Carniola Winter Giant
Carniola Brewery

Hazy dark orange pour with a small off-white creamy head. Looks nice, lasts quite some time. Label says it's a porter, but that's out of the question. Spiced beer.
And that's obvious on the nose. Lots of prickly spices, really "wintery". Ginger, vanilla, clove, coriander, cardamom, anise, kinda like mulled wine spices, with an extra peppery edge. A nice caramel malty sweetness too, some apple mash, honey. And no off notes, this might be a game-changer.
The taste brings that great spiciness up front, tons of clove, coriander, peppercorn, vanilla bean, cinnamon, a nice refreshing ginger soda note, and a rich fruitiness, with red apple, pear, some banana, orange. Hints of pumpkin, too, or maybe the spices are misleading me. A not that great lemon sourness underneath keeps this from being perfect. Messes with the nice caramel maltiness too, keeping it a bit too light. Finishes spicy and quite dry.
Aftertaste has those nice apple pie spices, a lighter citrus zing and faint toast. Medium body, lightly carbonated.
Festive as hell, those spices really hit the spot. Weirdly warm, too, for its abv. If there weren't some "young craft" faults, it would've been a monstrous surprise. Still, a memorable surprise.

Look: Pours with almost no foam, white, big bubbles at the side of the glass, quickly diminishes, leaves a soft misty top layer, very little lacing. Cloudy, brown with red hue - definitely not your typical porter (it says on the label that this is a porter, but I haven't seen a "porter" like that (nor tasted it)) with almost no carbonation.

Smell: Spices. Maybe could detect some ripe ginger (the label points out anise, allspice, coriander and ginger). Some light honey, molasses, no hints of roast. The spice mash up reminds me of sarma, segedin goulash and other cabbage stews (Dimethyl sulfide! - maybe there was an infection with some bacteria...). Maybe also some oxidized hops.

Taste: The same spice mess, even worse than the smell. Also some notes that remind me of dry sawdust. Light spice start that goes to empty middle. The finish is watery, empty, no bitterness or anything else but the random spices - like some corrupted mineral water.

Mouthfeel: Light to low medium, light crisp start but nothing more.

Overall: I have no idea what they wanted to do with this one, just the idea that this got onto the market is beyond reason. It says that this is porter, it's not. Avoid. (It does have a tempting label tho; with waxed cap... but age won't help this disaster).

Wow, this winter beer was a pleasant surprise.
Pours a completely hazy amber color with a small and quickly disappearing white head.
The aroma is simply amazing. Gentle aroma of hops is complemented by a superb aroma of anise which immediately reminds me of the Christmas fairs and punch on the stands.
The taste is sweet and you can feel other spices. It's very creamy and smooth with a slight bitterness in the aftertaste.
Amazing.