Elected as best beer for the 3rd consecutive year: Gouden Carolus Whisky Infused
For the 14th successive year, the Belgian beer consumers association Zythos awarded the Zythos Consumers’ Trophy to the most popular beer at the recent Zythos Beer Festival, Belgium’s biggest beer event. The votes of the 11,000 visitors were counted and for the third time in a row the same beer emerged as the winner: Gouden Carolus Whisky Infused. As a result, Het Anker Brewery in Mechelen broke its own record of last year, when the coveted trophy went to the same beer twice for the first time in the history of the festival.
Visitors choose their favourite beer
The Zythos Beer Festival has been held since 2006 and soon became Belgium’s biggest beer event. During the recent festival in the Brabanthal in Leuven, over 11,000 visitors were able to taste 575 different beers from 106 Belgian brewers on 27 and 28 April. Every year, Zythos asks visitors which beers they prefer. They fill in their personal top three on a voting form. When the votes were counted, it became clear that Gouden Carolus Whisky Infused won again.
Special victory for Het Anker Brewery
For the third consecutive year, the ‘Whisky Infused’ version of Gouden Carolus was elected best beer at the festival. According to the organization, the beer won by a large margin this year.
And so Het Anker Brewery won the Zythos Consumers’ Trophy for the fourth time, after an initial victory in 2008 with ‘Gouden Carolus Hopsinjoor’. That too is a record, because no other brewery could take the trophy home more often.
"It was already a first to win the consumer trophy two years in a row last year, so three times in a row, that is certainly unique!" says Freddy Van Daele, chairman of the non-profit association Zythos. “The beer probably gained even more attention with the general public through the introduction of the 33 cl bottles, but it must be a good beer, otherwise you couldn't win three times in a row! ”
The organization also awarded a prize for the breweries with the most votes over their entire range. Het Anker can also call itself the winner in this category.