
Well, AWESOME-tober-fest 2013: ZOMBIES!! officially begins tomorrow. You can expect an article every weekday throughout the month of October. I’m excited for Halloween this year, I think I have a lot of good, fun articles for you so I hope you enjoy it. As you can see, I’ve already decorated for the season!
Today, as sort of a pre-game show, I thought I’d look at a few of the Halloween retail items I’ve found lurking in the local store. Some interesting stuff.

First and foremost, Jones has returned this year after an absence with more Halloween sodas. The flavors this year are Blood Orange, Red Licorice, Caramel Apple and Candy Corn. Two of these flavors I’ve already had in the past. If we look back at AWESOME-tober-fest 2008 I reviewed the Candy Corn flavor. I don’t think I liked it. I believe I said it tasted like “…spoiled maple syrup poured through a dirty sweat sock…” I tasted the Caramel Apple the year before in an article about oddly flavored sodas like Dr Brown’s Cel-Ray and Canfield’s Diet Chocolate Fudge. I believe I said that flavor tasted like “…sun tan lotion mixed with burnt maple syrup…” So, Jones isn’t necessarily hitting it out of the park with these so far. Blood Orange is a tangier orange flavored soda and red licorice is way too sweet and thick to be described as anything but “sugar coma inducing”. So while I love the effort and the packaging, Jones, I’m not loving the execution.

Big League Chew is one of my childhood favorites. And I love this Halloween themed packaging. Howlin’ Original and Gruesome Grape flavors aren’t new or formulated for the holiday, but I like the Halloweeny makeover. I believe there’s another one with a vampire/Dracula character, but I couldn’t find it.

Ghoul-Aid has been around since the 80s. Usually only offered in certain markets and usually only around Halloween. I have some of the original mixes but it seems the flavor is making a resurgence. You can find single packets on shelves again and now Kool-Aid Jammers have their own Scary Blackberry flavor. I was so excited to finally find this. I’ll be sucking these things down all month.
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