Pumpkinccino
Neck of the Woods Brewing

 

Pours a very dark brown, with a light brown head that instantly dissipates.

Aroma is a nice mix of pumpkin pie spices and pumpkin, along with vanilla and caramelized sugar, and a hint of coffee bringing up the back. No one aroma dominates, and everything is nicely balanced.

Nutmeg and vegetal pumpkin dominate the taste in an unpleasant way, followed by a flavor that reminds me of dirt, and finished with a surprising, incongruous, lingering hop bitterness. Where the aroma was balanced, here everything goes to extremes - the spices, the vegetal pumpkin, the hop bitterness, everything comes off too strong.

There's a pleasant creaminess in the mouthfeel that seems at odds with the dryness imparted by the bitterness.

Overall, I love the way this smells, but I don't care for how it tastes. It smells like a delightful pumpkin porter, it tastes like a pumpkin black IPA that's mostly nutmeg, vegetal pumpkin, and hop bitterness.