Normally this doesn’t happen, but the conditions were just right (I haven’t written in a long time and I just got over the flu) to try Spooky for a second time.
Initially, it looks like the only thing that’s changed is that I’m slightly older — err, more distinguished — and that the label has transitioned to a nice thick vinyl feeling label. Pours the same color, same ABV, same nose.
EVERYTHING ELSE:
THE SAME.
Let’s put this disappointing ghost to rest. I don’t get anything too chocolaty from the nibs, I get a small amount of bitter, a decent bourbon barrel taste, very few spices and a lack of pumpkin. A quick scouring of the internet (and less entertaining beer reviews) reveals scores essentially in line with ours and the words “disappointing” and “lack of” often accompanying the oddly inflated marks. There are more pumpkins on the label than they used to make the beer itself. I think with a marketing twist, it could be a really fun fall/winter beer. Maybe throw a heavier malt backbone at it or up the booze to warm the innards, but as it stands, the only thing spooky is the ghost of any real meaning.
OVERALL: UNCHANGED.