberry shakes by KSL's Studio 5.)  We love to challenge others' test results.

We had 6 competitors:  (In alphabetical order) Chevron, Hometown, Jake's, La Beau's, Merlins and Quick N Tasty.

We had 11 highly-trained shake-eaters.

TIME:  We actually dared do this experiment during Raspberry Days, on Friday.  Though the actual time and cost sheet was lost, (and that person has been flogged,) we can say that they were all pretty speedy.  No standout slowpokes.

COST:  All cost around 4 dollars.  Only standout was Chevron, which cost the most and was much smaller than the others.

RESULTS

• 1ST PLACE:  By a strong consensus, HOMETOWN DRIVE IN!
  
• 2ND: Three shakes were virtually tied: Quick N Tasty, Chevron and Merlins
• 5TH: La Beau's, usually it does better, but not this year
• 6TH: Also by strong consensus, (comments such as bitter, salty, yuck) was Jake's.  I'm actually a little sad about it, this shake being a newcomer and all.  Maybe it was a bad batch of ice cream.  It did come with a cute little fresh raspberry on top.  Which I promptly ate.  There was only one.  I couldn't share it.

And here they are:

(An ice cube fell into Chevron's shake, it didn't come that way, and we quickly took it out.)

Are you beginning to see a pattern with these winners?  I, myself, was having a difficult time choosing the winner between what turned out to be Hometown and Quick N Tasty.  I finally settled on Hometown, but it was close.  And Hometown still isn't the best-mixed shake in town.  But mighty tasty.


So stop by Hometown Drive In for the best shake this year.

2009 Best Bear Lake Raspberry Shake Results

And the 2009 winner is ....

Quick 'n Tasty

We had a record 17 taste testers this year. Shakes were tested on Memorial Day, around 4 o'clock. Our very scientific method was followed (see sidebar) and all participants are highly trained shake-eaters. Six different shakes were tested. You may think that a raspberry shake is a raspberry shake. We beg to differ! We were, as usual, amazed at the variation among the shakes. The rankings this year, with comments, are as follows:

TASTE RANKINGS:

1. Quick 'n Tasty - good color, chunks of raspberries, fresh raspberries, meh
2. Hometown Drive-In - good, good color, chunks of raspberry, icy, ice chunks, poorly mixed
3. LaBeau's - nice flavor, me like, creamy
4. Merlins - thick, sweet, good, artificial flavor, fake taste & color, doesn't taste like raspberry
5. Bear Lake Pizza - milky, strong vanilla taste, waayy too sweet, yuck aftertaste, "no"
6. Lakeside Pizza - medicinal, syruppy, nasty, bad aftertaste

SPEED RANKINGS: (from the time of ordering to shake in hand)

1. Hometown Drive-In: 1 min. 43 seconds
2. Bear Lake Pizza: 2 min. 30 seconds
3. Quick N Tasty: 5 min.
4. LaBeau's: 6 min.
5. Merlin's: 6 min. 30 seconds
6. Lakeside Pizza: 12 min. 42 seconds (mixed up the order and forgot about us)

COST:

1. Quick N Tasty: $4.00
2. Hometown Drive-In: $4.05
3. Labeau's and Merlin's: $4.10
4. Lakeside Pizza: $4.27
5. Bear Lake Pizza: $4.33 (The most expensive and, interestingly, the SMALLEST shake.)

So Quick N Tasty has made it to the top of the leader board again. It was the best looking shake, we think, obviously made with real, fresh raspberries. However, it must be noted that there is some bad news. Several, 7 to be exact, of our tasters went to Quick N Tasty after our results to order their very own shakes from the winner. (The taste-testing feast just wasn't enough shake for these brave participants.) And sadly, our winner messed up 3 out of 7 of their orders. The shakes did taste good, though, they admitted.

A word about our fallen hero, Hometown Drive-in: Hometown has been our go-to shake place for a while now, due to all its previous wins. But this time, the shake was tragically under-mixed and a large chunk of frozen raspberries was found at the bottom of the shake cup. For shame. (And, though not part of this experiment, we were very disappointed with a peanut-butter cup shake we got there a while back. It was basically just vanilla soft serve with tiny flecks of what we think may have been peanut-butter cup, giving them the benefit of the doubt. Very flavor-less.)

CONCLUSION: Quick 'N Tasty is a good bet for (you guessed it!) a Quick and Tasty Shake! (And the least expensive, too!)

For full test results, click here.

Happy Shake Eating!

