Cable car - dark orange in color with light Haze and half a finger of foam. Aroma is bready malt with yeast on the foreground along with a light pumpkin spice. Flavor follows the nose except that the yeast flavor is muted and the spice flavor is amplified, yet the spice is balanced with malt. On the back end of the flavor is some very slight metallic, sulfury note as a lager characteristic that mingles with bitterness. Of note, there is no discernible pumpkin flavor however there is the spice flavor that is very pleasant. Body is medium and, despite the lack of head, the carbonation is fine with a bit of nucleation sharpness. Overall, I didn't achieve what I wanted as the pumpkin flavor is missing, so I'll need to add more pumpkin during other stages of brewing. The beer is fine from a quality perspective but is lacking something. I'd be fine with one in a bar and wouldn't order more. 3 stars.
Stefon yeast - pours about 1 finger of foam with a just less than amber color, dark orange but not quite red. Aroma is a bready malt with light spice and yeast phenol. Flavor is mostly a blend of mild pumpkin spice and yeast phenol leaning more towards banana; almost a banana bread sort of flavor on this one actually but there is some yeast spice and clove as well. The pumpkin flavor is suggested more by the spice than the actual flavor of pumpkin. The carbonation is lighter than I wanted though the mouth feel is pleasantly soft and the body is a bit more than medium. My intention is to enter this as a FSV beer with a dunkelweiss base, but I'm not so sure this will do so hot. In any case, this has a much better balance of spice than what I made last year. I like this beer overall, and I would be happy to pay for this in a bar. I'll go 4 stars.
