Gulden Draak Brewmaster's Edition
Brouwerij Van Steenberge N.V.

From the 11.2 oz bottle in a snifter. This unique brew pours a muddled orange tinged
brown with a nice head of khaki foam that subsides to a thick ring, thin dusty layer, and
sports some nice lacing. Nose of whiskey, dates, figs, candy sugars, faint oak, toast, and
fruity esters. Flavors expand on the nose with candy sugars vying for dominance over
layers of spicy whiskey, oak, and vanilla. Dark bread (toasted), banana, light clove, and
hints of mace / allspice show with warmth as does tart dried cherries. Mouth feel is
medium light, smooth, soft carbonation, lightly warming, and finishing subtly
dry from the whiskey.

Some bubblegum shows up when it is colder.

Overall, a SOLID brew to say the least....let it warm and be rewarded.

Cheers

 

330 ml bottle, as Gulden Draak Brewmaster, from Vinmonopolet, Nettbutikken. ABV is 10.5%. Amber colour, moderate off-white head. Aroma of malts, caramel, kandij sugar syrup, mild spices, a hint of oak. Soft and rich mouthfeel. The medium sweet flavour has the same elements as the aroma, but the oaky notes are more pronounced now. Pleasant to drink.

 

A little more boozy than the classic Gulden Draak. Malty taste with a slight bitter aftertaste.

 

 

91

 

 

A - Pours a deep Copper colour with an off White head that retains well and laces
S - Nice floric aromas with some zesty aromas also, a touch boozy.
T - Oh yeah really nice complex citrus, malt and darker fruit flavours up front. The finish is a little boozy but buttery lingering flavours.
M - Medium body with medium carbonation which is very smooth
O- This has tones of the famous De Garre Tripel it is quite a beer. Strong but yet complex and smooth.

 

Pours into a chalice a rich amber with a large fluffy off white head that settles ever so slowly into a frothy mass,multiple rings of lace are left behind as it settles.Caramel/vanilla,toast,and phenols in the nose,quite spicy wich isn't so bad with the warming whiskey notes.Quite rich on the palate,deep engrained vanilla toffee flavors with some sharpness from the whiskey,finishing spicy from the yeast.Though it migh be a little overwhelmingly phenolic but I was wrong,a very rich Belgian dark here.

 

Deep brown with a gold sheen. There’s a fairly hazy complexion and a fingernail of beige around most of the rim and covering a majority of the top. The aroma is sweet malt and vanilla. I’m tasting lots of sweet malt, vanilla, and caramel. The mouth is chewy and sticky.

Pours a crystal clear, deep amber coloration with a small, fizzy head. Smells of bready, caramel malt, toffee and dark fruit, with just a hint of estery spice and notes of plum, fig and clove. Taste is a great balance of bready, quite caramelly malt, toffee, brown sugar dark fruit, estery fruit and spice and a rather subtle barrel presence, with notes of raisin, plum, fig, red apple, banana, clove and just a hint of cinnamon, vanilla, oak. Finishes with a medium sweetness and some dark, estery fruit and spice lingering in the aftertaste. Smooth mouthfeel with a rich body and low/medium carbonation.

This is a rather nice Belgian Strong Ale that's rich and sticky without becoming too syrupy sweet or overly boozy though, with a good balance of dark and estery fruit, spices and subtle barrel notes that still add a distinct feel to this. Overall, this makes for a rather pleasant sipper that's complex and well-balanced, although the barrel notes are rather subtle and could probably be a little more pronounced here, which doesn't really detract from the overall enjoyment though.