Gouden Carolus Classic

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

Dark amber with big gead. Very nice lacework. Spicy maltiness in the aroma. Mild flavour, rather sweet and fruity. A good alcohol bite finishes this very good beer.

Deep brown, clear, with a good-sized tan head. Nice sweet nose, with chocolate, grapes, and light licorice or anise notes. Flavor is sweet, with some cider, a touch of anise, raisins, bready yeast, and a good deal of bitterness.

What a great beer. Pours a deep burnt toffee colour, with minimal offwhite foam which dissipates fairly quickly. Aroma is of dark fruit and caramel. Quite intense. The flavour is rich and complex and earthy. Plums and dates are present, along with the caramel promised by the aroma, and a warming alcohol note. There’s a light bitterness present which offsets the sweetness well, and leaves a great "just one more sip" impression. Delicious.

330ml Bottle: Pours a hazy copper, very thick marshmallow slightly off-white head atop. Aroma offers quite a nice hit of pine off the top, sour stone fruits, chocolate, caramel, butterscotch.. wow, it just keeps coming. Great stuff, although very little alcohol in the nose. First sip is just pure melted, caramelized sugar with peaches, cooked figs, raisins, a sharp bite of what seems like peppery cloves, and hints of hops alongside the warming alcohol. So complex, very sweet, just a great beer.

330ml bottle, 9th Nov 08. Beguiling odour of dark fruits and woodiness, which carries over to the flavour, thick with treacle and thorough maltiness. Deep brown with a thin whitish head. You feel the alcohol but you don’t taste it - a very good winter sipping beer.

330mL bottle from a group order. Pours a deep dark copper with a small tan head. No sediment which is something that bugs me about this brewery. But the nose on this is quite nice: booze, roasty malts, caramel crunch, some biscuits, grapes, an odd hoppy aspect, general sweetness, very complex and enticing, I like it. Flavour: Nice! Sweet grapes follow nice bready malts, some pear, toffee, booze but restrained, dates, figs, very tasty! Comes in complex waves, a very multi-layered beer. I was worried this was going to be a sugar bomb but I am very pleasantly surprised. Very unique actually, not at all what one might expect. Seems sort of like a Dopplebock with Belgian ale yeast used to ferment it, which is not at all a bad thing by my palate!

Bottle. Pours dark maroon brown with an off-white head. Very malty nose, starts as liquid toffee. Body filled with dark fruits, figs & plums. Touch of chocolatemint & liquorice in the aftertaste (wait for it). The palate is just perfect, almost buttery and definitely creamy with a subtle carbonation.

Caramel toffee, vinous fruit notes, almost a hint of chocolate? Deep brown/amber, nice head and lacing. Rich complex raisiny, smoky toffee sweetness, slightly tart, mild hops. Full, creamy body, nice smooth , long finish, with the alcohol burning and peaking at the end. A fantastic beer!