Gouden Carolus Cuvee Van De Keizer Blauw/Blue

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

February of 2007 batch, 10% abv...beautiful Belgian beer in all aspects. The final hours of 2007 are here and I sip on this sturdy treat which is both powerful and soothing. Grand Cru of the Emperor surely is good enough for my final beer of 2007. In your face aroma of anise and alcohol, very earthy with musty fruit and familiar Belgian yeast. Strong and aggressive, it’s wonderful to sniff on. Plum colored with a diminishing light khaki head and big spotty lacing. This beer has been on the store shelf for almost a year now and it still contains a nice, strong alcohol burn. Absolutely a slow sipper here, this is full bodied and robust. It takes some time to enjoy, but it’s very good to the palate. Dark fruits, heavy spice, and yeast dominate. Plums, red grapes, figs, dark cherries, and black licorice are melded together wonderfully. A heavy dank mustiness and drawn out yeast taste compliment the fermented sweetness. This is thick, and heavy but retains a pleasant liveliness. Great choice for this wonderful time, cheers!

This fine ale with it’s creamy head and plumy, figgy flavors helped cap a fine New Year’s Eve lasagne. Purchased for a steal @ $8.49 from Total Wine in DE. Happt New Year to you.

Pours a dark belgian with a huge creamy head that sticks to the glass throughout. This is a big boy no doubt about it. Smells of fig, dried fruit, molasses and malt. Tastes nicely sweet with sugar, caramel, fig, apricot, and butterscotch. Feels like a delicous dessert with alcohol warming throughout. Medium to thick on the tongue. Nice carbonation finishes this tasty brew. If you want a trappist like beverage this dark beauty is a winner. Could have another but I would be drinking my dinner. A must try.

On tap at Kelleher’s in Peoria and advertised to be the only barrel sent to the US in 2007. 11%. Cloudy, brownish-red with thin head. Apple, spices, and sweet malt aromas and flavours. Sweet malty entry with medium hop bitter finish.

Bottled 2004. Pours a deep red bordering mahogany with tan, airy head. Particles are suspended all throughout the beer and never settle (or move for that matter)! Aromas of sweet candied cherries, vanilla, and a ton more fruit esters. As it warms the nose develops into a more banana, spicy yeast, port barrels, and raisin. Flavor is of cherries , with notes of raisin, port, cardamom, candy sugar, with a peppery banana finish. Great carbonation left over, but much flatter than new. Finish is quite refreshing and dry with a touch of citrus but still has a definite alcohol warmth. Lips and gums are left sticky with vanilla and cherry.

750ml bottle. 2007. Very pleasantly surprised. Plenty of fruity yeast esters on the nose. Banana nut bread comes first to mind. Cherries, wood (cedar?), maple syrup, raisins. There’s just a bit too much fusel alcohol on the nose for it to rate a 9, but I wonder if time will temper that. Pours a rich burgundian shade of brown with a creamy off white head. Maple syrup, raisins, sweet cherry, wood, brown sugar and lots of yeast on the palate. Full bodied with just the right amount of carbonation. Finishes with a tad too much alcohol hotness. This will be magnificent in a few years.

Bottle 2004. Pours a deep ruby, particulate filled elixir, with a pillowy tan head that puffy up and fades out quickly. Candi sweet, estery nose full of candied cherries, banana wood and vanilla with port-like notes and plenty of spice. The flavour is fruity and syrupy sweet with cherries, fig, port, citrus, dried fruits, cardamom , brown sugar and wood. The port flavour in the brew is the most prominent characteristic of the taste. The alcohol presence is very subdued. Finishing, a sticky cherry, vanilla flavour is left on the lips and the aftertaste has great duration. The velvety texture and soft, yet tingly carbonation makes for a perfect palate for this GC. As you drink and it warms, the finish becomes more drying and hoppy, with citrus becoming apart of the profile.

2007 750 ml bottle. As my brother put it "This is some strong stuff! Tastes like wine with carbonation." Lots of carmel and yeast flavors, spicy aroma. Somewhat like a fine port wine, almost forgot I was drinking a beer. Quite the good beer.