Gulden Draak Brewmaster's Edition | Brouwerij Van Steenberge N.V.
Brewed by:
Brouwerij Van Steenberge N.V.
Belgium
vansteenberge.com
Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale
Alcohol by volume (ABV): 10.50%
Availability: Fall
Notes / Commercial Description:
No notes at this time.
Added by firemanmike109 on 11-06-2013
Ratings: 302 | Reviews: 64
4.23/5 rDev +5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
4.28/5 rDev +6.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Purchased for $22 at Arrow Wine. Shared one weekend afternoon with my 26 year old daughter.
Quite often great beer + barrel aging = disaster, but in my opinion, this is turned out to be a great variation on a great beer. 4.25
A - Pours a golden color, slightly hazy, with a two-finger off-white head. 4.25
S - Dark fruits, raisins, some apple (my daughter pointed this out), honey, spiciness. 4.25
T - Dark Belgian ale flavors with a substantial spiciness showing through the sedate brown sugar, vanilla whiskey., 4.25
F - Medium bodied, malty with a slight sweetness, smooth, the ABV is evident but only in a nice integrated way. No real heat. 4.5
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look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Purchased for $22 at Arrow Wine. Shared one weekend afternoon with my 26 year old daughter.
Quite often great beer + barrel aging = disaster, but in my opinion, this is turned out to be a great variation on a great beer. 4.25
A - Pours a golden color, slightly hazy, with a two-finger off-white head. 4.25
S - Dark fruits, raisins, some apple (my daughter pointed this out), honey, spiciness. 4.25
T - Dark Belgian ale flavors with a substantial spiciness showing through the sedate brown sugar, vanilla whiskey., 4.25
F - Medium bodied, malty with a slight sweetness, smooth, the ABV is evident but only in a nice integrated way. No real heat. 4.5
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3.46/5 rDev -14.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
4.39/5 rDev +8.9%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25
4.18/5 rDev +3.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4
L- Pours an amber orange with a head that dissapares to nothing in no time.
S- Lots of sark fruit with some citrus undeetones.
T- Dark fruits candied with great belgian yeast backing. Whiskey barrel slaps it on the ass on the way out.
F- Champaign feel eith freat warming.
O- Wonderful, complex, fun beer.
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look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4
L- Pours an amber orange with a head that dissapares to nothing in no time.
S- Lots of sark fruit with some citrus undeetones.
T- Dark fruits candied with great belgian yeast backing. Whiskey barrel slaps it on the ass on the way out.
F- Champaign feel eith freat warming.
O- Wonderful, complex, fun beer.
317 characters
4.5/5 rDev +11.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
3.18/5 rDev -21.1%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
Light, clear brown.
Sweet malt.
The finish is very liquor. Sweet malt comes out as honey and vanilla, sorta hefe-esque banana and clove thing, too. Love the original, this one's not for me.
Dry, maybe lighter on the carbonation.
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look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
Light, clear brown.
Sweet malt.
The finish is very liquor. Sweet malt comes out as honey and vanilla, sorta hefe-esque banana and clove thing, too. Love the original, this one's not for me.
Dry, maybe lighter on the carbonation.
231 characters
3.79/5 rDev -6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
4.25/5 rDev +5.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.45/5 rDev +10.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
4.49/5 rDev +11.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.4/5 rDev +9.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
3.29/5 rDev -18.4%
look: 5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3.5
2015 Edition
Look: Both the bottle and the beer are fantastic looking. They really hit the nail on the head with a dark, cloudy amber pour.
Smell: I'm a huge fan of bourbon and bourbon barrel-aged beers, but not if the beer has no other discerning characteristics other than bourbon.
Taste: Again, overpowering on the bourbon; I can barely tell it's beer. Strong notes of oak and vanilla but quite overpowering. Also, the aftertaste is quite sweet.
Feel: Holy carbonation! This thing fizzed up like crazy on the pour and immediately fell flat. I've never had a beer go so foamy on me, and I've poured a lot of beers.
Overall: It's just too bourbon-y for me. I like bourbon, I like beer, I like bourbon beer when I can still tell it's beer. I think the reason most whisky barrel-aged beers are stouts and porters is because lighter beers (like this one) get overpowered by the whisky flavors while darker beers are able to maintain and enhance their identity because they already contain strong characteristics. I wouldn't say I hate this beer, but I wouldn't pay the hefty price to drink it again.
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look: 5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3.5
2015 Edition
Look: Both the bottle and the beer are fantastic looking. They really hit the nail on the head with a dark, cloudy amber pour.
Smell: I'm a huge fan of bourbon and bourbon barrel-aged beers, but not if the beer has no other discerning characteristics other than bourbon.
Taste: Again, overpowering on the bourbon; I can barely tell it's beer. Strong notes of oak and vanilla but quite overpowering. Also, the aftertaste is quite sweet.
Feel: Holy carbonation! This thing fizzed up like crazy on the pour and immediately fell flat. I've never had a beer go so foamy on me, and I've poured a lot of beers.
Overall: It's just too bourbon-y for me. I like bourbon, I like beer, I like bourbon beer when I can still tell it's beer. I think the reason most whisky barrel-aged beers are stouts and porters is because lighter beers (like this one) get overpowered by the whisky flavors while darker beers are able to maintain and enhance their identity because they already contain strong characteristics. I wouldn't say I hate this beer, but I wouldn't pay the hefty price to drink it again.
1,115 characters
4.1/5 rDev +1.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25
Gulden Draak Brewmaster's Edition from Brouwerij Van Steenberge N.V.
4.03
out of 5
based on 302 ratings.
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
L - warm golden-orange color; big, foamy, pillowy head
S - Belgian yeasty esthers leaning towards honey and clove, minimal candy-banana.
T - candy sugar/honey; Belgian yeasty esthers of clove, with minimal candy-banana. Vanilla notes from the barrels. There is some alcohol, but with a cognac-y vibe rather than turpentine.
F - thick, but not overly syrupy. A pleasant alcohol warmth, and does not burn in the throat.
O - I am not a fan of Gulden Draak, nor of Belgian beers that have that candy-banana character. This, however, is a very welcome exception that I am going to attribute to the vanilla and the cognac vibes from the barrel. In fact, I really, really enjoyed this, and I would definitely buy again.
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