Arby’s Trolls the Unicorn Drink Trend With Its New ‘Liger’ Milkshake

Just when you thought Starbucks' Unicorn and Mermaid Frappuccinos had faded from memory, a somewhat unlikely chain is taking up the mantle of concocting colorful frozen beverages inspired by mythical creatures. On Wednesday, Arby's announced it’s now serving an all-new striped milkshake called The Liger. Here we go again.

The limited edition offering is a blatant attempt to troll the recent deluge of Insta-famous mythical animal-inspired drinks that've provoked suchstrongreactions. The company also made the conscious choice to pay homage to a real animal. As a brand spokesperson explained to us, "Arby’s loves unusual creatures too – but not the imaginary or docile kind. No, Arby’s loves real, powerful creatures."

So there you have it.

Like the very much real animal its named for (for those who haven't seen Napoleon Dynamite, a liger is a hybrid breed between a male lion and a female tiger), the milkshake is a hybrid of two Arby's flavors: Orange Cream and Ultimate Chocolate. As for the tiger-like swirled "stripes" around the inside of the cup, those are made using Ghirardelli chocolate sauce.

arby's liger shake
Melissa Ibarra/Thrillist

Arby's provided an early taste of The Liger and, spoiler alert, it's damn good. The chocolate flavor is more pronounced than the orange cream, but the combo definitely works. It also has the ideal sweetness to creaminess ratio, which frankly, is critical.

The drink is available in 16-ounce and 24-ounce versions at Arby's locations nationwide until the end of the month. 

Sign up here for our daily Thrillist email and subscribe here for our YouTube channel to get your fix of the best in food/drink/fun.

Joe McGauley is a senior writer for Thrillist. Follow him @jwmcgauley.