Product Review: Jones Soda 2007 Halloween Flavors

Ah, Jones Soda; the masters of turning the edible into the drinkable. In 2003 the small soda company kicked off a firestorm with their limited edition "Turkey and Gravy" flavor, following it up the following year with 4 new flavors for Thanksgiving in one set, including "Green Bean Casserole" and "Mashed Potato & Butter". By 2005 they had expanded into the realm of Halloween flavored drinks and have continued it every year since, exchanging the small cans they started with, to glass bottles. www.jonessoda.com).

While walking through the local Target, and staring at their anemic Halloween section, I spied the bottles sitting calmly on the shelf and knew that I had to grab them. This year Jones has released 2 flavors; Monster Mojito and Black Cat Licorice. I'm not sure if there are different flavors out there since a search of the internet returned nothing. Even the Jones Soda website doesn't mention these yet (

Monster Mojito.

My first thought after opening up one of these bottles was that it looked exactly like lemonade, but smelled like artificial lime. It isn't exactly like the lime juice that comes in the small plastic bottles, but more like that bottle if you left it outside for a few days. The scent is extremely powerful when the bottle is first opened, but it starts to dissipate after a minute.

As for the taste, it really does taste like a mojito without the alcohol. There's a strong taste of lime that is similar to a lime dunked in sugar, with an aftertaste of rum. Obviously there's no rum actually in the bottle, but it sure tastes like it.

Overall opinion: Not the worst thing I've ever tasted from Jones, but one of the best holiday offerings. There's a lot of other things I'd drink first though.

Black Cat Licorice.

While Monster Mojito is a carry over from last year, Black Cat Licorice is completely new. So new in fact that it isn't yet listed on their website, and I can't find anyone else who has tried it. I have to admit that I was hesitant about trying this because black licorice is one of my least favorite things in the world.

As soon as I opened the bottle, I was almost knocked off my feet by the black licorice smell. I didn't realize licorice smelled, but this really does smell like the candy, and it seemed to hang in the area longer than the other version. After one sip, I was done. It tastes like someone melted a bunch of black licorice sticks in the microwave, mixed it with a teaspoon of water, and then poured it in a bottle. On the other hand, I gave it to someone who likes black licorice, and she loved it.

Overall opinion: This one is strictly for the diehards who love black licorice, or want to try every version of Jones Soda. On the plus side, I'm the first person I know to find it!

Each version retails for $3.99 a 4-pack (4-12 ounce bottles), and is available from now until Halloween, exclusively from Target. Make sure to grab some while you can. If history is any indication, these are going to sell out fast.