Gouden Carolus Noël (Christmas)

Brewed by Brouwerij Het Anker
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Mechelen, Belgium

Bottle @ Cardinal. Pours dark brown with a big off-white head Aroma is fruity, caramel malt, with some yeast and spices. Taste is sweet and heavy malted, with fruit, spices, some alcohol, hops and fine bitterness in the finish. Lingering sweet mats.

Bottle. Pours a dark brown, hazy color with an extremely large, frothy brown head. Lacing is ridiculously strong. Aromas of banana, bread, roasty malts, and light raisin. Palate is a full body, soft carbonation, thick feel, and a long finish. Taste is medium bitter, flavors of banana and raisin abound, and a nice light sweetness finish. Very good holiday beer, one that I plan to enjoy countless times until Christmas.

750 ml. bottle. Pours a thick lasting beige head over a dark amber (SRM 10-12) slightly cloudy body.......nose is ginger, light dried fruits (cherry, raisin)....taste is sweet dried fruits (cherry, raisin, plum) to start evolving to sweet ginger, then a light bitter finish.....mouth feel is light, carbonation high, with a tiny bubbled spritz reminiscent of Beaujolais Nouveau. This is rather lighter over all than expected, and there is not the depth of fruity complexity that so many in this genre have. That is not to say it isn’t delicious,it is just not as great as others.

Poured to a fluted fest glass at Brixie’s Holiday Beer Tasting in Brookfield, IL. The color was a walnut brown with a nice off white/light tan head of tight, small bubbled foam, and clingy spots of lacing. The aroma was sweetness, caramel, dark fruit, dark cherry, and subtle alcohol. The flavor added to these more of a sweetness of brown sugar, along with warming alcohol. Full bodied and lightly syrupy as a very nice, seasonal sipper.

33cl bottle from Vinmonopolet. Best before 2012-07-22. It poured a dark red-brown colour with a medium big off-white head that settled down fast in the glass. Aroma is sweet with notes of dark fruits, banana, apples. The flavour is also sweet with notes of alcohol, dark fruits, banana and malts. It has a medium long aftertaste. This beer may not fall in the classic christmas beer category, but it is nevertheless a very nice beer for christmas or any other season.

Bottle from ölbutikken. Pours dark brown with a creamy tan head. Belgian aroma, dark fruits, spices and licorice. Complex but drinkable

After tasting several ordinary beers with seasonal wrappings this year, it’s refreshing to encounter a brew taking the "Christmas"-part seriously. This beer adds just that little xmasy touch to the familiar Belgian Strong Ale; a delightful deep, malty, spicy, hot stew of extra flavors, that little extra that matters so much. I also noticed, for the first time ever, a discernable bubble gum flavor seeping out somewhere along the aftertaste process. Finally I know what that reference is all about. :-) The complex, deep taste really lingers in the mouth and says "Merry Christmas" to me, suggesting there might be several little xmas eves for me this year. Het Anker has really gone to work on this one.

A little weak in the palate, but otherwise a great beer! Pours chocolate/cola brown with thin tan head. Aroma is dark fruits and a little ethyl. Flavor is caramel malt, dark fruit, figs, plums. Finishes clean. A little hot.