Oct. 2, 2026

Costco’s Smashable Chocolate Frankenstein, Starbucks Black Cat Frappuccino, and Candy Corn Beer

Show Notes
Transcript

Johnny Mac shares five good news Halloween stories: Costco is selling a 5.5-pound Belgian chocolate Frankenstein head that comes with a wooden mallet and contains a pound of body-part-shaped gummy candies for $55, though it’s sold out and being resold for up to $100. Lego released a 323-piece Halloween Pumpkin Lantern set that lights up when the stem is pressed and includes a spider and glow-in-the-dark ghost for about $30. In Philadelphia, Newsroom Philly becomes the Pumpkin Press, a Poe and Headless Horseman-inspired pop-up with themed decor and cocktails like the Headless Horseman, Moon Over Sleepy Hollow, and a Raven’s Cauldron for groups. Starbucks adds a caffeine-free Black Cat Frappuccino on Oct. 22, a Black Knight Cookie, and Halloween merch. Shock Top and Spirit Halloween created Candy Corn Wheat, a limited-edition 5% wheat ale with mixed reactions.

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Hello, I'm Johnny Mac with five good news Halloween stories.

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Good news, Costco has rolled out a Halloween treat that

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you're supposed to destroy before you eat it. What's going on, John? Well,

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the warehouse chain is selling a five and a half

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pound Frankenstein head. Made entirely from Belgian chocolate. That's right.

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The giant chocolate comes with a wooden mallet. You take

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the wooden mallet and you smash Frankenstein's head and inside

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you'll find another surprise. OK, what is it? It's a

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full pound of gummy candies shaped like body parts, including fingers, feet, brains,

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ears and teeth. How much does this cost, John? This

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sounds awesome. Fifty five dollars. Get moving. It's already sold

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out online and at some of the stores. People are

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reselling them on eBay for as much as $ 100. Come on, jerks.

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Don't do that. On social media, one person defended the

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price point, said, Belgium chocolate is way better than regular chocolate.

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Do you ever fly over to Belgium for 50 bucks? No.

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And the whole thing's cool, so stop complaining. Okay, I'll

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stop complaining. Lego is getting in on Halloween. They have

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released the Halloween Pumpkin Lantern, a 323-piece Lego set that

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turns into a working light-up jack-o'-lantern. The finished pumpkin has

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an orange brick exterior, a smiling carved face, and a

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green stem. If you press down on the stem, a

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light hidden inside turns on, illuminating the Lego pumpkin's face.

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The set also comes with a small spider and a

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glow-in-the-dark ghost that can be positioned above the pumpkin so

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it looks like it's floating. That's cool. How big is

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this thing? Four inches tall, five inches wide. So probably

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a lot smaller than you were imagining ten seconds ago.

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It is small enough for a desk, bookshelf, or a windowsill.

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And unlike real pumpkins, you don't have to throw it

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away in November. How much does the four inches tall,

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five inches wide Lego jack-o'-lantern go for, John? About $ 30.

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In Philadelphia, a speakeasy is getting into the Halloween spirit

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with a little help from Edgar Allan Poe and the

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Headless Horseman. Yeah, a place called Newsroom Philly has transformed

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itself temporarily into the Pumpkin Press, a Halloween pop-up inspired

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by Poe's stories and by the legend of Sleepy Hollow,

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from which we get the Headless Horseman. The Pumpkin Press

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Bar is near the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site,

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home to the only surviving Philadelphia house where Edgar Allan

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Poe once lived. He spent several years in Philadelphia during

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the 1830s and 1840s before moving to that other city

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that tries to take credit for him. Let's give Philly

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their own today. John, what will I find inside the

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Pumpkin Press? Well, you'll find glowing pumpkins, candlelight, ravens, and

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images of the Headless Horseman. There's even a hidden black

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cat somewhere inside. You go find it. You let me know.

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Do you like Halloween drinks? Well, one of the drinks

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is also called the Headless Horseman. That's a smoky mezcal drink.

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Then there's the Moon Over Sleepy Hollow, which combines vodka

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and pomegranate. There's also the Pumpkin Spice Old Fashioned, served

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with pumpkin-shaped ice. And if you're in a group, you

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can order the Raven's Cauldron, a rum cocktail for four

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that arrives with dry ice. Be careful with the dry

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ice there, guys. Starbucks is in on this. They've added

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a drink to their Halloween lineup. The Black Cat Frappuccino

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will roll into Starbucks not until October 22nd, though. They're

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taking their time. We are told the Black Cat Frappuccino

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is a dark brown blended drink topped with whipped cream

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and a piece of chocolate shaped like cat ears, giving

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the finished drink the appearance of a black cat. And

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it's caffeine free. They had a similar Black Cat Frappuccino

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in Japan last year. So this thing is big in

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Japan and now it's coming to the States again. There's

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also a new Halloween snack to go with it. It

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is the Venti Black Knight Cookie, made with black cocoa,

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and that includes pieces of caramelized white chocolate and caramel fudge.

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There's also Starbucks Halloween merch. You can get a white

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pumpkin-shaped mug with a little black cat looking over the edge,

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or a black mug shaped like a cauldron. There's also

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a stainless steel cold cup covered with cats and a

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barista bag charm featuring the Starbucks bear dressed in a

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fuzzy black cat costume. Merch starts at $ 15. Check your

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local store. You ever think to yourself, you know, candy

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corn is awesome and all, but what if candy corn

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came with alcohol? Well, good news. Your time has arrived.

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Shock Top has teamed up with Spirit Halloween to create

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Candy Corn Wheat, a limited edition beer inspired by Halloween candy. Now,

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I can't believe that's even a sentence with all those

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words in it. The beer is a 5% alcohol wheat ale,

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which means Johnny Mac is allergic to it and doesn't

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even like candy corn to begin with. But you might

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like all those and not be allergic. And we are

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told it does not taste like somebody simply melted a

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bag of candy corn and poured it into a beer. Oh, no.

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A guy named Sean writes for a website Delish. He

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liked it enough to have three of them and on

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the side had some actual candy corn. Somebody else didn't

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like it as much and said, this is diabolical. And

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the Shock Top fans were like, y'all will do anything

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except bring Apple back. Apparently they would like an Apple beer.

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Or the return of the previously released but no longer

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available pumpkin wheat. There was also pretzel wheat. And those

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are your five good news stories for today. Have a

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great day.