Good Head

And back to Belgium...


Gouden Carolus is one of those names which pops up fairly often on Belgian beer menus and in well-stocked shops so whilst they don't necessarily class as rare or unheard of their output is varied enough to warrant a look-in. I tried the Hopsinjoor this week as it strays from the pack of standard variants. They claim on their glossy website that it 'completes the taste pallet of the Carolus beers' and whilst that sounds like PR guff they're fairly spot on. It's a little bit something different.

What has struck me over the lasts month or so of constant(ish) Belgian drinking is the lack of the stereotypical head on the beers. Perhaps I've been focusing on the smaller breweries which don't have as refined techniques or going for different varieties which don't offer the sort of bubblage 'Hopsinjoor' had, but the classic image of the giant froth in the balloon glass had started to become a distant memory.


Hopsinjoor has head and has it in spades. I read someone describe this sort of head as 'cauliflower head' but when it falls I think it becomes more resemblant of volcanic craters sat in your glass (and besides that's a much more evocative scene than a vegetable). The bubbles were great to watch through the glass in all their shapes and sizes. As the drink goes down the head sticks to the side of the glass in places and falls away to nothing in others. It's poetry in a cup!

So in between marvelling at the drama of the head I tried make some other observations too. The colour, for a start, is fairly unique too. It's paleness is almost chilly and takes any hint of warmth from what could possibly be called blonde. Whilst it's also fairly cloudy it doesn't quite get to the 'witbier' (i.e. Hoegaarden) levels. There's more light coming through the liquid giving it a pallid glow to add to the poetic mystery. A lot to live up to in the taste!


Aromatically, we're talking hoppy. Let's face it, they state on the bottle they use 4 variants of hops in the beer (though bizarrely on the website they quote 5) but they are more bittering hops than flowery, heady whiffs. The only fruit element came as a peardrop-like suggestion. All in all it's got a fairly delicate nose (like a pretty lady).

The highly carbonated body of the beer is totally expected, due to the frothing mass of head, and one of the characteristics of Belgian fare. The flavour is one of a clean and clinical nature, with virtually no maltiness. The main event here is bitterness! It cuts through the fizz ruthlessly and continues, and then some long after you've swallowed it. The only thing to attempt to counterbalance it is a slight sweet stickiness but it's a fairly weak effort.


But... hops is what they say and hops is whats you get! If you fancy gasping for a drink 3 minutes after you've finished this one then tuck in. You won't find much as bone dry as Hopsinjoor. Perhaps Het Anker (the brewery) played a lot of 'Theme Park' in the 90s and remembered the trick of filling up your food with salt to make everyone buy drinks. It's the perfect drink to get people buying more: this beer is the anti thirst quencher! You can't criticise them too much though because, as I said at the start, they mean what they say with their marketing bumph; it really is completing the set list, this beer.

Gouden Carolus Hopsinjoor - 7.5


http://www.hetanker.be/DeBrouwerij/AlOnzeBieren/GoudenCarolusHopsinjoor/tabid/65/language/en-US/Default.aspx

As an additional note, from Het Anker I really suggest trying the Cuvee van de Keizer 750ml beers. They're very special!