Gouden Carolus Cuvee Van De Keizer Blauw/Blue

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

How about his one? A bottle from 2000....yeah you read that right...2000! This happens to be my favorite beer as I have had previously 2006 and 2007. I didn’t do a vertical, but that event is in the works! Anyway, the aroma from the bottle just after release of the stubborn cork was overwhelmingly of dark fruit and sugar. It pours a dark-brown coppery color with a smallish head that seemed to dissipate quickly. Maybe some of the carbonation has worn off over the years. The aroma, once poured, was of dark raisins, plums, candy sugar, and carmel. Now for a sip...the flavor matches the aroma quite well. You get a potpouri of dark fruits such as plum and dark cherry. It almost has the fruitiness of a quality dark champagne! Great mouthfeel with a smoothness that I don’t remember being present in the more recent vintages. It also seems sweeter than those vintages. There is also, almost no trace of alcohol taste in the finish. Outstanding!

(2007 vintage at One Pint on 2008-04-08) Deep dark brown colour. Thick quickly disappearing head. Liquorice and malts in nose. Cady sugar in taste. Some banana and liquorice. Nice.

2006 bottle rated in 5/ 08. MMMM..strong ale with evenness of IIPAs. Even aromas and tastes. Feels like my first rating. Malt is strong and so is ale. Don’t know where to start? Real quality. So many flavors.

Bottle. The aroma is wonderfull! Aroma is filled with fruits and chocolate, smells like I’m in for a treat! Flavor is like an explosion!Fruity,soursweet,complex,caramell and a hint of bananas.Great beer!

Dark reddish brown color with a thick head that that quickly dissipates. Heavier alcohol smell than I was expecting but was not bad. Also smells of yeast, rasins, and spices. Taste is sweet with a bit of alcohol burn at the end. A heavy malt taste with fig and rasins. Feels good in the mouth with the right ammount of carbonation.

Inscrutable dark and thick, with a fast vanishing head. The aroma is rich, sweet, full of dried fruits such as figs, dates, plums, with a little yeasty spiciness and some ethylic traces. Full bodied, sweet, almost sirupy, definitely a sipping beer.

A- Pours a deep, dark reddish hue with a nice little eggshell white head which stays on top of this brew for quite a while. S- Smell is dominated by a sweet banana character which kind of dominates the nose but lying behind it are spices and a yeasty distinctly belgian character to it. T- Taste is super sweet at the begining, dark yet fruity sustained by a deep malt breadiness which leads into an alcohol warming. The alcohol is covered up masterfully. Not my usual beer but it is making me reconsider the Belgian Strong Dark Ale Style. M- Thick and creamy with a just the right amount of carbonation bite at the end. D- I really wanted to not like this beer. I often find myself not liking a lot of Belgian beers unless they are done really well ... and this one is. That being said it is going to be hard for me to finish this whole bottle, I think sipping on one glass is awesome though.

2005 vintage. Pours a dark, brownish plummy color. A compact, foamy beige head leaves nice clumps of lace behind. The nose shows copious amounts of dark fruit, primarily fig, raison, and prune. Sweetness just flows from this thing, with the alcohol soaked fruits being accompanied by dark caramel and some brown sugar. An indiscernible dark spiciness is present as well. Flavors are very similar, with huge, sweet dark fruits and sweet caramel making for a heavy, sugary, dessert-like drink. Thick and syrupy, the body goes down smooth enough but sits heavy in the stomach. A few ounces of this is a nice, occassional treat, but it is just too sweet for me.