Troll Palanfrina

Brewed by Birrificio Troll
Style: Traditional Ale
Vernante, Italy

Bottle, thanks to Bu11zeye. Pours a cloudy brownish orange with off-white head. Aroma has a citris tang. Flavor of nice smoked chestnuts with nice citris notes. Low-med. carbonation and full bodied.....very tasty...

This beer pours a dark amber with a thin white head. The aroma is roasted chestnut as is the flavor. This things has lots of chestnut, lol! Cheers!

Objectively speaking: Troll’s take on the Italian chestnut ale.
I like: Decently extracted nut flavours. Fairly dry palate with powdery, earthy, toasty focus that serves it well. Complexifying berry juiciness.
I dislike: Biting carbonation removes a lot from the drinkability. Not a whole lot of complexity. Growing alcohol presence.

Dunno know what the style is but drinks like an IPA to my palate. Heavy duty US style with lotso hops, resiny mouthful and plenty of sweet malt. Touch of licorice / alcohol sweetness as well but this adds a nice touch of complexity. Surprisingly lack of sweetness on the finish.

Got a bottle of this online after reading about the brewery and the beer. Aroma: The initial whiff didn’t say much but as the glass came up to temperature it released wonderful soft nutty notes that brought to mind eating roasted chestnuts. Appearance: Poured into a wine glass, the beer is a deep subtle ruby brown that is quite dark but not opaque. The pour offered a rather nice dense head that remained for quite a while and then settled into a little bit around the edges. Flavor: At first taste the beer was sweet but by no means overly so. As the beer warmed to temperature, the distinct nuttiness came through and was quite enjoyable. Kept you coming back for another sip often. Palate: There was a nice even mouthfeel and full bodied sweetness that had shown through but didn’t leave you needing to drink water between every sip like some other specialty beers. Quite enjoyable. Overall I would have to say that this is an excellent beer that everyone should try once. If I would have had a piece of chocolate cake to go with it it would have only been that much better. If you see it get yourself a bottle and enjoy it with friends.

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.

Bottle sampled on 5/23/07: Pours a barley transparent dark mahogany with a thin-lacing dark tan head. Aroma of lightly sweet and toasty nutty caramel malt. Body starts fairly full and bittersweet with a lot of nutty character and an earthy finish. Fairly complex and slightly warming finish. An interesting brew.

Date: 05/23/2007
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting

muddy dark red, fine beige head, sweet fruity aroma with light floral quality, creamy body, rich malt flavor with lots of fruity character, very light bitterness, a touch of winey character, light tartness, unique

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 12/20
Rating: 3.2/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: *4