Gouden Carolus Classic

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

Olney Beer & Fine Wine tasting. Nice fluffy head, medium bubbles, good retention. Bready, malty nose. Malt over-the-top in the mouth, overly sweet - simply too much. Unbalanced. Raisins and honey in the finish.

Pours deep red with a two-finger off-white head. Sweet aroma of dark fruit, brown sugar, and a good bit of yeast. Brown sugar and raisin flavor, with a faint complexity of malt flavors--chocolate, toffee, caramel--and some other fruits playing second fiddle. Some sharp yeastiness. Dry finish that turns sweet and smoky a couple seconds after the swallow and sticks around for quite a while. Not bad.

The aroma has raisins, brown sugar, yeast (basement aromas), and malt. The appearance is hazy brown with a red tint. The flavor is much like the aroma and adds some bitterness and warming alcohol. The palate is average. This beer is nice.

33 cl bottle. Red brownish with a medium beige head. Aroma is spicy, with notes of yeast, dark fruits and candy. The taste is pretty much the same, with notes of coffee, toffee and chocolate. Full body. Great beer!

As its name supposes the Carolus Classic is indeed a true archetype of the dark Belgian ales. Its mesmerizing lateritious hue is subtly clouded and rises to an oat-colored creamy head, exemplary of the style. An overwhelming fragrance of bananas emerges initially and follows in a suite of dried pears, raisins and figs. The warm, vinous touch offers a definite density to the nose, one supported by the indubitable scent of walnuts, pepper and the candy-like aroma of artificial cherries. Fruits are equally pronounced in the flavor, particularly in the recurrent vehemence of dried bananas, followed by plums and cherries again. The sweet, sticky almost syrupy texture contributes a certain weight to the dark malt background of coffee, roasted chocolate and caramel weaving an immaculate framework for the assertive nutmeg and anise tonalities. Alcohol is certainly present but does not burn, and for a turophile like myself gives the apropos strength to perfectly match a Chabichou or a similarly soft goat cheese. The aftertaste leads to a beautiful evolution starting with coffee and marrons glacés that finishes with the lingering piquant of licorice.

On tap. Light red brownish in colour with a large white head. A bit mild. Sweet and malty with notes of raisins and caramel.

My 900th review and not a bad one. Poured a red-brown color with a nice pillowy tan head in the tulip glass. The lacing was great on the way down, a combination of rings and spotty foam. Aroma was super rich from the pop of the cap, rich dark fruits permeating the air with lots of strength and a touch of caramel. Delicious smelling. Flavor wasn’t as good (hey, it’s got lots of competition within style), but decent. Flavor gets credit for complexity, anyway: dark fruits, (raisins and plums), caramel, molasses, and light chocolate underneath. A bit sharp in the flavor, maybe even slightly astringent and vinous. Put this one away for years and it would probably improve much. But, for now, it’s nothing like the Kaizer, and, well... the flavor of the Noel was much better.

From bottle. Pours a reddish brown with fluffy tan head. Nose has hints of dark fruits and a yeasty spiciness. Flavor follows with a smooth body. A very well blended BSA.