What’s better than a milkshake to both satisfy sweetness cravings and cool you down on a hot, summer day? Answer: a milkshake with added booze! New York City is full of these just-near-sickly concoctions, as bars around the city combine flavored vodka with ice cream and soft serve in ways unimaginable when it comes to at-home replications. On that note, here’s a piece of advice when it comes to boozy shakes: Don’t try to make them at home. Leave it to the experts (most of whom work in stylized burger joints) to get the ice cream to alcohol ratio just right, because it’s one of the most sensitive ones measured out behind the bar.

Birthday Party Shake ($9)
Momofuku Milk Bar (251 East 13th St.; 347-577-9504)
Almost horrifically sweet, this alcoholic milkshake adds Milk Bar’s birthday cake truffles to their signature cereal milk soft serve, bringing texture and rainbows (in the form of sprinkles) to this thick and creamy delight. The three ounces of spiced rum seems nearly inappropriate, here, but any incongruities manage to elude the palate and hit the brain just right.

Stumbles the Clown ($11.50)
Mel’s Burger Bar (2850 Broadway; 212-865-7100)
Included in this list largely due its amazing name, Stumbles the Clown also boasts a seriously unique aspect in its cotton candy flavored ice cream base. Added Stoli Vanilla makes this shake incredibly sweet, but if you’re going to get an alcoholic milkshake, sweetness should not present an obstacle.

Salted Caramel Pretzel ($11)
Sidewalk Cafe (94 Avenue A; 212-473-7373)
In the spirit of diving all in when it comes to alcoholic milkshakes, a concoction involving salted caramel vodka, graham cracker crumbs, and vanilla ice cream surely fits the bill. The salted rim (as well as the saltiness from the flavored vodka, sort of) helps offset the sweet in the way that makes chocolate-covered pretzels such a hit…but with alcohol, this time.

The All Nighter ($12)
Go Burger (1448 2nd Avenue; 212-988-9822)
Caffeine gets incorporated into this drink from all possible angles. Kahlua, Bailey’s, espresso, and coffee ice cream all make an appearance in this silky beverage. The smoothness of the ice cream and the Irish cream also remove any trace of grit one could have noticed from the espresso shot. All together, this drink would deserve its name, if it weren’t for the fact that alcohol and sweets counteract caffeine by making the consumer incredibly sleepy.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bomb ($10.95)
Bill’s Bar & Burger Downtown (85 West St.; 212-894-3800)
Though the kiddie version simply includes toffee pieces, chocolate ice cream, and spiced peanuts, you can make it 21-plus by adding a shot of Jack Daniels Honey (which also adds four extra dollars to the price). This may seem like an unnecessary addition when the menu spells it out like this for you, but in reality, it tastes pretty good.

Triple Chocolate Disco Shake ($11)
Big Daddy’s (1596 2nd Ave.; 212-717-2020)
Everyone knows that chocolate and hazelnut represent the perfect flavor marriage. This boozy milkshake does not disappoint in terms of the combo, blending chocolate ice cream with Frangelico and crème de cacao for decadence that is only replicated in the establishment’s non-boozy milkshakes and insane pancake selection, which includes the likes of cookie dough and Oreos within the fluffy breakfast food.

Guinness Shake ($7)
Mark (33 St. Marks Place; 212-677-3132)
Guinness already has a thick, velvety feel to it. Turning it into a both palatable and alcoholic milkshake shouldn’t have been too hard. However, the trick to all of the rave reviews this drink garners amounts to somewhat of a misrepresentation regarding its name: There’s not actually any alcohol in it.

Photo: Mel's Burger Bar