Decorative Gourd Season is upon us, and the thoughtful beer drinker has a choice to make: follow the well-trod path and reach for a pumpkin ale, or take the path less traveled and seek out an unexpected fall-flavored beer made from mushrooms.

Yes, mushroom beers exist—around 100 on record at Untappd (a paltry number compared to the 12,412 pumpkin beers available). Though a tad off-putting in concept, in its ideal state, the mushroom beer hits with deep, rich, satisfying savory notes, as complex as the fungus that spawns it. That’s what Hershey, Pennsylvania’s Tröegs Independent Brewing Company was going for when it jump-started the current wave of mushroom beer in 2013.

“As a brewer, I’m constantly searching for umami,” co-owner John Trogner said of Scratch Beer 119, an experimental mushroom porter made with help from the American Mushroom Institute. Although most mushroom beers are dark, like number 119, there are some that break that mold—such as Jester King Brewery’s Snörkel out of Austin. Described as “Gose-inspired” with low alcohol and slight sourness, it picks up its smoky notes from alderwood-smoked sea salt. It then finds that sought-after umami thanks to a hefty dose of oyster mushrooms.