Shakes abound. Why is it so hard to find malts?
Because most places that serve shakes have shake machines. And the shake comes out like soft serve ice cream, a "recipe" for mediocrity. Generally, you can only get a malt at a place which specializes in ice cream treats. They mix their shakes (ice cream, syrup and milk) with a mixer/blender and they just add the malt powder to the mix.