Among brands who like to get adventurous with the flavors in Japan such as Kit Kat or Häagen- Dazs, Pepsi is certainly one of the most prolific. Past Pepsi flavors have included cucumber, strawberry milk, and salty watermelon.

This time, everyone’s favorite alternative to Coke has unleashed a new flavor called Pepsi Ghost, especially for the Halloween season. They’ve really outdone themselves too, because for this limited-edition outing the special flavor is unknown.

So unknown, in fact, that even after drinking about a litre of the stuff I still can’t quite put my finger on it.

Pepsi Ghost comes in a wide range of bottle designs featuring various classic Halloween costumes such as witches, ghosts and mummies. Each bottle is simply labeled “Mystery Flavor” with no indication of what it is. Here are my four best guesses:

■ Chocolate

This was my first instinct, because there was a very mellow sweetness to this cola. It didn’t quite have that acidic bite that regular Pepsi has. However, it wasn’t really sugary sweet like I’d expect a chocolate to be either.

■ Peanut Butter

Then my mind drifted to peanut butter because of the lower sweetness factor. I also began to detect an earthy, savory note to the drink that led me to believe it might be a kind of peanut. Pepsi has released a chestnut flavor before and this wasn’t far off. But that chestnut flavor was unmistakable, not like this stuff…

■ Pumpkin

This is my best guess so far. Pepsi Ghost has the more savory tones of something like pumpkin and it certainly fits the holiday. On the other hand, I usually hate pumpkin—a distaste stemming from a childhood trauma of scooping out smelly pumpkin innards while making jack-o-lanterns. To this day, I can easily detect even small amounts of that distinct smell in my food whenever my wife tries to sneak some in…

In the end, I’m going to put my money on pumpkin being the secret ingredient in this seasonal soda. I’m far from convinced, however, and still entertain random possibilities like caramel-apple, candy corn, or even popcorn flavors that flicker over my taste buds. Actually, as I polished off the last bottle, “marshmallow” seemed a very real possibility.

If you’ve tried Pepsi Ghost let us know what you think it tastes like in the comments section below. But if you looked it up on the internet and know exactly what it is, don’t bother commenting; sometimes it’s more fun to leave things a mystery.

Photos © RocketNews24