£2.59 (33cl) from Roberts & Speight
Drinks Advice... Pushing the boundaries of taste.
Sunday, 3 June 2012
Brouwerij Van Steenberge 'Gulden Draak'
Brouwerij Van Steenberge's signature Golden Dragon, a beer that seems to have something of a crossover nature. Is it a Belgian brown ale, a dubbel, a tripel or none of those?
It pours a deep mahogany brown with a slight haze. On the nose there's lots of sweet, boozy fruit; dried fruit and cherries. At first I found the sweetness a bit hard to get past, it's almost confected, like cola bottle sweets have been soaking in your beer. Once your palate gets used to the sweetness, the vinous character and the vanilla spices come through a bit more, and right through to the finish more flavours just keep on coming. This really is a tremendously complex beer. While it's a bit sweet for my liking, I can see why it's held in such high regard.
£2.59 (33cl) from Roberts & Speight
£2.59 (33cl) from Roberts & Speight
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Ratebeer classifies it as strong belgian ( a catch all term for those beers that defy classification) but the brewers themselves refer to it as a barley wine.
ReplyDeleteIt was a long time ago I drunk a lot of the Belgian brands; my aim for this year is to try them again...but new beer always seems to command my wallet
It used to be our 'selling point' I suppose in the pub I ran but not drank them for a while. I'm going to re-visit some and try some new ones though, if only because they seem to be really good value compared to the new and fashionable stuff that's about!
DeleteYou had the Gulden Draak 9000 Quadrupel? It's phenomenal. We had it on Draft at Dragon Hall Beer Festival and positioning me behind the Belgian Bar was the worst thing they could ever do...
ReplyDeleteNope, not had that one, sounds pretty crazy, definitely have a go if I see it!
ReplyDelete