Right from the start, I had no clue what the heck this stuff would taste like. It's very hazy-colored, much like Canfield's 50/50 or Cadbury Schweppes' Squirt. Looking up "mojito" on Wikipeida, I discovered that…

…mojito is a traditional Cuban cocktail which became quite popular in the United States during the late 1980s, but has recently seen a resurgence in popularity. This drink is a cousin of the Brazilian cocktail, Caipirinha.

4-pack Bottle Packaging – One Side

4-pack Bottle Packaging – The Other Side

A mojito is traditionally made of five ingredients: mint, rum, powdered sugar, lime juice, and club soda. Its combination of sweetness and refreshing citrus and mint flavors are intended to mask the potent kick of the rum, and have made the cocktail a popular summer drink.

So apparently this is Jones Soda's non-alcoholic take on this drink flavor. Interesting, as I kept reading about this beverage:

The mojito is a descendant of the Draquecito, named after Sir Francis Drake and said to be his favorite drink before pirate battles.

I'm a scary pirate!

That drink is made with cachaça rather than rum, and uses water instead of ice and soda, neither of which would have been available to Drake on the high seas.

Ah, so now this is a pirate drink! Aarrrrrr! ("But why is the rum gone?")

Unlike the other Halloween flavors we've tested — and to recap, those were Berried Alive, Spider Cider, Gruesome Grape, Candy Corn, Lemon Drop Dead, and Creepy Cranberry — Monster Mojito was perhaps the most unique in flavor. It didn't really taste like a Halloween item (such as cider or candy corn), but it also didn't taste like a traditional pop.

Not being big alcoholic drinkers (even though we have reviewed one here on BevReview.com before), Amy and I concluded that Monster Mojito probably tasted like a hybrid of Mike's Hard Lemonade and Mike's Hard Lime, with more of an emphasis on the lime… and without the booze. I guess you could call it "Mike's Soft Lime". It was pretty different, but good.

For those interested, Bacardi has a website for mixing their liquor to make mojito. It's called — wait for it — Bacardi Mojito. (Apparently, this is the official drink of this summer's flop film, Miami Vice.) That's probably what has been helping to drive some of the popularity of this flavor.

Good. Would definitely try again. But Lemon Drop Dead was better.

When I first saw this flavor, I immediately thought of the Cranberry Soda that was part of the 2005 National Holiday Pack. That beverage was sweetened with sucralose and did not taste very good.

Here's what we wrote at the time we reviewed that original Cranberry flavor:

The color was a non-offensive dark red. The scent was fresh and berry-like. Even the cover art was redemptive with two illuminated reindeer standing there in the dark. Could it really be as bad as the others?

Jones Cranberry Soda
(National Holiday Pack 2005)

The predominant theme was that it tasted like cough syrup, specifically Robitussin. Amy didn't have good memories of that as a kid. She told me that she often would chase her cough medicine with a Hershey's Kiss to cover up the bad aftertaste. So needless to say, this flavor of Jones Soda was not going to be a winner with her.

Shortly after testing the holiday version of Cranberry we mixed all the flavors together and tried that. Not a good idea.

Thankfully, the Halloween version of this flavor, here called "Creepy Cranberry", was nothing like our previous experience. It helped that this was sweetened with high fructose corn syrup.

The scent was very berry-like, but you could tell there was a whiff of fakeness there. And then we finally drank… and didn't mind it that much.

We expected something pretty bad, but actually this was a rather tame drink. Perhaps too tame. Amy mentioned that it really lacked the tartness one would associate with a cranberry-flavored beverage. Overall, it was just bland tasting.

This drink was not as good as the previously sampled bottle of Lemon Drop Dead Soda. When stacked up against the canned flavors, it was better than Spider Cider and Candy Corn, but not even close to the goodness found in Berried Alive and Gruesome Grape.

As I mentioned in my Lemon Drop Dead review, it would seem that the bottled Halloween beverages are destined to be used as alcoholic mixers. The blandness, but unique flavor of Creepy Cranberry seems to support that theory.

Not great, but won't make you vomit.

This beverage, available in 8 oz. cans sold in 4-packs, comes packaged in a black can, with a Halloween face made from yellow and orange colors. It looks like the identical can from last year.

As far as taste, this was utterly disgusting. Maybe not on the level as some of the Jones Holiday Pack flavors, but not very good at all. The color was a very deep, but bright, yellow… Amy described it as "dirty urine." Given that she has social worker experience administering drug tests, I'm going to take her word on that.

There really wasn't a scent or taste that was similar to candy corn. It just was a sweet, bad tasting drink. Beyond the samples we had, this did not lead itself to something we wanted to drink more of over time. We stopped and dumped the rest down the drain. Definitely the worst of the canned Jones Halloween beverages.

