Leelanau Cellars Witches Brew

When we lived in the Philly area, Sonia and I attended this Christmas village they do right in Love Park in Center City. It was a very cold evening and there were even a few snowflakes in the air. Enchanted by the beauty of the lights and Yuletide decorations, the beautiful wifey decided to embrace the moment by sampling one of the vendors' mulled wine beverages.

Within minutes, her pulse began racing and she became very short of breath. She had to sit down and relax immediately and just narrowly avoided fainting. We might have assumed they dropped some kind of drug into her drink if not for the fact I finished the rest with no noticeable side effects.

With my help, she managed to make it back to the SEPTA train and returned to normal within a couple hours of reaching our apartment. To the best of my knowledge, mulled wine is simply red wine infused with a few spices and served hot, but to this day Sonia has avoided it due to that odd reaction.

All that to say I'll be scoring this one alone. The beautiful wifey will be enjoying a nice vanilla blonde ale while I sip on this sweet spiced red. And yes, it is quite sweet. There's even a sweet-o-meter on the back of the bottle indicating that this brew gets a 4 out of 5 sweetness score. I'd say that's about right.

It's basically a fruity dessert red with a warm blend of fall spices. From a distance, it looks like a dark opaque red color, but in the light it looks like a slightly translucent shade of light purple. The particular ingredients aren't listed so I'm merely guessing at the spices here, but I'd say I taste clove, allspice, nutmeg, and maybe a hint of cinnamon and ginger. It's still more sweet than spicy in my book, but it's definitely packing more than just grapey goodness.

I tried it hot but I honestly prefer it at room temperature. I didn't feel the need to add a cinnamon stick or anything like that, but if that's your thing, have at it. I haven't tried it chilled or on ice yet either, but I bet it would taste a good bit like sangria, particularly if you tossed some fresh fruit into your glass.

$7.99 for the screw cap bottle. 12.5% alcohol by volume. Would buy again. I'll go with seven and a half out of ten for Leelanau Cellars Witches Brew.

Bottom line: 7.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Honey Roasted Pumpkin Ravioli

Some products just don't need a pumpkin version. And other things seem like they were created for the express purpose of being stuffed with the large orange gourd. In my humble opinion, this product falls into the latter category. That is to say, "Why the heck haven't we tried pumpkin ravioli before?"

Pretty sure this and a gluten-free variety have been floating around Trader Joe's seasonally for a few years now. Can't remember if it wasn't available or if we just passed it over on purpose in favor of other fall flavors, but I'm glad we're getting around to it now. It's good.

Pumpkin is actually the number one ingredient in this unique fall pasta. After that, we've got ricotta and mozzarella, along with a subtle and appropriate blend of spices and sweeteners including both brown sugar and honey. We do have nutmeg, allspice, clove, and cinnamon in the mix, but the product manages to avoid becoming a pumpkin pie spice product somehow and maintains a savory, squashy essence despite its honey sweetness.

Sonia and I ate our ravioli with just a touch of butter and salt. I can't imagine a sauce that would enhance this product rather than clash with it, but some folks say it goes well with Trader Joe's Autumnal Harvest Pasta Sauce. As much as I like that sauce, I think I'd rather reserve it for more neutral pasta products. This pumpkin ravioli has a really nice taste just on its own and I wouldn't want it to compete with any additional flavors. A sage brown butter sauce might be an exception.

$3.99 for the 9 oz pack. It comes refrigerated but you can freeze it if there's a chance you won't use if before the best by date. We would buy this product again. Eight out of ten stars from the beautiful wifey and me for Trader Joe's Honey Roasted Pumpkin Ravioli.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.