Gouden Carolus Classic

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

Hearty, slightly burnt taste with warming alcohol flavor and a sort of dark bread note. Deep, dark red with good lace.

Thanks a lot to Chris at Ebenezer’s for this one. 1978 bottle. Murky brown pour, no carbonation. Both the nose and flavor were packed with caramel, molasses, and vinous booziness. Seems the oxidation made this brew somewhat one-dimensional, but still what a treat.

Vintage 1978. Murky brown pour with no head to speak of. The aroma is caramel, wood, molasses, and some musty oxidization. The flavor is much the same with dampened flavors of caramel and one dimensional sweetness. The palate is rich, full, and viscous. An amazing opportunity to try this… Thanks Chris.

bottle at Comme Chez Soi belgian restaurant. served in the Gouden Carolus goblet. pours a somewhat cloudy copper colour, with not much of a head at all. aroma is lots of yeast and a slight hoppiness. loads of caramel in the taste, some dark fruit and wood, slight alcohol in the finish. the palate is very well balanced. this is one of my favorite belgians, a must try for any belgian ale lover.

Pours dark brown. Lots of fizz, head dissipates rapidly. Nose has prunes, yeast, vanilla, chocolate. First taste is very sweet, but straight away there’s some balancing astringency and spritz. Quite porty. Alcohol is pretty well hidden. Complex flavours lurk. The finish is remarkably low in sweetness given that this is a very sweet beer.

Some beers entice you at first and then leave you dissatisfied the more you drink of them. Gouden Carolus Classic does the opposite. The first sip was decent, the second was very nice, the third was great and the fourth was exquisite; as your tongue gets used to the slight bitterness, it turns into something increasingly smooth and tantalizing. Head is white and very fluffy on an apricot-gold head. Beautifully blended mixture of bitter and smooth; I taste pine, resin, caramel, peaches, apricot, vanilla, chocolate, wood, banana, figs... hard to identify it all but easy to enjoy. I will definitely be actively looking for this beer again. I loved it.

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.

Very dark amber with a thick off-white head. Sharp peaches aroma. Smooth peach flavor with a bitter aftertaste. Decent beer but there are better Belgium beers out there.