Belgian beer. I don’t drink enough Belgian beer. Really, can you ever drink enough Belgian beer? I don’t think so. The problem is there are so many wonderful American brews these days that I end up drinking a lot of those. Still, I do sneak in a fair amount of Belgian beer, like the wonderful Gulden Draak 9000 Quadruple from the Van Steenberge brewery of Ertvelde.

Quadruple is a style that is unique to Belgium. Sure, a few American craft brewers produce quads, but it is certainly not the most common of styles. Unlike the dark malty, yeasty dubbels and the golden, fruity and yeasty tripels, quads are more idiosyncratic and indeed even random at times. They will be stronger than dubbels (they hover around around 8%) and tripels (around 9%), generally over 10% in strength. They can be dark, or they might be pale, and sometimes they will feature the characteristics of dubbel and tripel.

From the bottle label:

Gulden Draak 9000 Quadruple Ale with an exceptional and complex taste sensation and a deep golden amberblonde color. An ode to the city of 9000 Ghent with the golden dragon on top of the belfy.

If you haven’t already guessed it, Gulden Draak means golden dragon. More on the beer from the website:

25 years after one of the most recognized and successful beers in the United States, Gulden Draak gets a sibling, the Gulden Draak 9000 Quadruple…..

The new recipe, based on three different varieties of malt are added in a volume four times the content of lager, which provide the Gulden Draak 9000 Quad with a deep rich amber color and a fruity, spicy scent…

Just like the other specialy beers of Brewery Van Steenberge, the Gulden Draak 9000 Quad is a secondary fermented beer. A special wine yeast is used for the secondary fermentation, which contributes to the grandiose taste.

Gulden Draak 9000 Quadruple has an alcohol content of 10.7% by volume-strong stuff! The price is equally strong-$17.99 for four 11.2-ounce bottles, or $14.99 for a 750ML bottle. Best deal I have seen is a gift pack with 2 bottles of Gulden Draak, 2 of the 9000 and a glass (see photo) for $19.99. Also note that the beer does have a head, but a camera fail forced me to retake a photo after the head had subsided. I have another bottle and will remedy that at some point.

Gulden Draak 9000 Quadruple pours to a murky golden color with a medium head of creamy foam and a lush yeasty and pineapple fruit nose. Taking a sip, the beer is full of rich malt, fruity banana and pineapple, yeasty funk, phenols, dried apricot, and a big warm alcohol finish.

As I said, quads vary greatly from brewery to brewery, and this one is like a bigger, fruitier version of your average tripel. That’s just wonderful, and this is a wonderful beer indeed. It is a bit pricey as I mentioned, and I might drink it less often for that, though I’ll still drink it when I can. Because, you know, I really need to drink more Belgian beer…..

And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.

*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.

(B)=Bottled

(D)=Draft

 



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