This was the pie I really wanted to like, but didn’t — and neither did the tasters. I’ve made a number of pies from the Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book by now, and all have been big hits with those I shared them with. This one, not so much. The crust was ranked fairly highly (which I would attribute to the more forgiving formula, which includes cider vinegar, as well as the egg-white glaze applied during blind baking which keeps the crust from sogging out during the long baking time underneath a wet custard filling). That custard, however, was considered both much too sweet and insufficiently spicy, and overall, this pie placed ninth. I suspect there is a better pie here than what I was able to make; I think the butterscotch in particular, which is the source of most of the sweetness, could have been more caramelized, leading to a deeper and less sweet custard; I also suspect the carrot juice didn’t really add much of value to this pie, given that it was already sweet and pumpkin-colored.