It’s pretty brave for Jack in the Box to name its new milkshake the “Basic Witch Shake” all for a cheap joke, especially when it runs the risk of being more prophetic than funny. The Basic Witch Shake combines Jack in the Box’s deliciously thick Oreo cookie milkshake with everyone’s favorite fall flavor — pumpkin spice! People feel all sorts of ways about pumpkin spice, and the flavor combination runs the gamut from legitimately delicious to straight-up awful.
So where will the Basic Witch Shake land on that spectrum? We found out!
The Basic Witch Shake is available right now at Jack in the Box while supplies last, but with the spooky theme attached, we don’t expect to see this milkshake last past the month of October in most locations. This means if the idea of a pumpkin spice Oreo milkshake sounds delicious to you, you’re going to need to move fast.
Here’s what to expect.
The Basic Witch Shake
Tasting Notes:
The Basic Witch Shake goes HEAVY on the pumpkin spice. Each sip is an explosion of nutmeg, ginger, and sugar with the slightest hint of cinnamon on the back end. I’m not really getting much allspice or clove and the cinnamon isn’t strong enough for this drink to be considered spicy, so if you love the sweeter flavors of pumpkin spice, you’re going to find a lot to like here, but if you want something that tastes a bit more natural then this is going to massively miss the mark for you.
Once the shake begins to melt in your mouth a bit, the mouthfeel is very similar to a forkful of extra sweet pumpkin pie, especially when you mix the whipped cream into the drink with your straw. The Oreos are a nice feature, but the flavors don’t really meld together that well. I’d like them to combine to form some new flavor greater than the sum of its parts, but the Basic Witch Shake doesn’t really do that. Instead you just occasionally get some bits of Oreo coming up through your straw, which adds a nice rich element, but there isn’t nearly enough Oreo to truly be satisfying.
Overall, I found myself enjoying the Oreo more than the flavors of the pumpkin shake, so while it’s fun to have a seasonal snack to liven up your fast food routine, I think at the end of the day the better move is to just order a regular Oreo shake over the pumpkin.
My other gripe is with the cherry. I get it, Jack in the Box milkshakes are all topped with a single maraschino cherry but I don’t think the bright sweet flavor compliments this shake very much, had JiB gone with a small graham cracker, or better yet, blended graham crackers into the shake itself, I think it would’ve done a lot to balance out the sugary sweetness.
At least JiB is trying something new though, we just wish they weren’t going for something so… well, basic.
The Bottom Line:
If you love the flavors of pumpkin pie, this is worth satisfying your curiosity. It tastes like you’re drinking a slice of pumpkin pie. But if you’re looking for something that’ll make you fall in love with the pumpkin spice flavor profile, this isn’t going to sell you on it.
Find your nearest Jack in the Box here.
