Grumpy Troll Flanders Ned Ale

Brewed by Grumpy Troll Brewery, Restaurant and Pizzeria
Style: Sour Ale
Mount Horeb, Wisconsin USA

(Draught) Pours an amber-brown body with a small beige head. Aroma of cocoa, roasted malt, nuts, cherries, toffee, and some apple. Flavor of caramel, roasted malt, cherries, white grapes, and some sweettarts with a dry finish.

Cloudy dark brown colored body with a tan head. First smell suggest Oud Bruin - nuts, oak, light funk, some lactic milk notes, small notes of almonds and toffee as well. Sourness is mild, mostly a soft note of creamed cherries underneath a toasted bread crust and bran malt profile. Turns to dog food and sour bread in the finish, turns quickly into something difficult to drink. Frothy texture but medium to light body.

Sampled on draught at the GTMW ’08. Pours a semi-clear brownish amber brew with a fast dissolving fizzy off-white head that dissipates to a thin off-white ring. Aroma of tart cherries, brown malt, a touch of barnyard funk, tart apples and yeast. Taste is mildly sour, some carbonation with flavors of sour caramel malt, tart cherries, white grapes, tart apples and yeast. Finish has a mild fruity sour aftertaste that quickly disappears. Not too bad for an average brown sour ale.

On tap at Grumpy Troll. Poured clear garnety-amber with no head.. nice color to it. The aroma picked up sour cherry vinegar upfront with touches of green apple.. syrupy darker fruits beneath.. off-putting, but it was definitely aligned with the description. The flavor had tart cherries and apple cider upfront with lots of berries behind.. finished sour with ample vinegary acidity. Sour on the palate and on the dry side.. odd feel and flow.. definitely smelled better than it tasted.

Draft at the brewpub. Poured a clear ruby brown color. The head was thin, white, and fizzled out pretty rapidly. The aroma was of adhesive tape and light chocolate. There was only the slightest hint of sour fruit. Very acidic on the tongue throughout with distinct sour cherry and apple flavors. There was also some adhesive tape. A pleasant fresh malty cereal grain flavor came through at the end, so at least it finished on a strong note.

G.A.B.F. 2008: Deep copper/brown with a dense khaki head.The aroma has some toasted malts, cocoa, mild nutty notes and raspberry. Has a flavor that’s both tart-ish and toasted. Mild cocoa, toasted vanilla, tart raspberry like notes and other nondescript fruitiness. Pretty nice stuff.

Pours to a hazy/murky brown-red body with a dense mostly lasting tan head. The aroma is strange. Odd specialty malts meets a lightly girly soap. The flavor is sour cherries up front that morphs into a huge toffee and toasted caramel and coconut. Very unique long finish of sweet toffee-like candies. The palate is initially sour but not puckeringly so. Leaves a long mouthwatering feel.

This one was interesting. GTMW ’08. Brown color with no head. Mostly brown sugar on the aroma with sour cherries but all aroma’s were a bit light. the body was a bit watery with similar flavors. No as sour as I’d hoped.