Gouden Carolus Noël (Christmas)

Draught from Paradise Beer Weekend. Smashing Christmas beer from one of my favourite breweries. I’ve enjoyed it on many, many occasions (and currently possess an obscene collection of 75cl bottles), but this is my first taste off draft. Beer notes are nearly illegible, but will update from the bottle sometime soon. Dark, clear amber in colour with glorious creamy head. Aroma and taste of liquorice, dried fruits, heavy spice, rum, and all things that remind you of the festive season. Velvet texture - absolute luxury for the tongue. Smooth, loooooong finish. Just Mmmmmm. Words do no justice. The King of Christmas!!!

A spicy dark winter brew with a bitter finish available in bottles and also (if you’re really lucky) on draught, I think it was better on draught but it might just have been the company I was keeping!!

Transparent dark amber with only a ring of bubbles. Leaves great lacing though. Tons of spice up front, almost minty, couldn’t really pinpoint. Flavor again is dominated by spice, mostly mint and licorice, but not in a bad way. Nice malt backbone, shows through fron time to time. Looking at my notes curious as to why I gave this a 4.1, so se a re-rate coming if only for a better review.

Dark ruby, big, creamy off-white head. Intense aroma of spices and licorice - or is it just a whole lot of anise? I don’t know why I haven’t rated it during the winter, but stored through the summer (and quite some heat - but tonight was a worthy occasion). By now, it’s a bit one dimensional in all its anise glory. Fresh rating: Yes, it’s supposed to have that much anise...

Bottle. Amber colour with a huge creamy fully lasting head. Rich aroma of malts, fruits and spices. alocohoic finish.

Bottle. BB nov. 2006. Creamy lightbrown excellent mostly lasting head. Dark amber colour. Week malty aroma. Nice spicey flavor but way too alcoholic. Average finish and oily palate.

Dark brown colour, nice smooth beige head. Caramel, toffee, raisins, spices in the malty aroma. Outspoken spicy initial flavour, malty. Malty finish but with some light hoppy notes. Some cherry. Medium to heavy bodied.

Poured a caramel-brown color with a nice respectable smooth head that thinned but maintained coverage. Lacing was weak. The aroma was of caramel and spices. Some sort of bourbon or whiskey in there. I was ready for a flavor that was underdeveloped, but this one actually was quite smooth, as the alcohol and spices didn’t overwhelm. Caramel was for sure the feature flavor, almost like caramel candy. The mouthfeel was moderate for the style.