Gouden Carolus Cuvee Van De Keizer Blauw/Blue

2006 750ml bottle poured into a tulip glass, deep ruby red if held up to the light. The aroma was of yeast, malt and fruit. The taste was a sweet mix of dark fruits, caramel and spices. Creamy mouthfeel. Fairly complex taste with little alcohol bite. I will have to buy another bottle and try it again around Christmas time. Very nice.

This beer hit my soft spot. It was truely amazing. Thick in body, very rich in flavor. Alot of different things going on at once. Fruity, and a bit nutty, very sweet. Smooth and not so carbonated. Alcohol taste was smooth. I already bought it again...

750 ml thanks to xnoxhatex sampled at "Better Know a Style: Belgian Strong Ale" Blind Tasting 07. Clear amber color, with a fully diminishing head. Cookie, sweat, toffee, and cola make up the aroma ... sweaty cola. Medium bodied and syruppy. sweet brown sugar flavors, all spice, fruit, bananna, alcohol. Way too much alcohol, eww.. this was a disapointing surprise.

2000 Vintage. Served in a St.B chalice. Pours a brown color with a rose tint to it. Slight off white head that quickly recedes to nothing. Smell is belgian candy sugar with some fruits and a bit of underlying alcohol. This bottle has held up incredibly well for being 7 years old. Taste is incredible! This is a very good beer. You get more of the fruits in the taste. Especially what seems to be plums, and rum soaked raisins. The mouthfeel is smooth and velvety. This beer goes down a little too easy. This is a very good candidate for cellaring. One of the best, highly recommended.

In the bomber bottle from Beertopia. Thanks Mike D! Pours a mahogany reddish brown with a medium, rapidly thinning, but durable dark beige head. Very fruity aroma of raisins and dates and plums, but has a bit of something else- oak perhaps? Then the flavor confirms the oaky taste. A big up front sweetness followed by a mild hop bitterness that leaves an oaky aftertaste as though you are sucking on a fine piece of furniture. The alcohol is a wee bit out of balance, but at such a big heat, it would be hard to hide.

2006 aged 1 year thanks to SRAorion. aroma is large with strong pear, plum, yeast, candi malt, some banana and spice. pours a dark redish brown with a thick foamy tan head. quite opaque emitting some burgandy notes in the light. flavor is dominated by pear, plum, and sugry malt. some more subtle yeast and spice note along with alchohol. the finish nicely sours. i think the flavor is not sufficiently complex though very pleasant. would have liked a bigger sourness on the end. finish is not as large as i would like. unbalancedly sweet i think...maybe bc of age. very enjoyable though

sampled at blind "Better Know a Style: Belgian Strong Ale" tasting 07. the last of the tasting and what a stinker. perhaps a bad bottle. poured mahogony with little head. looked great. nose was very sweaty yeast, banana, perfume, and alcohol. the sweat/b.o. notes were awful and dominant. flavor was very banana syrupy and gross. i could take more than 4 sips. finish had lots of alcohol. must be a bad bottle. i’ll have to re-rate this someday.2.1.

2/23/08, 2000 vintage (8 years old), this is really past its prime now, watery, oxidized, and poor mouth feel and body. 8 years is far too long. 2.4.

3/12/08, 2006 vintage (2 years old), I was planning on trying this at exactly its 2 year birth day but things happen, oh well, a few weeks extra didn’t hurt this one...pours hazy brown with biege creamy head. a wonderful port wine and rum raisins aroma. alcohol in noticed too. flavor is very port wine and raisiny. alcohol adds complexity. med body, alc warmth, very smooth carbonation. for its strength this goes down easy. reminds me of their noel a lot. now i need a good rating of a fresh bottle to really see how age has improved this. 4.1.

06 bottle. Pours mirky brown with a big bubbled head. Aroma is fruity and hoppy. Flavor is roasty caramel and sweet and sour fruit, very dtrong and flavorful.