Troll Palanfrina

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9

750 ml capped bottle. Poured in the original Troll snifter an unfiltered opaque oak-burgundy coloured Ale with a short one finger beige foamy head that had a mid-sized retention and tons of micro bubbles. Soft carbonation. Good lacing. A lot of floating sediments. The aroma is heavy roasted malts, coffee beans, spicy, licorice, mixed notes of chocolate and pepper. The flavour is roasted malts, nutty, over ripe fruits, raisins, plums, vinous and honey tones. The mouthfeel is sweet, syrupy, thick and yet smooth. This full bodied Ale has a dry fruity finish. The alcohol is well hidden on the palate. A perfect Ale for the long winter evenings.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Pours with a viscous appearance and a frothy, initially three finger thick, brown tinged, tan colored head. The beer is a very concentrated, amber tinged, dark brown color, when held up to the light the beer shows a brilliantly clear, gem-like, rich red color. The aroma is sweet and fruity up front, but quickly mixes in toasty malt notes and a substantial nuttiness that has a distinct spiciness to it. As I try and dissect the nose I get aromas of raisins, light cherries, tart-sweet plums, sweet cranberries, white pepper, woody ginger, browned malt and a sweet jam like aromatic note. I really like what the chestnuts have added here, it is quite distinct, and quite nutty.

Reasonably thick bodied, but strangely not nearly as sweet as I was expecting. Actually this is almost more tart than it is sweet. Distinctly accentuated by the various chestnut additions; this is woody, nutty, spicy and sweet nut meat. The finish has a sort of tannic, nut husk astringency to it that provides a distinct bitterness to this brew. While not overly sweet, this does have a jam like, fruity sweetness to it that accents notes of concentrated berries, cherries, sweet plums and light raspberry notes. At times a lightly warming, almost spicy note of alcohol is noticeable in the finish as is a light, floral honey flavor.

A very interesting beer, I really like the touch that the chestnuts add to this beer; it also has a surprising fruitiness to it, that I almost wonder if it is at least accented by the chestnuts note (if not down right attributable to them). The fact that this is not overly sweet, yet lightly tart and offset by an astringent finish, really is quite nice. While, at times, fantastically interesting, I wouldn't say this is not the most nuanced or complex brew, but it is certainly a tasty tipple; so this is merely a very tasty brew, as opposed to perfection in a glass. Ultimately this is a very pleasant suprise that i am enjoying very much righ now.