I’ve been advised by some of my younger readers (i.e., those born after Al Gore invented the Internet) that I should branch out this series of cocktails to include Jello shots.

Now, I have never partaken of this gelatinous “libation.” But evidently it’s not just a modern trend. According to Wikipedia, gelatin/alcohol mixtures date back into the 19th century, with rougher approximations (with aspic and wine, for example) dating back centuries before that. Modern Jell-O itself was invented in 1897, and the first modern Jell-O shot recipe was published in 1902.

And yet, Tom Lehrer (of “Vatican Rag” fame) claims to have invented the modern jello shot as a way to circumvent the alcohol ban at a Navy base. I don’t know about that, but it does seem that the concoction has various benefits, such as being spill-proof and tasting like an innocuous dessert.

There are a number of different Halloween-themed jello shot recipes on the Internet, so I figured I’d try one. I chose an unnaturally blue shot with a worm that was on a list of “Halloween Jello Shots.” Here we go!

The Recipe: Boil 1/2 cup water, add a 3-oz package of Berry Blue Jell-O, and stir until completely dissolved. Add 1/2 cup Sprite and 1 cup of raspberry vodka. Pour into shot glasses and chill. When the mixture is about halfway set, add a gummy worm to each shot.

Only after I had combined all the ingredients did I realize that this recipe was supposed to yield 50 (!) Jell-O shots. I guess they’re supposed to be in thimble-sized glasses? So rather than let all that Jell-O goodness go to waste, I poured a goodly amount of the mixture into your standard-sized skull glass (12 oz).

After about 20 minutes I added the worm, and an hour later the “shot” was ready.

The Ratings: Well, it’s different, I’ll give it that. The blue color is completely unnatural, and it creates an otherworldly glow in the skull. The worm is appropriately disgusting, crawling out of the cranium. Overall, it has a pretty good Halloween look. I’ll give the appearance 3.5 points.

Tasting the shot is easier said that done. Evidently one is supposed to loosen the Jell-O shot from the sides of the class with a finger, and then throw it down your gullet (i.e., you shoot it). But I was unable to get the Jell-O to drop out of the inverted glass. The eye sockets and other convolutions in the glass kind of locked the Jell-O in. I ended up eating it was a spoon, like a kid in a 1970’s Jell-O commercial.

The taste actually wasn’t bad. It just tasted like blue-flavored (!) Jell-O. After a few spoonsful you do begin to notice that you’re consuming alcohol. But it keeps going down easy. I’m sure if I’d make a couple of proper, 1-oz shots this would have been a fun experience. But slogging through a whole skull’s worth was, in retrospect, excessive.

I give the taste 3 points.

The name gets no points. “Halloween Jell-O Shot”?? How unimaginative and boring. “Skeleton Gelatin” would have been a better moniker. Or maybe “Jell-O Hell-O”? Or how about “A bunch of ground-up horse hooves with sugar and grain alcohol”? Nothing scarier than that!

Grand Total: 6.5 points.