New Burgerville shake has Camas tie

Local connoisseurs of Burgerville’s seasonal milkshakes may have noticed the Pacific Northwest-based fast food chain has a new flavor out this month: the Gingerbread Shake.
What they may not realize is that the new shake — a blend of cinnamon-molasses-ginger ice cream with bits of gingerbread cookies mixed inside topped with whipped cream, colorful sprinkles and a “baby” gingerbread cookie — has a Camas connection.
Karen and Peter Wood, a Camas couple, are the owners of McTavish Shortbread, the Portland-based bakery that supplies the cookie bits inside the new Burgerville shake as well as what Karen Wood calls the “gingerbread baby” on top of the decadent holiday treats.
The new shakes are only available through the end of the year, so folks should act fast if they want to try the gingerbread concoction.
Karen Wood brought her family to the Camas Burgerville the Tuesday before Thanksgiving holiday to see if they could try the seasonal delight a few days before its official release. The restaurant’s managers, who had the product ingredients available, were happy to oblige.
“It’s yummy and sweet … and I like the crumbled cookies inside,” Karen Wood said during another recent trip to the Camas Burgerville. “I brought our kids — Evan is 14 and Connor is 17 — and they liked it, too.”
The Camas Burgerville is located at 518 N.E. Third Ave., in downtown Camas. Employees there say they already are loving the new gingerbread shake.
“I love gingerbread and I love butter shortbread, so this was great,” said the store’s general manager of six years, Steffany Hoyt, of the new shake flavor. “It reminded me of my favorite shortbread cookie.”
The Woods have owned the popular McTavish Shortbread company since 2017. The cookie company, much like Burgerville, sources many of its ingredients from regional sources. The non-GMO grain used in McTavish’s shortbread cookies, for example, is from Portland-based Shepherd’s Grain, the company’s hazelnuts are grown in Oregon and the butter is from a local creamery.
Burgerville also is known for partnering with regional farmers and companies like McTavish. In fact, the other December “seasonal specials” available at Burgerville include a “Smokey Blue Cheeseburger” made with blue cheese from the Rogue Creamery in Oregon with mushrooms from Yamhill County, also in Oregon; and “Rosemary Shoestring Fries” made from locally grown potatoes and rosemary and topped with sea salt from the Portland-based Jacobsen Salt Co., which hand-harvests salt from the Oregon Coast.
Likewise, many of the company’s milkshakes — also available in a non-dairy, coconut-based “Bliss” form — include regionally sourced ingredients like sweet cream from Alpenrose Dairy, chocolate from Holy Kakow and coffee from Portland Coffee Roasters — all Portland-based companies — and mint from Seely Mint, a company that originally grew its mint north of Battle Ground and now grows sustainably harvested mint on a farm near Clatskanie, Oregon.
The reliance on local sources was something that appealed to the Woods.
“We liked that Burgerville likes to source from local companies,” Peter Wood said. “We do the same whenever possible and are dedicated to having fresh, high-quality ingredients. Our customers notice the difference.”
Karen Wood agreed.
“As a mother, it’s nice to know I can bring my kids to a fast food restaurant and still get local ingredients,” Karen Wood said. “We always come to our neighborhood Burgerville in Camas.”
The shakes may be here for just a couple more weeks, but folks can find the Camas couple’s handcrafted McTavish shortbread cookies throughout Portland/Vancouver markets, cafes and stores — including Fred Meyers, New Seasons, Whole Foods, QFC and Made in Oregon stores — as well as online at mctavishshortbread.com.
The company’s seasonal gingerbread cookies, which are available with “pants” dipped in white chocolate or in a form that is easy to take home and decorate, are sold from November through the end of the year.