Carlsberg Semper Ardens Criollo Stout

Brewed by Carlsberg Brewery
Style: Sweet Stout
Copenhagen, Denmark

This is great! Carls Porter is very good indeed, but this is so much better...It’s dark and heavy, less "pushing" than Carls Porter, and dryer in the end. And that chocolate! Dark...belgian chocolate...lasts forever in the aftertaste. And....I don’t give many beers a top score...maybe 1 out of 100...

Man, do i love this beer. The different scents and flavors of coffee and dark, bitter chocolate goes perfectly along with the choices of malts. It´s very dark, almost black and should be tried by all who like stouts.

Bottle. Brown head. Very dark red body. Choccolate aroma. Choccolate caramel flavor. Pleasantly low carbonated. Bitterness just tastable. I feel like tossing a lump of vanilla icecream into it! Hardly a secret now: I like it.

12/09/03: [7,5,8,3,16]
Beautiful! Nice and dark stout. Good chocolate and liquorice flavor with a roasted malt tone. Mild and smooth.

Re-Rate 04/21/04: [7,5,9,4,17]
Bottle #769 (vintage 2000) - Tasted in the cellar of the Carlsberg Brewery.
Tall substantial tan head. Aroma is a little old and fusty but has a very heavy tone of chocolate - a lot more penetrating than the fresh version! Flavor is mostly bitter chocolate and is a lot fuller and flavored than a fresh Criollo Stout. A really nice experience!

Darkbrown with a nice brown head. Not as black as other stouts. Aroma of forrest fruits, roasted malts and sweet port wine. Medium body, definetly not as heavy as lots of other stouts out there, but the complex smooth flavor makes up for it. Port wine again, chocolate and salty notes and with a warming finish. A stout hold up by the yeast and chocolate rather than the malts. Really my type of beer!

IMHO the best "Semper Ardens" so far. Beautyful colour, with a (too) fast disapearing head. Rather well balanced. I would have liked a bit more hops, though.

(700 ml bottle). Pours very dark with a moderate head. Aroma and flavour of liquorice, dark chocolate and roasted malts. A bit too much liquorice in my book. Still, this is a very good stout, but not a taste experience that much better than Carls Porter - not enough to live up to the price difference IMO. I guess some of the point with the Semper Ardens range is that Carlsberg want to show the world: "Hey, we can brew good beer too - but that is VERY expensive!" Price aside, you have to give them props for trying. After they killed Wiibroe Imperial Stout Porter, Carls Porter is the only surviving moderately priced quality Carlsberg beer - innovation is reserved for the Semper Ardens range, just pay and be happy!

[The new version] A pitch black beer with a nice foamy head though quite fast disappearing. The aroma is sweet with chocolate and fruit notes. The flavor is really nice, well balanced with a good sweetness to start off with subtle notes of chocolate, licorice, and fruit. Then the flavor turns smoked (a light smoke taste for a stout) and finally it ends on a good bitterness. Really a great beer from start to finish. [The old version from 2000 - tasted 4 years old - different recipe] The aroma is sweet chocolate combined with nuts. The color is brown with an orange-brown head. The flavor is chocolate, chocolate, coffee, and alcohol ending in a nice roasted dry finish. This has really matured well, so I'll definatly but some away rating for this version 6/5/9/4/18=4.2