Troll Toll
Lakewood Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

Pours an effervescent & chill-hazed amber with 3 fingers of fluffy eggshell colored head. Stays hazed, stellar lacing & above average head retention

S: Faint graininess

T: Super bready, a little grassy with woody & piney hops up front & a little mango, plus some peppery spice. Leafy hops mix with cakeyness, & herbal hops. just a little of booze warmth as well, plus pineapple as this warms. Finishes a little dry, cakey, a little boozey, some woddy hops as well

MF: Medium body, slight carbonation, sticky, malt forward on the balance, a little to much boozeyness

Drinks alright, rough on the edges; had potential

Undated bottle at 42 degrees into hand washed and dried JK snifter
Aroma of caramel malt, fades somewhat
Head large (Maximum 6.8 cm, aggressive pour), off white, frothy and thick, slooowly diminishing to a centimeter ring and a heaped partial layer
Lacing good – wide rings disintegrating to stalactites and stalagmites of tiny to small bubbles
Body – orange, hazy
Flavor – caramel malt. 100 of the 116 IBUs are missing. This was refrigerated since purchase but there’s no telling how old this is or how it was mistreated before purchase. Ends with a slight chalkiness with a long hang time.
Palate – medium, slightly oily, lively carbonation

Fortunately I like malty ales, since this has morphed from an IPA to nearly a wee heavy. But graded as an IIPA…
Appearance 4.5, Aroma 3.25, Flavor 2.5, Palate 4, Overall 3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This beer is a straightforward example of how breweries can fail while trying to over-achieve. If you look at the hop bill (see website) it looks like the beer might be pure perfection. Classic choices of Amarillo and C hops. Were they heavy handed on the additions? Was the gravity too high to attenuate in the presence of the hops? I'm not sure, but the beer smells squashy (raw pumkin / willow bark). Tastes exactly like it smells. It's drinkable, but not very enjoyable. They are in good company. Avery has at times had the same trouble at times with Maharaja. I'm not sure about this, but Adam Avery told me his problem was yeast health. He said that the green apple taste we associate with acetyl aldehyde becomes "squashy" in these cases. Whith these big IPAs there's a lot of hops for those yeast to fight through. My suggestion would be to lower the gravity a few points. Bigger's not always better.