So comes October, and so comes the blog's Halloween season. I have a slate of beers ready to go, all of which are new to me. I hope we're in for more treats than tricks. I love pumpkin beers but at times they can be a gamble.

Let's hope today's brew isn't a gamble. We have Abomination's Lil' Pumpky as our Spooky Finger Puppet Ghost Month starter. Let's roll the dice and keep our fingers crossed for treats (which, for this odd analogy, are sixes). Really, though, how could we go wrong with a name like Lil' Pumpky?

Abomination brewed today's ale in North Haven, CT (according to my can). All you'll find as a mission statement on their website is "Crafting liquid chaos." Spooky enough.

Lil' Pumpky's has no official presence in Abomination's corner of the web, so let's go to Untappd. This bills it as a 4.5% ABV IPA with vanilla, milk sugar, and pumpkin spices. My can also states that it's a milkshake style part of Abomination's Wandering into the Fog series.

The nose is all hop. Sharp and spicy, verdant. Going back in, I find a little of that lactose sweetness. But that's really it. It's a simple affair and one Purrl can get behind; she gave my can thirteen whiffs.

I can't say what I expected from the ale given its bouquet, but I'm really pleased with what I'm finding. There's a bit of sourness at first that I can't exactly attribute before it settles into vanilla and pumpkin spice (the spices [nutmeg, clove, some ginger] are understated mainly, cropping up a little more prominent in the finish). The hops aren't as prevalent in the palate as they are on the nose. Really, the IPA has a great candy-like quality to it. I have to say, "Lil'" an apt description for the pumpkin quotient here.

This is a creamy beer. Its mouthfeel's full and, really, wonderful.

It might be too early for this (but it's Halloween First, so is it?) but the ale's reminding me of trick-'r-treating as a kid. One year it rained on Trick-'r-Treat night. I was a werewolf in a homemade costume (thanks, Mom!) and had to wear a raincoat while going from door to door with my bag of loot. It was dark, drizzly, and fantastically Halloweeny weather.

We're off to a fine start this month! Abomination's Lil' Pumpky is a fun-sized dollop of spooky seasonal goodness. Not too much pumpkin, not to much sour, not too much hop. It's just right and an easy 9.0/10.