De Ranke Guldenberg

Brewed by Brouwerij De Ranke
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Dottignies/Dottenijs, Belgium

Draught. Cloudy golden coloured beer. Coriander in the taste. Also quite strong hoppping. Not too sweet. More than average carbonation.

#300. Cloudy golden pour into Westvleteren glass with white fluffy head. Nice yeasty aroma with tropical fruits and spices. Some pineapple, herbs, and phenols in the flavor. Has a nice dry bite to it. Sticky lacing throughout. This was a good blind pick from the store.

Guldenberg This one is really impressive. We got it on tap and bottled. I do prefer it on tap, then in bottle 33 cl and I find it a little bit too sweet in large bottle of 75 cl. It’s a pleasure to serve it, it’s sweet aroma show’s up directly, The bad point are : At the beginning of the tap, there is no head, and the color is really amber and the liquid really more cloudy that it should be.

750ml bottle, poured with lively carbonation. Lots of lace clinging as the head collapses. Smells yeasty, fruity, mineraly, some sweet spice, some delicate floral hops. Tastes very malty, good underlying bitterness with some residual sugar. Very earthy, tasted cellared, almost casky. Mouthfeel is pillowy at first, then dries out very well at the finish. A bit chalky at the tail end. A fine, fine beer. Reminds me of Moinette, but a slight bit sweeter, even more drinkable. I should do a side by side tasting!

Bottle. Huge bubbly off-white head that really lasted. Excellent display of lacework was left in the glass. Hazy golden color with particles in flow. Aroma of yeast, spice, fruit, mild toasted malt, grainy, apricot, orange, citrus, alcohol. Medium bodied with an average carbonation and mild alcoholic texture. Moderated sweet flavor with mild acidic and bitterness. Sweet light dry and fruity – yeasty finish.
Earlier Rating: 1/17/2008 Total Score: 3.4
Can. [Courtesy of faroeviking , another great session @ yespr] Large fizzy off-white head that mostly lasted. Muddy orange colour. Spare lacework. Aroma of coriander, banana, hint of spice, wheat, citrus, grain. Over the palate spice, toasted malt, citrus and fruity notes. Medium bodied with a light alcoholic texture and hint of dryness with an average carbonation. Moderated sweet flavour with light acidic. Sweet and acidic like finish.

bottle @ the white horse. Again one of my rates that have been interrupted by nosey people trying to find out why i’m sitting in a pub, drink tons of little halfs and wont stop writing notes in my little book.... ar... gentle citrus, grass, wheat and flowers. ap... hazy yellow, little creamy head fl... dry, phenolic ( i was hoping that silly words would put them off. failed...), pine, spice, pepper. p.... round, balanced, long, mouthwatering. and... and then a puppy walked in and wasn’t that intersting any more. Bless the common folk :-)

(Draught at Pikkulintu on 2008-04-11) Hazy yellow. Fruity nose.Dry and fruity at first. After warming up, softens a bit and becomes sweeter. Nice.

Bottle. [thank you, dedollewaitor]
Pours deep amber orange with a fine, creamy, yet rather fizzy off-white head. Aroma is great, lots of chewy malts, yeast, pine-like hops, good caramel. Nice creamy mouthfeel with lots of tiny bottles. Flavour is wonderful, very dry, nice malt balance with an affirmative bitterness. This is one nice, bitter Belgian :o)
Earlier Rating: 2/3/2007 Total Score: 3.5
Bottle courtesy of beermouth. Pours a hazy deep yellow, bordering on orange. A fine, slightly thicker than film, head stays on the beer. Aroma has flowers, fruits, yeast and a soft sulfuric note. Taste is typical Belgian, sweet, slightly fruity sour, quite dry. A slight bitterness at the end. Not vinious, but warming.