Troll Shangrila

Brewed by Birrificio Troll
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Vernante, Italy

Pour is slightly orangey amber with a thin off white head and lots of carbonation...smell is yeasty and spicey...pepper, ginger, anise...very interesting, and slightly medicinal...taste is very herbal and vegetal bitter at first, turning sweet and pepper in the finish....interesting, but not really good...

A moderate pour produces an almost four finger thick, pale tan colored head that leaves some delicate lacing on the sides of my glass as it slowly subsides. The beer is a full amber color, when held up to the light the beer shows a hazy, red tinged, orangish, light amber color. The aroma has a light sweetness to it, smells sort of rich and has an intriguing mix of aromatics that are not easily placed, but seem to be produced by a confluence of malt and spice aromatics. A deeper inspection yields aromas that make me think of pears, sweet melons, fresh baked bread, fenugreek, sour apples, perhaps a hint of woodiness and some definite anise there towards the end. The spicing is quite subtle in this beer, it is really hard to pick out and if I didn’t know about it I would definitely attribute the complexity of the nose to the yeast driven fermentation character. This has a really nice aroma to it, with soft, subtle notes that are fun to chase.

Sweet tasting up front, but the spices definitely kick in towards the finish. The spices are still not so noticeable as to be easily picked out; in fact after my first sip I can say it is spicy, but not what exactly it is that I am tasting. The up front sweetness accentuates flavors of sweet plums, cantaloupe, a touch of apple and some Anjou pear. The fruit / sweetness also seem to be accented by some of the spice components of this beer, though I would be hard pressed to say which ones. The spices add a sharpness / light astringency to the finish that mimics the effect of hop bitterness, but is certainly uniquely different. The beer has a certain heft to it that helps to carry the flavors, it is not heavy, nor is it light, but is about in line with a somewhat well attenuated Belgian beer of this strength; it has enough heft to it to keep it from being perfectly quaffable, but is still fairly drinkable. This was a fairly well carbonated brew as well, though not so much that I noticed it being excessive.

I am so unused to these spices being used in beer that I am having a hard time pulling out the specific spice flavors here, some of this is because the brewer used a restrained spicing here (at least at the age that this beer is now). A very tasty, interesting beer that I am quite enjoying a 750ml bottle of.

Bottle. A hazy orange amber beer with a big tan head. The aroma and taste is of yeast, fruits and caramel malt, light alcoholic. Medium body with a sweet light alcoholic finish.

Hazy amber with short lasting head. Sweet vinious and fruity flavor with berries, caramel and malty notes. Sweet flavor with caramel, fruits and and alcohol notes.

75 cL bottle. Pours hazy orange with a lacing off-white head. Light citrus spiced aroma. Flavour is malty and floral perfumed to spiced. Ends malty and similar floral spiced. Another too spiced no match to me.

It’s aroma is very spicy with a hint of malt. I really like the flavor- it’s very unexpected and seems like it would go well with chili or southwestern food. I think I’m done rating for the night. I’m drunk. :)

The aroma is the most unique of any beer that I have had to date. That is not necessarily a good or bad thing, it’s just different. There are ton’s of spices here, to many to mention. The other element is malt. The appearance is cloudy amber with a nice head. The flavor is complex like the aroma and unusual but not bad. The palate is a little thin. Overall this is one of those beers that I think you should try at least once but not one to have over and over.

Pinkish amber pour with floaties and a ring of offwhite lace. Average aroma of bubble-gum, melon and sweetness. Average flavor of hockey cards bubble-gum, melon and sweetness. The body is medium with an oily texture and soft carbonation.