2008 Rankings

And the 2008 winner of Best Bear Lake Raspberry Shake is . . .

Hometown Drive Inn!!!

Our old hero has returned. That's three out of four years as the clear winner. (I almost wonder if we accidentally switched the Hometown and Quick N Tasty shakes last year.) Hometown's shake got only first or second place nods from each tester, winning with a score 16 points better than 2nd place. And at a speed of 3 minutes 30 seconds, and a reasonable price ($4.05), we highly and officially recommend Hometown Drive Inn.

There were 10 judges this year, and we tested 7 shakes. Shakes were tested on Memorial Day around 3 o'clock. Here are the full rankings:

Best Tasting

1. Hometown Drive Inn - "Raspberry-licious! Excellent! Yum!"
2. La Beau's - "Fresh; Tasty; Sweet"
3. Lakeside Pizza - "lots of raspberries, mellow flavor"
4. Quick N Tasty - "Bland; Vanilla-ey; Delicious!"
5. Merlin's - "Tastes like Strawberry Quik; overly sweet; fake tasting, thick"
6. Bear Lake Pizza - "strong vanilla flavor; bland; not well-mixed"
7. Chevron - "strong vanilla and weak raspberry flavor; fake tasting; runny"

Speed Rankings:

1. QUICKEST: Quick N Tasty - 2 minutes
2. Lakeside Pizza - 3 minutes
3. Hometown Drive Inn - 3 min, 30 seconds
4. Chevron - 7 minutes
5. Merlin's - 10 minutes, 45 seconds
6. Bear Lake Pizza - 11 minutes
7. SLOWEST: Labeau's - 17 minutes!!! for one shake!!!

Price:

1. Quick N Tasty (Quick N Cheap) - $3.45
2. Hometown and Labeau's - $4.05
3. Merlin's - $4.10
4. Chevron - $4.17
5. Lakeside Pizza - $4.25
6. Bear Lake Pizza - $4.31

Note: Lakeside Pizza, Bear Lake Pizza and Chevron use hard ice cream while the rest use soft serve.

Note: While we have somewhat consistent winners, we also have a consistent loser. And since we figure that most wouldn't think about going there for a shake anyway, we will kindly leave Chevron out in future contests.

Note: LaBeau's, if you are reading this, your shakes are good, but there's not a great chance we'd come to you because the service is too slow. Please consider re-thinking your strategy. A person who just orders a shake should get it quickly - EVEN IF (especially if!) the person in front of them in line orders five sandwiches and fries. I noticed that at Hometown, the ladies right in front of me each ordered a shake and fish and chips. Then I ordered one shake. The food arrived in this order: First, the ladies' two shakes; Second, my shake; Third, the ladies' fish and chips orders. This is good, follow this practice.

2007 Rankings

2007 Bear Lake Raspberry Shake Rankings

1. Quick ‘N Tasty (also fastest service, 1 min 10 seconds!!)
2. LaBeau’s
3. Lakeside Pizza
4. Hometown Drive Inn
5. Bear Lake Pizza
6. Merlin’s
7. Chevron

It should be noted that this year’s winner got the #1 vote from all seven participants. Quick ‘N Tasty was the CLEAR WINNER, and had lightning fast service. It was a big fall for our old hero, Hometown, from first to fourth. Scores best to worst: 7, 21, 25, 28, 33, 41, 43. (See methodology.)

Slowest Service: LaBeaus – 13 minutes
Price, Lowest to Highest: Chevron - $3.49, Lakeside - $3.75, Merlin’s $3.88, Quick ‘N Tasty - $4.00, LaBeau’s & Hometown - $4.05, Bear Lake Pizza – $4.20

Test conducted on May 28, 2007 (Memorial Day) at around 2:30 PM.

2006 Rankings

2006 Bear Lake Shake Rankings

1. Hometown Drive Inn (winner 2 years in a row!)
2. Lakeside Pizza*
3. Quick ‘N Tasty
4. La Beau’s
5. Bear Lake Pizza (Most Expensive Award)*
6. Chevron (Least Expensive Award)(Slowest Service Award)*

*made with hard ice-cream

(Note: V’s favorite was Lakeside)

2005 Rankings

The Winner: Hometown Drive Inn

Disclaimer: Grandpa B was assigned to pick up the shake from Hometown Drive Inn and he ordered double raspberry. ("I like double-raspberry.") It blew away the competition, but the results were skewed. After Hometown won the next year, (in 2006,) we felt more comfortable with the result of the test.

We don't have the runners up for this year. We got better at collecting and keeping the data in later years.