Gouden Carolus Noël (Christmas)

Dark. Light, transient head. Aroma of malts and spice. Flavors of sweet fruit and spices. One of my personal favorites. I’d drink this any time.

Bottle 0.75 l. Very intense and deep almost non-existent head. Aroma has plums, liqourice, malts and spiciness. Flavor is initially mainly liqourice and anise, even a bit too much so. It took a while to get over it, but there were the usual suspects, plums, raisins. More on the sweet side, but very well hidden alcohol. The liqourice is very strong, but still surprisingly balanced as a whole.

Dark semi-opaque cherry color with almost no head. Slightly sour aroma with brown sugar and cinnamon spiced apple notes. Taste is sharp and raisiny with caramel and spice burn at the onset, and ebbs to smooth balance. Finish is lightly carbonated with biscuity taste and alcoholic warming. Rating #600. Draft 13 oz/$7.50

Pours dark brown with a large head. Taste is balanced, soft and quite sweet. Malty aroma with liquorice and herbs. Raisins and fruits. Very multidimensional taste. Alcohol is very well hidden.

330ml bottle.
My God, what a gorgeous beer. Pours a deep, ever slightly cloudy ruby-chestnut with a pillowy, bubbly khaki head. Streaming bubbles keep that head from disappearing so that it can leave lumps of Brussels lace on the sides of the glass from beginning to end. Aroma consists of layers of fruit and spice, including juniper, raisin, dried cherries, malty molasses, a touch of citrus and a judicious dash of black pepper. Flavor includes all of the above with a touch of anise for good measure. Moderate hop bitterness comes online on the middle of the tongue. Full-bodied with a smooth and strangely creamy finish. I have found a new favorite Christmas beer. Wow, is this stuff good.

Very deep and dark brown colour with blond medium head. Aroma is complicated and there are sweetness, liquirice, lot of anis and hint of herbs. Flavour is quite similar than aroma: quite sweet, anis, liquirice and maybe some alcohol. This is very pleasant, strong and complicated beer to warm up cold winter nights.

We drank this 2006 version of Carolus Noël while we were preparing our Thanksgiving meal. It was a gift and thank you. I liken this beer very much to the Gouden Carolus Grand Cru of the Emporer that I have drunk before. Very sweet, very smooth and way to tasty for a 10.5% beverage. This would NOT be my Go-To beer, but is a good special treat for the holidays. I like the slight anise flavor at the finish of this beer. This is skillfully done, fine beer.

Nice aroma...very nice appearance... flavor is great but not FANTASTIC. A bit too sweet for me with a hint of something... clean and hides the alcohol well. Palate is smooth and creamy..... Overall very pleasing. Not an everyday beer but a damn fine treat. ====================== After finding this on draft, I must recount. This beer has a great flavor; semi-sweet, hides acohol well, ....