Gouden Carolus Tripel

Brewed by Brouwerij Het Anker
Style: Abbey Tripel
Mechelen, Belgium

330 mL bottle from Holiday Wine Cellar (Escondido, CA). Pours a murky yellow-orange apricot color. The gigantic frothy white head only slowly dissipates, remaining mostly "solid" on top but making interesting caverns visible through side of glass. It also leaves some great lacing. Mellow aroma of yeast, fruit (orange/lemon/peach), musty grain, black pepper. Flavor is lighty malty and yeasty with some fruit and spice notes. Less sweet and more noticeably bitter hoppy than some other tripels I’ve had. Can’t really taste the alcohol at all.

Poured out a nice amber brew until the junk on the bottom infiltrated my glass....that’s ok though. Small bright white crown, thin retention, slippery lacing. I guess it’s been awhile since I’ve had a nice tripel so the aroma here is killer! Apricots, a bit musty, peppery, caramel and bread - put all that stuff in a blender and drink it... how do we get a way with it in a beer? The taste here is great as well - lends to very easy drunkeness. Smooth fruitiness (more apricots, white grape juice?? - I’ll have to check that one out I think), weak caramel is blended in nicely, a bit of yeast, good pepper quantity on the finish. This is the softest tripel I may have ever had. I’m on my 4th since I started this review. I’m trashed. So damn good you don’t want to waste time typing. Mouthfeel is great! Smooth and soft with a bit of alcohol bit. medium bodied... nice spicy and candy finish. The spice has good legs for the finish. Did I mention that I went old school on the tunes this whole time? W.A.S.P. self titled. Blow me.
OK. I saved the sediment from each of the 4 bottles I just drank and poured them all into one glass and then slammed it back. I tell you, that may be one of the best glasses of beer I’ve ever had. Woop Woop! My poor liver...

Poured a hazy golden color with a large frothy white head that left some lacing. The aroma was malty with some yeast and spices as well. Flavor was yeasty, fruity, spicy, as well as some other flavors that I couldn’t identify. This was an excellent Tripel that I would definitely want to buy again.

16.9 fl oz. Pours a beautiful gold with just the right amount of head. Nice aroma, though, nothing to rave about. Wow, the taste is initially sweet and malty, but then there’s this explosion metallic taste, like I was sucking on a dirty penny. Not great. Not as bad as the Donker I just drain poured, but not good. This must be skunked, or it was stored improperly... Either way, I don’t think I got the best version of this one. Another follow-up. Given a few minutes to breathe, the metallic taste went away. It’s still nothing special, bu it’s no longer disgusting.

THOUGHTS: Hid alcohol incredibly well. One of the nicest tripels I ever had. I always avoided this because I figured it would be boring compared to their other beers, but they seem to do everything well. TECHNICAL: Bottle Poured a slightly hazy, medium golden with an average to large, foamy, white head that slowly diminished and kept a thick sheet leaving excellent lacing in thick sheets on the side of the glass. The aroma was moderate malt, moderate yeast along with fruit, spices and flowers. The initial flavor was sweet and acidic; while the flavor was bitter and slightly sour with a long duration. There was candy sugar, yeast, fruit, flowers, spices and a lot more that I couldn’t even begin to describe. The medium to full body was dry with very fizzy carbonation and a dry and light astringent finish.

This beer looks kewl, it has a massive mountain of white foam and a very cloudy yellowy brown body. The smell is sweet with yeast and lemon being the biggest aspects of the smell; I could also pick caramel and banana, as beer got warmer. The beer feels thick and smooth in my mouth with not too much carbonation. Full, full flavour doesn’t taste watered down one bit. There’s kind of an orangey wood flavour to this brew and I like it. Yeast is an other flavour that quit prevalent, I also got creamy caramel at the back of my throat. The beer has lots of creamy citrus juice flavours hidden in the taste, this is a very complex beer. It’s a simply amazing beer very easy drinking and you can’t taste the high alc. content at all."

Bottle. Fruits, wheat and malt in aroma. Slightly unclear golden yellow colour with white head. Fruity and malty flavour with some caramel and discrete hops bitterness. Soft mouthfeel despite moderate carbonation.

Bottle, barley wheat and some spice notes on the nose. Hazy golden body with white head and some lace. Has a citric acid, spice and yeasty bread in the lavor and some zesty soapy thing going on. Alright little dry on palate decent brew.