Love Lane Red Alert IPA (Morrisons) By @SpectreUK

Happy Halloween, Everyone! May your night be full of cheerful screams, and your walls drip with the ruby red blood of India Pale Ale. That is not something I see often. A ruby red IPA. Unfortunately I haven’t seen walls dripping in beer since I was a barman, and don’t ask about the sticky carpet.

This 5% in volume Red Alert was brewed by Love Lane. The back of the can was most helpful. It was produced with dark, crystal, chocolate and wheat malts. It was hopped with Magnum, Idaho 7, Amarillo, and Mosiac hops. So, I’m expecting caramel, toffee and a little chocolate from the malts, and tropical fruits from the hops in the taste.

Red Alert is not a very scary sounding beer for Halloween. I’m a little disappointed to hear that it doesn’t have any rye added in the brewing to give it further redness. I guess with all those malt flavours, it probably doesn’t need any added spiciness.

Now all I have to do is choose what I’m going to eat for my dinner to drink my ruby red IPA with. I think fish and chips and a battered sausage from the local Chippy are in order. They shouldn’t take too long to deliver, so I can catch the final of the traitors.

On opening the can there was a woody caramel sweet aroma from the malts, and citrus tropical fruits from the hops. This Red Alert really is a ruby red coloured ale. Heavy with malts to begin with, those of toffee and caramel with a touch of chocolate. This was all before the zesty tropical fruity bitterness that kicked in, with a little woody pine into the aftertaste. Boo!

Wotsits Bag of Bones (Tesco) By @Cinabar

Can I start by saying Happy Halloween! I hope you are enjoying spooky season, whether you are going trick or treating for snacks or staying in to watch a seasonal film. We are staying in and snacking, and one of our choices is this great sharing crisp bag, Wotsits Bag of Bones.

The pieces are essentially cheese Wotsits, but this time they are shaped to look like various skeleton parts. There are skulls, bones and rib cages, and yes, the photo does show my attempt to make a little skeleton. Because although I look like a grown-up, I clearly am not!

The flavour and texture of these are interesting because they are cheese Wotsits, but they are somehow better. I can't explain why. They have the same cheesy flavour powder, but they just taste better! I think the different shapes add more crunch, and perhaps the unusual shapes trap the flavouring powder, making them a little more intense.

They are Wotsits with the volume turned up! It might all be in my head, but I'm convinced they are better. I would totally recommend these if you are looking for a last-minute sharing snack to enjoy during a Halloween film.

Wishing you a fab Halloween!

Kohinoor Mini Samosa - spooky spice [@NLi10]

 Happy Halloween weekend everyone! To celebrate lets review some Samosa...

Because the children ate all of the spooky choc lollipops we got from the Co-Op and said they were 'nice'.

We are left with the 2 out of 3 chilli power mini samosa- because wow are these too much for the kids.

Standard ingredients minus all the potato and peas that bulk out the fresh ones.

Lovely crispy pastry

oddly crispy interiors.  These are DRY

I mean a party might have these with tamarind sauce like the pros, but I'd originally thought I'd eat these in the cinema, and they are both too spicy and too dry for that.  Dipped in chutney (mango, mmmm) these are a delight, but solo they are a trial.

We love the sauces in this brand too so I suspected they'd be quality, but it's only a recommend to the hardcore fans.

M&S Halloween Bag of Bones (Marks and Spencer’s) By @SpectreUK

Halloween is just around the corner waiting to pounce. Be it scary skeletons or spooky spectres, or maybe even a bag of creepy bones. Haunted snacks may be for Trick or Treaters demanding grub, or just something for you to nibble on whilst watching a scary movie.

I do like a packet of mini biscuits, especially with a mug of tea, or with rum and lemonade and a mince pie or two. These M&S Halloween Bag of Bones are all butter mini cookies with dark chocolate chips. There are three different spooky shapes; skulls, bones and boney hands.

M&S Halloween Bag of Bones smell mouthwateringly of shortbread, and melted in my mouth. The dark chocolate chips were distributed all the way through the biscuits, however, their flavour didn’t dominate over the luscious flavour of shortbread. Yum.

Information on the packet; The 100g bag contained 516 calories, with 27g of fat, 21.3g of sugar, and 0.48g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Wonka Magic Hats (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

It is not often we get a whole new and different selection box of chocolates to try. We always have a decent choice, and my local supermarket stocks everything from the retro Black Magic to Hotel Chocolat, but these Wonka Magic Hats are something completely new.

They are part of the relaunched Wonka chocolate range, and not only are they new, but the flavours are pretty cool too. The chocolates look great, designed to resemble top hats, and they are chunky, colourful and fun.

All the chocolates are seriously good, with each one offering something a little different. It is so nice to see something new on the market, and I love that they were brave enough to include a blue chocolate with a filling called Bubblegum Joy. It was sweet and really did taste of bubblegum, making me smile with its excellent burst of flavour.

My other favourite unusual chocolate was Chocolate Fizz, with its cola and popping candy filling. I loved the cola flavour, which worked surprisingly well with the milk chocolate. The popping candy delivered a gentle fizz, but again, it was enough to make me smile.

I really enjoyed these. It is a box of chocolates filled with joy, and perfect for anyone who likes something a little unusual. I guess that is exactly why they landed so well with me!