I’ve been waiting for this moment for 2 years.

Or perhaps it would be more appropriate to say, “my soul has been waiting for this moment for over 40 years.”

Since Fall has officially begun, I felt it was time to do something big to ring in the Halloween season. And by “ring,” I don’t mean “put 5 plastic spider rings on every finger and pretend to be the world’s lamest horror movie villain.” No, I’m going to eat a box of Frute Brute that I saved from 2013’s revival of the werewolf monster cereal that originally debuted in 1974.

Alongside Fruity Yummy Mummy, Frute Brute (originally spelled Fruit Brute, but changed because apparently cereal companies have an aversion to correctly presenting that particular f-word. I’m looking at you, Froot Loops) is one of the discontinued, oft-forgotten brother cereals to Count Chocula, Franken Berry, and Boo Berry. While those three have returned for 2015, Brute and Mummy only got a brief but glorious return to shelves in 2013. And their flavors were changed from lime (Brute) and vanilla (Mummy) marshmallows to cherry and orange, respectively, but I can forgive that because they were still delicious.

Will the flavor hold up two years later? Though cobwebs and critters are keystones of Halloween, I sure hope there aren’t any authentic ones in this box.

The awesome, color-popping box art makes me nostalgic for an era I never actually lived in. Opening it up, the sealed cereal (which expired a solid year ago) still looks like a firework explosion of neon red, pastel yellow, orange, and pink. I can only imagine Starburst cereal would have a similar color palette.

Cracking the bag’s seal (no going back now), I’m struck by a still vivid aroma of artificial cherry. It smells almost exactly like that packet of Cherry Kool-Aid that you once dipped your tongue into to sneak a forbidden taste of the unmixed, bitter powder. At least I’m assuming everyone else tried this.

I had high hopes that the taste would live up to the smell. Back in 2013, I remembered how the tang and tart of the cherry would contrast delightfully with the sugary marshmallows in a sensory hodgepodge that reminded one of Wonka SweeTarts. If I were to give it a preliminary rating, I’d say it was an 8/10 by 2013 standards, only losing points because the creamsicle orange-marshmallow magic of Yummy Mummy slightly out-shined it.

But now?

Oh. Oh, dear.

There’s a reason these things have expiration dates. The formerly crispy, airy pieces are now chewy and taste of styrofoam, with the air pockets farting out a stale, plasticky gas when bit into. The ‘mallows are mushier and chalkier than usual and squeak between my teeth like, well, nails on a chalkboard. Their vanilla sugar sweetness has faded, and I feel like they absorbed some of the taste of the cereal’s bag through some sort of bizarre bag-marshmallow mating ritual.

There are faint endnotes of that same tart and artificial cherry, but it has become more chemical-y with age and leaves a bitter aftertaste similar to what I’d imagine a melted cherry candle would taste like.

Milk makes it marginally better, as the creaminess hides the “bag taste” while enhancing the sweetness of the cherry. But it can’t remedy the mealy texture, so it’s as futile as putting lipstick on an ugly zombie.

So let’s remember Frute Brute for what it was—one of the only sugared cherry flavored cereals—rather than what it has become through 2 years of pantry neglect.

And hey, maybe I’ll save what’s left and check back in with it for Halloween 2016? Maybe by some miracle, the marshmallows actually will taste like limes by then!

The Bowl: Frute Brute

The Breakdown: What was once a crispy, tart and sweet love letter to candied cherries has been withered into a bag of fun-colored packing peanuts smeared with Cherry Chapstick.

The Bottom Line (2013): 8 genius ideas for Starburst Cereal out of 10

The Bottom Line (2015): 1 terrible idea for Yankee Candle Cereal out of 10