De Ranke Guldenberg

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

From 33cl bottle, best before 10/2012. Orange cloudy body with a puffy large head leaving a great lacing. Yeast and malts in the nose, very aromatic. Sweet malts with hints of citrics at first approach. It develops in mouth with a rather bitter hoppy finish. Lacks some complexity in the middle palate. Medium body with a low carbonation that fits well. An extremely nice beer that is close to greatness without really achieving it. Will need to re-rate.

330ml bottle (?, Amsterdam)
Orange, healthy creamy head. Nutty aroma, musty mushrooms. Fizzy in the mouth, which is a shame. Big hoppy aroma after swirling. Big malty taste. Excellent!

Pours a dark golden color with some cloudiness and a brilliant white head. Nice lacing follows. Sweet hoppy fruit aroma and flavor. Nice and smooth on the tongue. Easy drinking for the alcohol content. Very nice.

Bottle. Sweet yeasty aroma, very appealing. Fruity with a tendency to gush a bit. Strong honey and a slight floral note. Cloudy, particulate dark dirty golden body (darker brown by the end of the bottle), still see-through, with a heavily-lacing, rocky off-white head. Slightly sweet initially, but dries out enormously, and by mid-body is bone-dry. Yeast is nice, with some orange and lots of spice. Honey and white and black pepper. Light-medium bitterness with some nice earthy, floral elements. Zest and rind but no pith. Medium-full body and slightly warming. Lots going on here! I don’t know that this stands out particularly against other Belgians, but it’s dry and soothing. Really, really nice!

33 cL bottle, trade with fonefan, thanks Jan. Pours hazy orange with a white head. Hoppy, light orange fruity and soapy. Mild caramel malt and yeats flavour at first. Hits a solid orange fruity hops note before a mellow yeast flavour blends in. Finish is a blend between yeast flavour and bitter hops. Gains a short soapy mouthfeel before the finish. Rather dry finish compared to a caramel sweet flavour. Nice but again a bit strange cocktail.
Earlier Rating: 1/20/2008 Total Score: 3.2
33 cL botte, thanks to faroeviking. Pours hazy yellow with a huge and dense white head. Mild citrus aroma. Flavour is mild malty, dry and with a solid yeast note. Ends mild towards woody note. Nice yeasty blonde.

bottle at O’Donnell’s in Ft Wayne - Pours hazy gold with a big white head. Bready malts, yeast, and hops mix in the mild aroma and as one would expect the flavors are similar. It’s definitely on the hop heavy side for a Belgian ale. It has a lively palate, a medium body, and a dry finish. It’s good and I enjoyed this one more than their XX Bitter, but I still find it below average for the high bar I’ve set previously rating Belgian strong ales.

Quite dry in its overall appeal. The flavor of grainy malts and low grassy hops flavors make me think of farmers drinker this after a long day in the field.

The aroma is funky with yeast, malt, and spices. The appearance is hazy gold with a large head. The flavor is like the aroma with a dry finish. The palate is thin. Overall it’s no good.