.jpg)
I'm not a huge fan of pumpkin beers. Every year, new ones come around, and I hope that someone will get it bang on the head, and the best one so far was from this brewery! And that beer was noticeably better than others. So, I now have high hopes for this imperial stout that happens to have pumpkin in it. I'm also a bit curious about the very high (for a stout) 8.6% ABV. I don't know where it's coming from, but I'll take it.
That is a black beer. It has a slight bruised pumpkin orange-brown around the very tips of the edges, but it's not eager for anyone to look and find anything like that. Instead, it wants you fixated on the slightly tan head and the sheer blackness of Halloween night underneath. The aroma has the air of a cold autumnal night about it with pumpkin and spices floating on cold earth. It smells like my mood tonight.
First sip is a very interesting mix of a dry stout, pumpkin, spices, and that cold earth from the aroma. It is a bit watery, but it makes up for it with a lingering dryness that accentuates the pumpkin spice. This isn't a pumpkin spice latte, mind you. This is pumpkin and spice that wouldn't be caught dead in a Starbucks. It lingers down the wet, dark alley behind the Starbuck waiting for lattes to come so it might suck out the pumpkin spice and leave the milk and coffee in the gutter.
Tip-in is pumpkin and spice with light carbonation and a combo of dirt and smoke. The middle seems to bring pine in so that the roof of the mouth gets needled with pine and carbonation while the bottom gets a smooth pumpkin pie. The finish is not nearly as dry as the sip, but it's still a bit dry as it pushes pumpkins and spices into the trail-off.
Bottom Line: Not as great as their best, but better than most pumpkin beers.
3.0/5
