Sonic Witch's Brew Slush Float Review: A Wickedly Tasty Halloween Concoction

Not everything autumn-themed has to take on the pumpkin spice personality, and Sonic Drive-In knows there's another seasonal sensation that conjures up chills and thrills when the Halloween month arrives: classic caramel apple. Sonic's new Witch's Brew slush float spins the standard soft-serve-and-slush combo in a charming direction just in time for spooky season. It's the tricky treat you weren't expecting, like finding a full-sized Snickers weighing down the bottom of the bag when everything else in your haul was fun-size.

I couldn't let this seasonal surprise sneak by without getting my hands on a sample. I fired up my mean machine and rumbled down to my neighborhood Sonic to see what the hubbub was all about. With the old-fashioned drive-up eatery offering fun fare for special occasions like Holiday Mint shakes and Strawberry Snowball slushes, I had to wonder if a dedicated Halloween mix-up could be an inspired addition to the collection or a macabre mistake that would haunt the chain for years to come. It was also a great excuse for spooky-themed word play, a tasty bonus that I couldn't pass up.

The mad scientists responsible for inventing new flavor combinations at Sonic seem to have spun the wheel of carnival curiosities to come up with the Witch's Brew flavor blend. There's a base of zany green apple slush accented with a cloudy cap of vanilla soft serve. And spattering the surface and depths of the whole devilish design are boba bubbles as black as alien eggs, filled with salted caramel syrup just waiting to burst free. It may be a hat tip to fall flavors, similar to what the summer-themed Flavorista menu did for warm weather sipping, but it's a tribute to the primary Halloween palate, right down to the shocking purple straw that comes with it.

Fans of Sonic slushes year-round may notice that green apple isn't part of the usual menu in all locations. For Witch's Brew, it's a special selection chosen for the season, the perfect counterpoint to all the orange-hued, pumpkined-up coziness filling cups behind other beverage counters this time of year. At last, there's a bit of wacky sweetness to give October its own personality, one fitting of the month with the most chilling holiday of them all!

If you've got five bucks' credit in your digital wallet or physical pocket, you can find wicked refreshment in a caramel apple potion of your very own. Sizes medium and up start at $3.99, and in the Sonic world, a medium is a generous portion, comparable to larges you might find at other fast food soda dispensers. It's safe to say you'll be getting plenty of brew for your bucks.

But will you be shelling out more for this temporary temptation than you would for a regular slush swirled through with luscious vanilla cream? The Lemonade Cream Cooler, a similar sensation made with lemonade slush and fluffy soft serve rings up at $4.39 for a medium; a Dirty Dr. Pepper made with coconut, lime, and cream runs about $3.69 for the same size. So the $3.99 price is in line with other Sonic special selections, a fact which may drive you in a zombie-like state to give this ghoulish gulper a go.

Grab your broom and glide on through a Sonic drive-through starting September 30 to get the flavorful fright fest underway well ahead of trick-or-treat time. You'll have at least the month of October to line up a sample, and if you happen to love what you're tasting, you can make a repeat trip or two to get in on another cup before the witching hour ends and Sonic bids its Witch's Brew adieu.

There's a plot twist to this horror story, one that might seize the hearts of Sonic fans with technology on their side. If you can't wait for the sugar rush and need to get a sip of this enticing sorcery right away, you can download the app and put in your order as of September 23, a full week before the non-app using frosty fiends can sink their teeth into a straw of their own. Considering the discounts and daily specials that come along with the app, it's a fantastic deal and an easy way to get the jump on the other ghouls on the block.

From the frosty cream cap that floats over the cup like a mysterious mist to the groovy glowing-green slush that shows through the sides to the jet-black caramel boba bubbles that bob on top and throughout, every layer of Witch's Brew is designed for the ultimate in candy-flavored Halloween enjoyment. Some locations even offer a Caramel Apple Slush unrelated to All Hallow's Eve, which takes a bit of the bite out of the brew. For anyone who can't find this other fall fantasy on the menu, Witch's Brew bubbles up to make the scene.

This isn't the first foray for Sonic into boba-based territory; an array of Blue Raspberry and Cherry flavored bubble summertime beverages got the trend started for the chain, expanding its already-rich list of sips with fun new dimensions. The implication is that the restaurant will be keeping boba bubbles on hand for future occasions when a blast of exhilaration is in order. Maybe someday they'll be a standard order. Until then, there are holidays specialties like Witch's Brew to look forward to.

There's no tricking yourself into thinking a treat like Witch's Brew is any better for your health than the usual Sonic shakes and sandwiches. A medium will net you 420 calories, filled with 88 grams of sugar, 6 grams of fat, 30 grams of cholesterol, and 280 milligrams of sodium. It's not exactly a formula for nutritional victory, but the mad science that makes such a delicious drink is meant for fun and excitement rather than nourishment. Just like reaching into your treat bag for a handful of gummy critters and chocolate nuggets, enjoying this Sonic specialty is a ritual best practiced on select occasions. Considering the limited time status, you can get your fill a few times and factor extra reps into your workout to make sure the contents of the cup don't entirely upend your fall fitness regimen.

It's no secret that the sugar content in a Sonic slush is off the charts. Witch's Brew is no exception to the pattern, with pearls of tapioca sugar adding even more sweetener to the syrupy swizzle. Compare this to the 66 grams of sugar in a medium slush and 40 grams in a dish of vanilla soft serve and you're actually getting a bit of a dietary discount by buying the brew-based combination. Still, it's best to remember you're getting a gut full of sugar with this novelty drink, so be warned.

I'm a devoted fan of Halloween sweets that shake up the usual pumpkin spice pattern, so finding out Sonic was taking a different path through the haunted woods of fast food fun was a kick I couldn't wait to try. The sheer shocking bliss of the green apple slush itself was enough to get me giddy, and the soft-serve swirl cut the pucker for a Frankenstein fusion of flavors that come together like pie a la mode. Luckily, there was plenty of soft serve resting on top to allow repeated dips down into the green underbelly without running out of vanilla razzmatazz.

The caramel bubbles were a bit of a visual disappointment. Rather than being sprightly spheres, mine came a little crushed and misshapen on top. They didn't add as much caramel essence to the mix as I was hoping, but they were a delightful expansion of the textures in the cup. It's a shame this scary little swig is an October-only occurrence. I'd be thrilled to take a stroll to Sonic for a bit of Brew any day of the year.

If the adage about eating with your eyes first holds true, my peepers gorged on this gorgeous gulp long before I took a sip. The shocking colors and clever sprinkling of caramel boba bombs made for an exciting glimpse at the flavor sensation to come. Though the advertisement photo showed Witch's Brew in a glass that displayed the nuclear green glory of the apple slush, mine came in the usual foam tumbler that all Sonic drinks are relegated to. So I pushed aside the soft serve top to gaze on the vibrant wonder, drinking in its eerie Halloween exuberance before starting in on my taste test.

Repeated brain freezes made the tasting tricky, but I was determined to sample enough to get a solid feel for what Sonic is handing out. This meant storing the rest of the cup in the freezer to keep the contents in their original form and returning for a spoonful here and there. It was akin to trick-or-treating at my own freezer with no costume required, picking up a sweet spoonful every few hours to make sure what I'd originally tasted wasn't an illusion. Luckily, the brain freezes were worth the pain, and provided there's no lasting damage, it was a worthwhile challenge for the sweet treat that was my reward. Learn from my pain and enjoy this slushfest slowly.