Gulden Draak
Since we have this food & drink section on the site, I figured I might as well make use of it some more. I have no idea how to review food though – I’d rather leave that to the experts. I would consider reviewing wine, but I haven’t taken a course on that. So that leaves beer. The cool thing about reviewing beer is that everyone can do it!* So I’m doing it now, and I’m starting with Gulden Draak.
Gulden Draak (which is Dutch for Golden Dragon), is a heavy Belgian beer brewed by Van Steenberge. Anyone will tell you that beer from Belgium is the best you can get, and especially these smaller, older breweries tend to produce very pleasant beers. As evidenced by the little story on their site, the name Gulden Draak has quite a bit of history behind it. That’s nice for the marketing people, but we’re more interested in the product itself.
Gulden Draak is really strong at 10.5 % alcohol, and since it features re-fermentation on the bottle, I was expecting quite a bit of foam. Nothing could prepare me for the amount of head rising up when I poured it into a glass though. There will be several inches of foam, so you’ll want to be careful when pouring it. The foam itself is quite sticky, and it has just a hint of sweetness.
That sweetness continues when you get to the actual beer, which has a fruity note. On the site it reads that there are also hints of coffee and chocolate, but I didn’t catch those. In fact after a few swigs I was almost ready to dismiss it as a pretty red-coloured beer, but nothing special when it comes to taste. That’s when the other flavours kicked in.
Most notably, I got a pretty strong aroma of wood, and the latter half of the glass almost tasted like whiskey – that must have been the barley speaking. I can now see why Van Steenberge suggest to substitute the whiskey in Irish Coffee for this. It’s definitely a pleasant beer, and despite its heaviness it goes down very smoothly (so be careful you don’t drink too fast). It comes in a pretty bottle too, which is also nice. All in all, it takes a bit before it gets going, but then it’s worth your while.
And that concludes the first beer review on Cultural Zest! Please let us know what you think. Do you want to see more of these (not too many, mind, I’m not planning on becoming an alcoholic for this), perhaps you even have a specific beer in mind? Also, if you want to write a review of your own (of any cultural product), contact us and we’ll set you up with an account!
* Excluding those who are not old enough to drink alcohol yet. Please be aware we’re not advocating the abuse of alcohol. Beer should be enjoyed sparingly, not drunk to get drunk, and not used by children or pregnant women. Also, please don’t sue us.
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