With that said, let's dive into one of those two remaining Spooky Beers right now. Up today is Fat Head's Spookytooth. This is a beer I'd seen around for a few years but never picked up. That changed last month when I threw this bottle into the sixer I was building. How is it?

If you don't know about Fat Head's, allow me to give you a brief rundown (all information provided in this paragraph is coming from the brewery's "About Fat Head's" section, so check that out if you want more details). The company started as a craft beer lounge in Pittsburgh, PA in 1992. From there they expanded to North Olmsted, OH in 2009, where they began producing some award-winning beers. In 2012 they upped their production game and moved to Middleburg Heights, OH to focus more on brewing great beers that showcase the value of hard work and dedication to craftsmanship. 

As you've probably already guessed from its name and the introduction to this post, Spookytooth is the brewery's Halloween beer. It's official write-up on Fat Head's site is overflowing with information. The 9.0% ABV Imperial Pumpkin Ale has notes of pumpkin, pie crust, sweet malt, and brown sugar. It's brewed with two varieties of hops and eight different malts. Sounds  promising. 

Spookytooth smells like a malty brown ale. There's a slight sweet pumpkininess to the bouquet and also a little bit of brown sugar, but it's definitely a malt-forward aroma. Lingering behind the smell is a tiny bit of booziness, but its nascent and kind of belies the imperial ABV the ale packs.

Usually this is where I throw in a picture of my cat, Purrl, sniffing my open beer and describe her reaction to it. But, since this is a Halloween brew, I thought it'd be better to use my roommate's "spooky" black cat, Tibbers. My roomie and Tibbers are both moving out today so I wanted to give this little dude some love. He gave it eight whiffs! Which is a lot for Purrl but I don't know how Tibbers' beer-whiff-scale works, so take that number as you will (he seemed to like it, though).

The ale also has a browny taste. It's definitely got some pumpkin in there, and some spice, too. But they're both pretty subdued. This is great. I've had way too many pumpkin ales where the pumpkin and spice are layered on thickly, which effectively killed those beers for me. With Spookytooth, less is more. It lets you know what it is, but doesn't rub your face in it. Finally, much like with the aroma, the flavor has some booziness in the finish, but it's so light that I wouldn't know this beer was 9% ABV if it wasn't explicitly stated on the label.

The ale has a chewy mouthfeel. It's like I'm drinking pumpkin pie. Which is awesome.

This beer reminds me of the first time I helped take my fiancée's younger brother trick-or-treating. Michelle (my aforementioned fiancée) grew up in the country, which is where her parents still live with her nine-year-old younger brother. A few years back, we met up with her family on trick-or-treat night at her aunt and uncle's house (they live in a neighborhood). 

Michelle's younger brother went as a Jawa. You know, those little dudes from Star Wars who kidnapped R2-D2 and C-3PO and sold them to Luke's uncle? His costume was amazing. Michelle and spent some time tailing him and his younger cousin as they went around the neighborhood, scaring people and asking for candy. Then, once tricks or treats were over, we all retired to her aunt and uncle's, where her dad, uncle, and I shared some perry we had made earlier that month. It was a cold, gloomy Halloween night--just the kind of thing for which Spookytooth is best suited.

You know, even though it's an Imperial, Fat Head's Spookytooth is probably the best traditional pumpkin ale I've had this year. I'm giving it a 9.0/10. If you're the kind of person who doesn't like pumpkin ales because they're too frilly this is definitely one you'll want to try.