De Ranke Guldenberg

Brewed by Brouwerij De Ranke
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Dottignies/Dottenijs, Belgium

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

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Clear amber coloured body with orange highlights and a thinnish off-white head. Aroma of curacao, figs, sugar, wheat, yeast and nice fruits-very strong, very sweet and very alcoholic! Medium-bodied; Effervescent taste with pit fruits and apricots up front, fading to more of a maltiness and sweetness later on. Aftertaste shows some bitterness, but mostly alcohol and sweetness. Overall, a nice strong Belgie with good sugars and flavours. Couldn’t find this in Washington, so I bought it in Upstate New York of all places! I sampled this 33 cL bottle purchased at K&E Discount Beverage in New Paltz, New York on 15 July 2006 on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

[33 cl bottle @ home] Quite unusual for a tripel, but in a good way. pours a full golden colour, with a clean white, medium head. At first the aroma was all funky from the brett, mostly lemon, then, as it warmed up, more fruity aromas [pear?] came up, with some spiciness to it. Medium body carbonation, very well hidden alcohol, with the malty sweetness taken over by a mostly herbal, dry bitteness. Long fruity and hoppy aftertaste. I love the particular twist De Ranke gives to all their beers, this one was excellent, but I prefered XX Bitter even more.

A golden color with a white head. Aroma contains some lemons, spices, brown sugar, and peaches. Flavor is slightly bitter but somewhat sweet as well. The flavor contains some citrus, spices, and more brown sugar. Some alcohol in the finish. Overall a nice belgian.

330ml bottle from Ales by Mail. Poured a crisp & clear, effervescent golden amber colour with a frothy & lasting two finger lacy white head. Banana, yeasty Belgian esters, spicy citrus fruits, bread & some brown sugar sweetness too. Spicy dry citrus flavours, Belgian yeast, subtle herbal, clove notes & banana on the tongue. Medium body and medium to full carbonation that creates an added dryness to counterbalance the otherwise sweet malty profile. Has a subtle pithy citrus, herbal bitterness but finishes mostly sweet & malty with some good lingering bread tones. Certainly a well composed strong ale with great structure & finesse.

750ml bottle from Bierzwerg. Clear golden colour with huge head. Aroma is yeast, malty, fruity. Flavour is malt, hoppy finish. Glad that I have extra bottle to test this again soon.

Pours hazy, straw golden, pillowy white head. Great staying power and lacing. Floral,hay, grass and wood on the nose. Once on the palate, esters, earth malts, clean, grass, spearmint, Brett, sweet and long finish. Carbonated and rich. Quite nice and nuanced

Tap @ Fairbar. Pours golden with a white head leaving nice lacings, loads of fine bubbles. Aroma of malt, belgian yeast, light dusty, peach, melon. Taste is malt, yeast, prapes, sweet fruity, light spices. Medium body, lively carbonation. 140412

33cl Brown bottle, best before Feb 2014, drank during one of my ’random beer tasting evenings’ in Aug 2010. The bottle was poured into a ’Hoegaarden Grand Cru’ stemmed tulip, slowly to keep as much sediment as possible in the bottle. Dull hazy orange hue to the body, maybe some sediment got out the bottle afterall. The head was small and white coloured. The smell was of honey melon and oranges, with raw sugerbeet and alcohol esters for fair measure. The orange thoughts from the appearance and aroma stayed with me into the taste, so orange flavours could be detected, not so sweet as the aroma though, other citrus notes come to play suggesting bitterness and as the mouth drys a hop bitterness takes over the final hurdle of the palate. Very, very drinkable and something I’ll endevour to have again.

UPDATED: MAY 15, 2012 In bottiglia. Color giallo scuro opalescente ed effervescente con una soffice schiuma bianca mediamente persistente. Aroma pungente con sentori speziati e luppolati piuttosto marcati; il gusto è un fantastico equilibrio tra i malti e i luppoli, con lievi note resinose e agrumate. Di corpo medio ma decisamente robusta al palato grazie al tenore alcolico, il finale è leggermente più amaro e molto asciutto. Una belgian ale sorprendentemente rinfrescante e soddisfacente!

Really good, but not typical Belgian Strong Ale. A bit too hoppy, but this isn’t something that ruins the flavor at all. Light golden, crisp, and medium bodied. Tried with Dave and Olivier at the Paas in Den Haag.

Lleugerament amarga i seca. i amb certa textura maltosa. Complexa i molt interessant.