Gouden Carolus Madeira
2023 Official Release 50cl | 46% ABV
Score: 6/10
Good stuff.
TL;DR
Another worthy country falls under the enthusiast’s radar
Broadening the horizon.
Sometimes, being a whisky enthusiast and living on mainland Europe is both a blessing and a curse.
A blessing because I can have it both ways. Scotch single malt whisky is still what floats my boat, what grabs me and gets me excited. To paraphrase John Miles: Scotch was my first love, and it will be my last.
At the same time, I tend to have relatively easy access to quite a few European whiskies who are, by and large, coming along very nicely. The days are (finally) behind us when us Mainlanders found ourselves in a position where we’d bashfully point out that ‘we now have whisky too, you know!” Only to present something rather underwhelming and vaguely recognisable as whisky.
The understandable appeal of having something local and artisanal tends to come from some sort of pride from those involved, or at the very least located nearby. But it does become quite cringeworthy when we strip it of the sentimentality and, deep down inside, have to admit that in the end it’s crappy at heart. It’s a weird thing, this sense of misplaced pride. Because essentially it comes down to “we know it’s crap, but at least it’s our crap.’
This applies to any product or commodity, really, from your neighbour mucking about in his shed to come up with a barely drinkable ‘craft’ beer, all the way to the underperforming local football team and onwards to something like a Cowley-based Morris Marina owners club. As long as it’s local or established as ‘ours’, we feel a connection.
When it comes to European whisky, the times they are a changin’. The sometimes unfortunate, if not rather misplaced, sentiment is beginning to give way to a genuine feeling of actual pride of what we Europeans are now able to present: Millstone in the Netherlands, Ellsburn and St-Kilian in Germany, Puni in Italy, Stauning in Denmark, Armorik in France, obviously Mackmyra and High Coast in Sweden… all of them distilleries who are making people sit up and pay attention. I will, if only for the sake of today’s review, also name drop The Owl and Gouden Carolus/Het Anker from my very own Belgium.
So, why a curse, then? Because in this day and age, if there’s one thing I can do without, it’s having even more valid quality whisky options to choose from. Even if you consider yourself fairly FOMO proof, it doesn’t mean you’re not eager to at the very least try all those tasty new little sippers. In a sense, choosing very much implies losing. A pound spent on one bottle can’t be spent on another, limited shelf space demands scrutinous purchasing, and if we’re trying to keep this hobby of ours sensible and responsible, overindulging is to be avoided to say the least.
It’s a first world problem, of course, but a problem nonetheless.
Review
Gouden Carolus, Madeira Cask, 2023 release, 50cl, Non chill-filtered, natural colour, 46% ABV
€40-45 (£42) limited availability
Gouden Carolus is named after the Emperor Charles V who grew up in Flanders in the early 16th century. It is completely intertwined with the ‘Anker’ brewery, located in the town of Mechelen, halfway between Antwerp and Brussels. And while whisky may well be a fairly new phenomenon in mainland Europe, in the case of Gouden Carolus, there’s provenance a-plenty.
The distillery is located in a village just outside of Mechelen, and its heritage dates back to the 17th century. Originally a small scale jenever distillery it was in operation for centuries, before being mothballed and eventually largely dismantled in the early 20th century. In the late 19th century the family running the distillery moved their focus away from jenever to start brewing beer in Mechelen, but the now closed down distillery, as well as the brewery, remained within the same family.
In the early 21st century, then owner Charles Leclef had the bold idea to rejuvenate the old family distillery. Only this time it would be whisky rather than jenever. The estate required some serious renovating, but by 2010 the first batches of new make spirit were being distilled once again; using mash from the brewery. They’ve been going from strength to strength ever since. A core range 50cl expression was later upgraded to a 70cl offering.
Since 2014, there have been a series of annual limited birthday releases, often relying on different casks, and in recent years the core range was expanded with a sherry cask finish, a peated expression and, since last year, a fully madeira oak matured expression.
The one downside of the distillery was its scale. In fact it was so ‘cramped’ that there simply wasn’t enough space for a warehouse, meaning all the new make spirit was put in large tank containers and transported to the brewery five miles down the road, where it would be put in casks and left to mature on site. Eventually it became a victim of its own success, as late 2023 the announcement followed that production at the current location would seize, all the equipment was to be dismantled and moved to the brewery site where it would be rebuilt so production and maturation would take place in one and the same place.
Score: 6/10
Good stuff.
TL;DR
Another worthy country falls under the enthusiast’s radar
Nose
Very fragrant, floral and almost perfumy. Hints of lavender. Oily as well, with a plethora of viscous sensations: vanilla, linseed and even sunflower, going into a waxy note, reminiscent of wood polish. Underneath it all lingers a grassy – vegetal element. There’s richness and youthful freshness going on at the same time, and I have to say this is very pleasant, even vaguely reminding me of that grassy, herbal Littlemill character.
Palate
Grassy; this herbal/vegetal element is not playing hide and seek here, it takes centre stage. Around it all those sweet oily, fragrant notes from the nose return, meaning palate and nose are almost mirroring each other. Again that youthful element shines through, but that’s by no means a bad thing. This is lovely, engaging and layered while also being an easy drinker. Easy drinking in the best possible meaning, as it never becomes pedestrian or middle of the road.
The Dregs
There’s no doubt in my mind this will develop into great whisky. All the foundations and fundamentals seem already well covered. They make a good quality spirit, have access to top notch casks and have made (some tough) decisions to future proof their product for whatever comes next. I firmly believe it’ll be just a matter of time (and obviously also distribution) until they become a familiar name to anyone calling themself a whisky enthusiast. At this point it’s already hovering towards a 7/10 in my book, and for a while I was hesitating and wondering what to score this.
It’s absolutely delightful, rich and fragrant in its own right. However, if you put this head to head with something more mature, something of, say, 14 or 15 years old, it does betray its youth and frankly has to punch above its current weight to keep up. I’m banking on the relocation of the distillery to have a positive impact in the near future: currently running on one set of stills, I do see them expanding to at least one more pair, hopefully leading to them waving farewell once and for all to the 50cl bottlings and finally present everything in 70cl bottles.
There’s talk of them also dropping the annual anniversary releases, as they’ve managed to do that 10 years running (the last one was from late 2023). Such a decision may well be rued by some of the dedicated fans, but on the other hand it would mean more depth of stock, allowing them to go all-in on the current core range and perhaps even expand it.
As for this one… “Belgium; la Belgique: six very well deserved points''.
Score: 6/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. EA
-
Dramface is free.
Its fierce independence and community-focused content is funded by that same community. We don’t do ads, sponsorships or paid-for content. If you like what we do you can support us by becoming a Dramface member for the price of a magazine.
However, if you’ve found a particular article valuable, you also have the option to make a direct donation to the writer, here: buy me a dram - you’d make their day. Thank you.
For more on Dramface and our funding read our about page here.
