Gulden Draak

Brewed by Brouwerij Van Steenberge
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Ertvelde, Belgium

Excellent ale on draft at a local beer bar. Flavors were fruity and creamy and reminiscent of the Belgian Ale style. Very good beer.

33 cL bottle. Pours hazy to murky brown with a lacing tan head. Light earthy aroma with a minor note of caramel. Flavour is extremely sweet and with solid flavour of caramel malt. Dried fruit notes appear just before and into the finish.

Pours a deep dark brown with a huge frothy off white head. Smells of ruit and alcohol. Much sweeter than I would expec for a triple, but the sweetness suits the flavor of plums well. Mouthfeel is great...thick, but not syrupy, and lots of carbonation. This is a very good ale.

beautiful dark orange/brown colored pour with a creamy off white head that lasts to the bottom and sticks to the sides in a pillowy fashion. aroma of caramel, ripe fruit, light yeast and an alcohol sting. the palate is a bit on the sweet side but bearable given the whole package... raisins, alcohol, yeast and a lightly herbal (hops?) burn. medium in body but borderline sticky mouth feel. alcohol cuts through to make it very drinkable...

750, corked, baled, and foiled. Man, they really get into the packaging, don’t they? Looks nice, but a little over the top (yeah, I know, dozens of special releases look even more outlandish).
Anyway, ok--pours a verrrrry dark brown that’s still crystal clear if you get enough light behind it. Thick, creamy, moussy tan head that just goes and goes--you can pour til 2" overflow the top without losing a drop, or you can wait 10 minutes, or something in between.
Nice nose, brown bread and sweet malty goodness, above average intensity but not a room-filler. Medium, creamy body, with some sparse but fairly tingly tiny carb. Nice mouthfeel--not the velvet of a Rochefort 10, but a bit more refreshing for it, so pick your poison on the day.
The mid-palate isn’t exactly a maelstrom of complexity, but it’s delicious: brown bread, nut, a bit of dark pitted tree fruit. Seems to contain no alcohol at all judging by the tongue, which is astonishing. Mild bready finish. Lovely stuff.
I’d forgotten just how good it was, and have taken it for granted all this time. Great beer.

Pours a deep, dark, chocolaty brown with a slight violet or crimson tint. A massive, frothy, cream colored head settles slowly to a small blanket, leaving huge, clumpy, cloud-like lacing on the glass. The aroma is massively sweet, malty, and fruity. Huge notes of dark raisons and prune juice sweeten the already candy-like dark caramel and cream malt base. Nutmeg and clove are present as well, adding spicy depth. The flavor is again intensely sweet. This is basically like a dessert beverage. Concentrated raisons dominate, with figs, plums, and well past ripe bananas each adding their own sugary layer. The thick, syrupy, overly cloying body completes the sugar rush. This is a tasty enough brew, but a few ounces after dinner would be more than enough. Ultimately, its just too sweet for anything other than an occasional few sips.

Pours a shiny ruby colour with a creamy head subsiding to delicate lace. Strong aroma of dried banana with raisin and plums with alcohol coming through. surprisingly thin in mouth. Serious sweetness, banana, apple and dried fruit. Alcohol well concealed but comes on strong at the finish.

Bottled. Pours dark brown, tawny, dense, foamy head, lacy, rocky. Nose is raisins, candy sugar, malt. Flavor is sweer, malty, alcohol, bruity. Finish is mildly hoppy, alcohol. Mouthfeel is medium.