16 Malts And Milkshakes To Make This Summer

Is there any drink more iconic than the milkshake? It's hard to argue against it. Now that the soda fountains of the 20th century are roaring back into style, we can't get enough of a good milkshake or malt.

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The first milkshake was reportedly made by a Walgreens employee, Ivar "Pop" Coulson. He updated the pharmacy's "chocolate malt beverage" by adding a scoop of ice cream, and the lives of ice cream lovers, sweet tooths, and soda fountains were forever changed. Heck, the blender was invented in 1922 by Stephen Poplawski just to mix up milkshakes — who knew?

Now, milkshakes are getting the culinary treatment just like your cocktails, lemonades, and juices. You'll never go wrong with a chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry milkshake from the soda fountain heyday, but now we're finding just as many imaginative flavors, like peanut butter and jelly, watermelon and lime, and salted caramel.

Leading the way? Autumn Martin at Seattle's Hot Cakes Molten Chocolate Cakery. Her newest book, Malts & Milkshakes, is the end all, be all guide to milkshakes — in it, she details what ingredients to use (the best, high-quality milks and ice creams you can find), the equipment you need, and tips to master the milkshake. Some of Martin's best advice? Don't overmix (you'll get a thick shake, and no one likes that), use soft ice cream for the best mixing, and don't add too much milk.

Click ahead to find out how to make soda-fountain-worthy milkshakes at home (there are some boozy ones in there, too!), with recipes from Martin, restaurants, and soda fountains across the country, and from our Culinary Content Network.