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