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!

Tasted 2007-06-17. 2002 version. Dark brown/red colour with off-white head. Aroma of raisins, plums, port and yeast. Flavour: Port, yeast, malt, roasted malt. Very complex, very rounded. Almost no fizzle, but still one of the best beer I’ve had so far.

750 ml bottle from a KW group order. 2008 vintage. pours deep maroon with a tan head that reduces to a spotty tan cover. aromas of, dark fruit, yeast, decaying pale malt, alcohol. the flavour is a huge complex mess of everything but its awesome. goes down super easy for its strength. really a fantastic big dark belgian ale here and there’s not much holding it back from being rated higher by me. im glad i have more.

12 bottles of 750 ml, batch 2008, 11$ per bottle, my first order trough Bieropholie’s private importation service (Bieropholie.com, french site). Opened my 8th bottle today, 8th because I have great difficulty with cellaring great beers. Maturity’s kicking in now, with a greater richer texture than the previous bottles I had, at least 5 months ago. The word decadent has been used a few times for this beer’s ratings and that’s perfectly appropriate. Complexity of caramel sweetness, spices, fruits (orange, at least) and a bitterness coming afterward. An amazing beer that I would have more often if I was rich...

I’ve been sitting on an ’07 of this for a year and decided to open it up last night to share with my beer cronies. Colour was a dark amber. The nose.... oh sweet spirits of the spice world! Can you say boiled sweets?! The palate... Creamy, melodious, Leopold Stokowski on hydrocodone, faint butyl esters, dark fruits, citron, toffee, fino sherry, and it all comes together for a delightfully warming looooooong finish!

750 ml bottle. At the recommendation of my great bartender at Tuscarora Mill, I went with the 2007 (they had the 2008 as well). It pours a deep cloudy brown with ruby highlights. Musty nose with alcohol, caramel, a touch of cardboard (but not in a bad way). Champagne like carbonation with a rich, yet clean mouthfeel. Tastes of prune, fruitcake, chocolate covered cherries, some alcohol, and caramel. There is also a hint of raisin in the finish. I was very impressed with this ale and definitely plan to purchase some bottles to cellar!

Big bottle (2000) from Pelgrims, Aarschot. Arome is of red wine and oak. I would say it’s dark red, not really dark brown. Head dissappears unappealingly fast. Flavor is really sweet, mild, soft. But it still keeps something of that tippically wooden taste of a strong ale. Palate goes from sweet to the bitter wooden finish, not too refined. Overall a very impressive beer!

2009 750mL -> trappist glass. Pours a dark reddish brown with tan head. Head laces slightly. The nose is quite dynamic: molasses and gingerbread followed by orange peel and eventually pecan - top notch. The tasting is quite pleasant milk chocolate and maple syrup - not as complex to the tongue as the nose would suggest. This ale is very sweet and has only a hint of bitter at the finish. The mouthfeel is creamy and syrupy. Overall, this is an excellent belgian brown, though sweeter than I prefer. Cellaring is definitely in order. If only I could get this product unrefrigerated.