Gouden Carolus Cuvee Van De Keizer Blauw/Blue

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

[Bottle] Pours a clear ruby/brown with a large beige head. Aroma is sweet dark fruits, raisins, spices, caramel, brown sugar, and alcohol. Flavor is quite raisin-y, lots of figs, plums, and prunes, some warming alcohol, and more dark fruits. Very light and lively in the mouth. Extremely complex and delicious beer. One of my favorites.

Pours a dark red with a frothy head that lasts. Woody aroma with some dark fruit sweetness... a hint of toasted marshmallow also. flavors are similar... earthy with a strong raisin/date note to it and again, marshmallow. Finish is clean and dry, with a kick of the 10% alcohol. Very complex... will try again, and likely age some of this... I imaging that after a couple of years this would get up to the mid 4s on scoring.

A whole lot going on here, strong aromas of plums, molasses, brown sugar, raisins. It pours a very dark brown with almost no head. First taste you get a whole lot of different flavors to sort out, i get a raisin flavor at first with a sort of molasses thing going on, overall very sweet and impressing I really really like!

Poured a nice clear ruby color with a beateful head. A sweet fruity smell. Full bodied with many complex flavors. A great beer.

I have shared this with my neighbor a few times and there is a reason we kept the bottle for display...we only keep the bottles of really high quality beers. This one is wonderful. Yeasty, malty, banana, fruit, and bread aromas. Flavor is dried fruits, wood, malt...great beer.

Having had their amber (Ambrio), which was enjoyable, but not fantastic, I was prepared to drink another "average" Belgian ale. Not so! This ale, 2007 Vintage, had an incredible body and mouth feel. It pours well with a moderate head. Hops were balanced/hidden by richness and alcohol. Some banana esters mixed with dark dried fruits and a hint of molasses. The mouth feel was unsurpassed. At 10% it was sort of sneaky and seductive. I drank the entire bottle in one sitting by myself -- not entirely recommended. Yet I do recommend this fine ale. It ranks right up there with the best.

07 bottle. Pours a deep ruby red, a bit of brown and a modest tan head that fades surprisingly quickly for a Belgian. Nose is heavy on the dark fruits, sweetness and is oh-so-fitting for dessert. Smells of banana nut bread, hazelnut coffee, molasses, brown sugar, cherries, slightly leafy, and a wee bit of alcohol. Sweet molasses taste initially gives way to hazelnut, toast, more banana nut bread (but milder), cherries, and a bit sugar coated Christmas bread flavor. Finish emphasizes the subtle coffee and earth notes, dries out a little, and the fruit disappears, leaving only the most pleasant earthy sweet coffee/cake aftertaste. Delicious! Reminds me of PannepØt a little bit, but with more fruit. The only problem is the disappearing head and that the palate seems a bit shallow and uncreamy, despite being viscous enough. Lovely, will gladly have this again sometime.

(2008 bottle) Pours like a cola with a slight red tint; very minimal carbonation. Has a spicy taste that flows off the palate. The only beer that remotely resembles this one is the Delirium Noel for is spiciness.This has a fantastic lingering finish.