Grim Reaper Pumpkin Oatmeal Stout
5 Paddles Brewing Company

650 mL bottle received in a recent trade - thanks Chris! Served slightly chilled.

Pours inky black, giving rise to a generous cushion of pillowy, foamy, long-lasted, beige-tinted head nearly three fingers high. Impressive retention; it seeps away slowly but surely, depositing a decent quantity of lacing on its way down. A frothy cap about a half-finger high remains in place afterwards. Lots of pumpkin spice on the nose, though I'm finding it difficult to pinpoint exactly which adjuncts were used - I'm leaning towards allspice, clove and (maybe) nutmeg. Roasted malts are the other major force behind the aroma, imparting a burnt, charry note that suggests the presence of dark chocolate, anise and subtle campfire smoke.

Tastes ok, but it's not a very cohesive flavour - the roasted malts kind of blot out everything else. Notes of molasses and chocolate-covered coffee beans run roughshod, with the spice notes seeming comparatively weak in contrast. Oats give way to subtle nutmeg, allspice, vanilla and clove on the back end, followed by a charry, astringent aftertaste. Gourdy, vegetal pumpkin notes remain hidden until the glass starts to near room temperature, at which point they begin to crop up at the finish. Light-medium in body, with crisp, lively carbonation that continuously tickles the tongue through each sip. It feels soft and a little frothy in the mouth, with decent drinkability. Possibly over-carbonated, and lacking the silky-smooth texture that I look for in oatmeal stouts.

Final Grade: 3.49, a B-. Grim Reaper Pumpkin Oatmeal Stout is one of those beers that sounds a lot better in theory than it actually wound up in practice. Pumpkin ales are out of season at this point, but the beer itself has held up with minimal deterioration. The roasted malts are very pronounced in this one, giving it a charry, at times almost ash-like character that reminds me of some of the so-called "Belgian stouts" I've had in the past. The spices, I must agree with biegaman, have been used quite conservatively compared to most of the pumpkin spice beers you'll find. Not a disappointment, per se, but it could use some tweaks.

Grim Reaper is black in colour and sports a big, loose-fitted hood of foam. It couldn't look more simple by stout standards nor could it be more appropriate for a Halloween seasonal. Indeed, this is the kind of dark, heavy offering most of us reach for come chilly, grey October nights. The label art is great too.

Clove and anise overwhelm the bouquet but blend suitably with the beer's overtly ashy roastiness. It's difficult to pick out much character from the malts - hardly even any chocolaty or coffee flavours - given the prominence of the spices. Truth be told I find the ashtray smell so harsh as to be a little off-putting.

That protruding roast crowds out not just some of the raw cocoa and coffee bean flavour but much of the spiciness too; black licorice makes the cut but where are the usual suspects? Cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and the like are curiously, disappointingly absent (or at least overrun by such a robust roastiness).

It has 'pumpkin oatmeal' in the name but in reality this drinks like little more than a traditional English stout. It is mild tasting, crudely roasty, and dry as a desert. Aside from its astringency, and a faint mulled quality once it warms, there really isn't much distinguishing about this whatsoever.

Grim Reaper is not the intimidating dark overlord it's billed as. A simple, rather conventional stout, it could make an acceptable, if underwhelming year-round offering but is disappointing as a fall seasonal. I'm not one to favor a heavy dose of pie spices and yet I found this to be way too subtle with them.