Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale

It's the fall, so of course I'm eager to try the fall seasonals and various pumpkin ales I come across.  Sidenote: I had a sip of Southern Tier's Pumking on tap a couple weeks back, and I was floored by how tasty it was, so I feel like every pumpkin beer I have from here on out will necessarily pale by comparison.  Shipyard's Pumpkinhead Ale somehow found its way into my keezer somehow, so I figured it was time to give it a try:

Vittles:
Herbed/Spiced/Vegetable Beer
4.7% abv

Score:
Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 16/25
Taste: 28/40
Mouthfeel: 6/10
Style: 4/5
Drinkability: 5/10
Overall: 67/100

Impression:
From bottle to glass, there was almost too much carbonation.  Not that it almost frothed over or anything, but it looked more like ginger ale than beer -- the bubbles were too large for beer.  Thankfully, that settled down after a few minutes.  The aroma is very faint.  I mainly smell cinnamon and nutmeg, and there's something warm and earthy in the background, but I don't smell any pumpkin or malt.  The flavor is pretty much non-existent, except for a brief taste of spices up front and an extremely faint pumpkiny after-taste.  The after-taste almost seems a little musty, too.  I feel like I'm drinking fizzy, slightly flavored water.  The mouthfeel is thinner than I was expecting, and the high levels of carbonation sting the tongue without adding anything pleasant to the experience.  This beer sort of leaves a taste like bile in my mouth after a while, which knocks a couple points off the drinkability factor.  Overall, I wouldn't recommend this beer.  I usually like Shipyard beers -- they're not anything spectacular, but they're usually decent, so I'm kind of surprised by how much I dislike this particular beer.  Oh, well.  If it ever finds its way into my keezer again, I can always cook with it.  It'd probably make for a tasty pork and sauerkraut slow-cooker meal.

Cheers!