Brewery launches Gouden Carolus Single Malt whisky

Mechelen brewery Het Anker presented its newest drink to the public last week. It’s not a beer, but it is based on a beer: The Gouden Carolus Single Malt whisky.

Distilling alcohol is in the family tradition: the Van Breedam family of millers made gin in Blaasveld from the mid-17th century until 1927. One branch of the family went off to Mechelen in 1872 to brew beer in what is now the Het Anker brewery.

The whisky has been waiting for this moment since October of 2010, when the first oak barrels, which had previously been used to age Bourbon, arrived to mature in Mechelen. The whisky was distilled in two pot stills hammered by Scottish coppersmiths Forsyth’s – the only ones of their kind to be found in Belgium.

The raw materials for both beer and whisky are the same – grain and water – explains brewery CEO Charles Laclef, a nephew of the Louis Van Breedam family. The distillery starts with the mash from the multiple award-winning Gouden Carolus Tripel, a risky step, he says, but one he has been contemplating since taking over the reins at Het Anker in 1990. Now he’s brought the two family disciplines of brewing and distilling together again after 140 years.

The Gouden Carolus Single Malt is a whisky, according to the Scottish spelling, but is not allowed to call itself Scotch whisky: that appellation is reserved for whisky distilled in Scotland. Het Anker describes its new spirit as “a refined whisky with a full, balanced flavour with subtle fruit aromas mixing with notes of wood and vanilla”.

www.hetanker.be