Gouden Carolus Noël (Christmas)

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

750ml bottle. Light brown colur with a little head. Alot of flavours..caramel and fruits. Good strong beer. -I like it-

0.75 l bottle. Reddish brown color with thick tan head. Sweet, tart, fruity, caramelly and spicy aroma with notes of licorice, anis, cinnamon and artificial candy store aroma. Sweet, tart and warming flavor with raisins and caramel. Too sweet.

Bottle from the Blue Max. Pours an amber brew with very little head. A fine example of the style. Loads of luscious exotic fruit esters from the Belgian yeasy strains. Man, what mastery. Even some funky spices tossed in there to make this even better. Rich and flavorful.

This beer was really nice on tap at Concordia ale house. Pours dark copper brown with a small of-white head. Rich caramel flavor with hints of chocolate, plum, cherry, and molasses. Sweet up front with a lightly bittered finish to keep it from being cloying. The spices in the finish show, but are slightly muted since his didn’t have a ton of carbonation cutting through the thick body.

pours a hazy dark brown with a small tan head. brown sugar aroma. flavors of plum, raisin, peach, brown sugar, caramel and molasses. very rich and full bodied.

On tap at oak cafe. Poured a brown color with a small head. Aroma was of spices and also some malty and belgian yeastiness. Flavor was a little too medicinal tasting to me and it kind of overpowered the taste.

Of the three Noels I picked up for Christmas the Gouden Carolus stood out as the weakest. In retrospect it seems regrettable because it presents such a wide pantheon of tastes, but none of them work in concert. It fulfills neither the Christmas spirit, nor any secular day of festive drinking, and so was cast into the shadows of the two other Noels and left to ponder its mistakes. The head is thin but soft as goose down, and maybe even softer than the calm, soothing narrative voice of Morgan Freeman. The Noel itself is a little less comforting, taking the unmistakable shade of red of human blood. Freshly ground black pepper and hops lead the aromatic charge, sending the drinker reeling with its pungency. Then it mellows with a very dairy phase, smooth and silky like cream and a bit funky like good stinky cheese. A little banana is thrown into the fray to sweeten things up, but gently enough that it doesn’t trespass on the aforementioned cream, and then a little coke to rough it up with even more sweetness but of a more calloused and inveterate kind. There’s also a nice smell that borderlines between plum and wine, and after that a few dashes of spice, including cumin with its distinct association with chili, and a smattering of nutmeg. It’s a very raucous smell, but lacks cohesion, losing some of its potential for excellence. It is, however, well matched to the taste which maintains a kinship to its more gaseous counterpart while maintaining enough difference to give it something to show for itself. The banana makes a triumphant return but this time holding hands with a dark malty figure. It’s a fun pairing and reminds me of a lot of chocolate-banana combo desserts, like the hallmark banana split. Then this simple pairing slides down to a spicy and peppery stage reversing the order of the smell, before collapsing into a surprisingly simple, quiet and anti-climactic yeastiness. The whole sequence is flavored with allspice, juniper and cardamom, but it ends up being too spicy, and very similar to excess alcohol ends up eclipsing more flavors then it complements. I see a lot of expression and a lot of brewers’ frustrations, but it’s simply too many flavors all at once without any direction or precision. It seems fuzzy and chaotic, and even worse, purposeless. It’s hard to describe, but I like a beer that’s confident with itself, and determined enough to have a specific agenda. The Gouden Carolus Noel seems a bit confused, and may need time to straighten itself in preparation for Decembers to come.

A priori, Gouden Carolus takes a simple but elegant approach, showing deep Burgundy hues and a clean off-white coiffure - the mark of a quiet noblesse, a certain feminine flair begging wordlessly with powdered cheeks. Up close, it is a grand perfume that exudes. A symphony of spices, soft yet striking, translated on the nose as allspice, saffron and black pepper. Sweet esters appear with agility: banana, bubble gum, lemon, a hint of minty pine and maraschino cherries forming melodious legato. It seems, however, that darkness lurks. A touch of fig, the ripeness of raisins, caramel orchestrating transparently; this context allows the springy fragrances to sing even louder and echo tumultuously in the mouth. The burning spiciness of black pepper, orange peel, nutmeg, anise and saffron combined initially overwhelm the tongue, forming a voluptuous cacophony, a sudden and deafening climax. Soon, interwoven subtleties begin to appear, tones of bread and wood, fig, prune, bacon, cherry and banana. Sip after sip, as the ale warms its body becomes smoother, individual spices begin to dissociate, its flavor lingers long after the swallow. The rhythm progressively slows until the last drop is consumed. Beer is sometimes a sensual experience.