Gouden Carolus Noël (Christmas)

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

Dark brown body with a large, persistent head. Sweet candy smell reminiscent of jelly beans. Very malty. Lots of licorice flavor and mouthfeel. Lots of spice...very unique beer. The flavor is odd due to the candy-like overtones, but the palate is very good. I will have to try this one some more.

330mL bottle purchased at Frugal MacDoogal’s in Nashville. Poured a cloudy brown, almost cocacola color, with a thin tan head. The aroma was spicy, with coriander and cinnamon present. The flavor was spicy, but chocolate and caramel dominated.

a very good beer, with a very deep white steam. A bit strong for me,

750mL brown cork finished bottle. 2008. Appearance: Poured into a Duvel goblet. Rich mahogony (reddish brown) color with a thick, fluffy tan head. Nice lacing as it receeds. Nose: Orange peel and a little manure (barn yard) are the first things to hit my nose. Lots of corriander, a little funky wool (horse blanket), and a nice meaty smell. Palate: There’s a sliver of cork in my beer! Ok, now that was unfortunate after all the barnyardy smells to feel something like that in my mouth. Moving on: Big orange peel, corriander, and that meaty/wooly thing. The palate is spicy, like fresh cracked black pepper. Medium-bodied and a little wooly on the texture. Finish is more balanced and everything falls into place. Notes: A little out of balance right now, it might fall together better with some age. The spices are really loud and I can’t hear the beer itself. A decent effort, but I’ll stick with the Cuvee and the Classic.

330mL bottle from Rumbles. Pours dark brown.black. Fizzy tan head. Aroma has a main aniseed character, some caramel and vanilla and cinnamon showing through. Flavour is full of aniseed, like liquid licorice. Raisiny cinnamon flavours are also strongly present. Finishes dry and coffee like. A well spiced ale, but a bit hash. Not really my thing.

Pours dark brown, close to black, with a tan head. Dark aromas, aniseed. Very bitter flavours. Burnt malt, burnt coffee and spice, but with enough dark chocolate and caramel sweetness to pull it back. Very dense and dark, but warming. Can imagine it would fare better in the Christmas snow than New Zealand’s warm Christmas nights.

I had this on tap at the Hop Cat in Grand Rapids. What a unique beer. No aroma to speak of, thick, frothy, palate not too much unlike milk or egg nog. Spiced but not overpoweringly so with nutmeg, cinnamon and brown sugar overtones. The alchohol is over 10% but I swear, you couldn’t taste any. Different and distict for even a Belgian.

(11/3/08) Bottle sample at a tasting in Pizza Port in Carlsbad (thanks whoever). Dark amber-colored. Heavily spicy aroma with some malt and caramel notes. Sweet flavor with caramel and loads of spices. Medium-bodied.