We're creeping closer and closer to the big day--just a week out! Soon enough, the veil will thin and kids dressed up as nightmares will prowl the streets seeking candy. The good news is that we're not there. Yet. We still have some time to prep.

So, prep we shall! This evening's a chance to steel our nerves before All Hallows' Eve. I'm doing that with a special beer from Timber Ales: Fields of Fall, the strongest beer of the season. Take a moment to grab a break from carving pumpkins and hanging artificial spiderwebs to enjoy this peaceful moment with me before we're flung into the spookiest day of the year.

Hailing from NYC, Timber Ales currently operates out of Twelve Percent Beer Project's brewing facility in New Haven, CT. While the operation has been known to dabble in hoppy and sour offerings on occasion, their primary focus on on the darker side of beer: stouts. Since 2019 their beers have been available to purchase in stores in the eastern-half of the US (and maybe further!).

Clocking in at 12% ABV (which is why it's the strongest beer of the season), Fields of Fall (located partway down the brewery's Beer Menu) is an imperial pumpkin stout that's been conditioned on vanilla beans, nutmeg, and cinnamon. It seems like it'll be a Halloween beer that's more treat than trick.

The bouquet on my can is delicious. I get the cinnamon, the vanilla, the nutmeg, and the pumpkin. They're all combined with grace. It smells like a warm, bright, pumpkin-scented candle against a dark and brisk autumnal eve. A ghost of that ABV is present, but that ghost is all. Purrl gave my can twelve whiffs--this is definitely a beer for her!

Fields of Fall's flavor profile is as elegant as its nose. The vanilla and pumpkin hit first and linger long, followed by the other equally-lingering spices. Were I to find a fault here, it's that the nutmeg is a tad heavier than the rest of the flavors. Speaking of heavy, the booze is present. It hits hard and warms my palate with the first (and every successive) pull.

Perhaps my only real gripe with the stout is that its mouthfeel isn't as hefty as I'd want. It's tame, not robust. Tepid, even. Not wholly fitting with the rest of what the beer has going for it.

You ever jump in a pile of leaves? If you were ever a child, I'm willing to bet the answer's "yes." 

You'd spend the evening raking them into a pile in the yard. Then, before bagging them up with your parents and taking them to the curb, and just as the sun's rays were reaching wide before being snuffed out for the night, you'd pull your jacket tight and leap. They'd crunch as you fell through them, landing softly on the grass below before pushing yourself up to do it again. This beer's as autumnal as that memory.

I have to admit: I was worried that Timber Ales' Fields of Fall wouldn't hit for me. I've had one other beer from the brewery and I didn't enjoy it. This evening's stout, though? It's great. A tad thin and a little heavy-handed with the nutmeg. But still great. 9.5/10 great.