Amazingly bad.

The color scheme of this can is purple, with a smiling Halloween face cutout accented by lime green and orange. The scent… pretty much a very berry grape. I don't believe this flavor is a rerun from last year.

Overall, the taste was extremely sweet, much stronger than Fanta Grape. It has a strong "artificial" flavor. While that might not be good for an everyday-type of soda, for this limited edition special, it wasn't too bad. I doubt this mixes well with food, however.

Like the previously-reviewed Berried Alive flavor, the taste was surprising in that it wasn't gross. Just very candy-like in sweetness and strength.

Pretty good, but not great.

Unlike the first flavor we tested, Berried Alive, Spider Cider arrived in an orange can, highlighted with a pumpkin face featuring mustard yellow and green-aqua colors. It may be the same as last year's Caramel Apple flavor.

The smell was somewhat apple juice-y, but not authentically so. The taste, however, was not authentic at all. It pretty much had the flavor of those "just add water" apple cider mixes, with a little carbonation thrown in. It was rather disgusting.

Not recommended at all.

The cans all have simulated carved pumpkin faces on them; Berried Alive features a black, light blue, and orange color scheme. As expected from the name, Berried Alive had a berry flavor, though from what I've read, it's not the same as last year's Scary Berry Lemonade. The new beverage looks and smells a lot of Mountain Dew Baja Blast, which of course you can only find at Taco Bell. The color of the Jones version is a bit more… nuclear in intensity.

Overall, it tasted like candy. Sour candy, with a sweet aftertaste. My wife Amy commented that the aftertaste was actually a lot like the flavor of cotton candy. It tasted pretty good and we'd drink it again without question. Plus, how can you not love the ingenious name of "Berried Alive". That's clever!

While Jones has done special Halloween cans in both 2005 and 2006, this year is the first time they have actually offered ghoulish flavors in their traditional bottle form. For 2006, three flavors were created, each available in a 4-pack.

As is the tradition for all Jones Soda, there is odd photography on the front of both the bottles themselves and also the packaging. Typically, these are photos that are submitted to Jones by the public. The Halloween bottled collection is no exception.

The first bottled flavor Amy and I tested was Lemon Drop Dead Soda. This arrived in the traditional Jones 12 oz. bottle, sold in a carton of 4. Like the previously-reviewed Halloween cans, I purchased these at Target -– though I'm not sure they are exclusive to that retailer.

Our packaging had 2 different photos on it, with the bottles containing 3 different designs as well. I've included each of those in this review for your viewing enjoyment. Or maybe because I'm just crazy. Who knows?

The label is orange with black piping/highlighting, featuring both color and black/white photos on the bottles. The back of each bottle features the following message (also available in PDF):

Even though you're too old to dress up like a superhero and ask strangers for candy, you'll never really outgrow Halloween. That's why the Mad Scientists at Jones Soda brewed up this tasty potion. Drink it straight, or mix it up – either way it'll do the trick. Treat yourself, and run with the little ghoul.

Unlike the Holiday Pack collections of last year, all the Halloween bottles are sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, not sucralose.

As far as taste, Lemon Drop Dead Soda was pretty good. Not outstanding, but not bad either. We anticipated more of a lemon flavor; it was weaker when we actually drank it. I thought it kinda smelled like cold lemon-lime flavored Airborne (yes, the stuff you take for colds); Amy disagreed.

Instead, she came up with a good parallel: It was like drinking Sprite, but instead of the flavor being lemon/lime, it was mostly lemon. It probably could also be compared to the Polish Fanta Lemonic or the U.S.-based Fanta Citrus. It probably would also be pretty good mixed with something… but since I don't really drink alcoholic stuff much, I don't know what that means. Heck, add it to a punch bowl with some rainbow sherbet and it would rock!

Recommended.

They've released a whole bunch of new Halloween-oriented drinks for 2006. This follows up their first foray into Halloween flavors back in 2005. Last year Jones offered 4 flavors — Candy Corn, Caramel Apple, Scary Berry Lemonade, & Strawberry S'lime — that were available exclusively at Target in 8 oz. cans.

I'm happy to report that I'm on the case for Halloween 2006, as Jones once again has rolled out some special flavors for the holiday. This year, they have released 4 flavors in cans exclusively at Target (sold in 4 packs), as well as 3 other flavors in bottles (also sold in 4 packs). That's 7 new flavors to scare you into Jones goodness!

Here's a look at the cans:

And don't forget the new bottled flavors:

Stay tuned as we take a look at each of these flavors!