Palm Royale

Brewed by Brouwerij Palm
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Steenhuffel, Belgium

An amber beer with a small disappearing head. The aroma is sweet with notes of malt, caramel, and banana. And the flavor is sweet with notes of caramel and banana.

(Bottle 33 cl) Dark golden - or light amber if you prefer - with a creamy, white head. Distinct caramel in both aroma and flavour with quite some malty sweetness and a rather warming alcohol. Bitterness is almost absent. A "Speciale" that’s a bit stronger than usual, but basically not very spectacular. 030905

33 cL bottle. Pours clear and golden orange with a little off-white head. Light herbal and caramel malt aroma. Flavour is light spiced, subdued caramel malt note and a lingering sweet fruit note. Herbal/grassy spiced and bitter flavour towards the finish. Mild fruity and bitter lingering finish. Spice flavour reappears in the far finish.

Bottled. Pours thick deep golden with creamy head. Sweet and fruity, soft and rounded, buttery and mild , medium-full bodied. A bit thick and syrupy. Despite it’s size it’s not very flavourful, and appears a bit bold.

Bottle. Medium ornage color with a average, frothy, fair lacing, off-white to white head. Aroma is moderate yeasty, light malty, toasted, bread, light alcohol. Flavor is moderate sweet and bitter with a average duration. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft. Overall a average strong Belgian beer.

Bottle, 7.5%. Clear dark golden colour. Nice, stable white head. The flavour is rather sweet with a hint of green apple.

Bottled. Goldenish amber colour with not much head. Aroma is malts, grass, some mild fruits and also some hints of caramel. Flavour is also quite much caramel along with some fruits and grassyness. Alcohol does give some glueish notes in the flavour. Aftertaste is slightly frutiy, quite earthy and some grassy notes. Very refreshing, even though it’s quite high ABV.

As "Royal", the Royal Caribbean house brew, acquired on Jewel of the Seas. Slightly hazy dull amber, big bubbles, loose head, no sediment in the bottle. Caramel aroma with butterscotch (more Werther’s than diacetyl), sour apple, a little alcohol and copper. Sweet palate...like one of those cloying new world tripels only less intense and with a hugely metallic finish. The second pour deposits copious protein chunks into the glass. Still a month prior to its BBD. Hrm. Finish shows too much alcohol. I’m inclined to praise Royal Caribbean for going in this direction for their signature brew, not the least reason of which is because it represents a unique addition to their standard brew lineup, but I’m conflicted because this really isn’t a good beer. It’s not dumbed down, thankfully, but from the protein chunks to the strong alcohol note to the mix of unpleasant aromatic components there just isn’t much good going for it.