Millstream (not so) Great Pumpkin Imperial Stout

Well, this beer is an oddity.  No, not as weird as Gran Gas; that was a magnificently peculiar beer.  This one is strange in a way I don’t quite care for.  The idea itself sounds like it could be tasty and I do find myself enjoying maybe half of the bottle.  What the Millstream Brewing Company from Iowa made here is a pumpkin imperial stout, though not an especially big one.  Until recently, Iowa law forbade brewers from making and selling beer over a certain alcohol content, around 6.5%.  This was recently changed, and Millstream decided to push their boundaries a bit with this 7.6% stout—strong by most standards, but fairly weak by imperial stout standards.

The problem?  “Brewed with artificial flavor.”  That phrase is rarely seen on beer labels, and I now I can see why.

As expected, the beer pours pitch black with fairly good head retention.  Smells like chocolate-covered pumpkin candy mixed with cherry candy.  The chocolate aroma has a milk chocolate quality to it, not the aggressive dark chocolate imperial stouts are known for.  That is fine by me; to be honest I wish more imperial stouts were on the sweet milk chocolate side of the spectrum.  Unfortunately, that candied pumpkin aroma (which is weird and fake) coupled with the cherry candy (which is weirder and faker) makes it too sweet.  I chose the word “candy” earlier carefully; it feels very artificial.

The taste is even further out there, and worse.  When it first enters the mouth I actually think it tastes fairly good.  Milk chocolate and pumpkin flavor go together well.  Then comes a vexing array of fake pumpkin, rotting gourd, and cherry-flavored cough syrup.  Throw some stale coffee on top and you get a real perplexing mess.  What the hell went wrong with this beer?  Why does a beer brewed with artificial pumpkin flavor taste like actual rotting gourds were added?  Where is that cherry flavor coming from?  There aren’t any hops to balance the sweetness out either, and weirder still there’s none of the traditional pumpkin pie spices.  Nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, cloves—these could have provided some spiciness to balance the sugar.

Yikes.  Like I said, a few ounces is fine.  After that, the mold-and-cherry-covered gourd sensation starts to overpower whatever stout or pumpkin niceties there are.  I’m not sure if the vegetables-gone-bad flavor is from a poor fermentation or the artificial flavor, but in any event fake flavorings are not a good idea in beer. 

A shame.  I like their Iowa Pale and John’s White Ale.