Gulden Draak 9000 poured into a chalice. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn.
One of my favorite places to pretend I’m in Belgium is in Greenville, South Carolina. There’s a great little pub there called The Trappe Door. That’s where I first tried Gulden Draak 9000, a quadruple brewed by the Van Steenberge Brewery in Ertvelde, Belgium.
I know Gulden Draak 9000 sounds like some kind of cyborg or sports car. But there’s an interesting story to the funny name.
The city of Ghent, Belgium, has a golden dragon (or gulden draak in Dutch) at the top of its belfry, which just so happens to be the tallest in the country. So the beer takes its name from that reptilian guardian.
And what about the 9000? Well, that’s the postal code for the city. Beverly Hills, 90210. Gulden Draak, 9000. It helps distinguish the quadruple from the Belgian dark, which is just called Gulden Draak.
Smell: Bourbon and raisin bread.
Sight: This beer is the lightest color quad I’ve ever poured. It is really just amber, not the near black you usually see with a quad. It has an off white head with sudsy legs.
Taste: There is sweet caramel with notes of raisins. There’s a nice fire in the throat. It’s a little less complex compared to others, but it is still very nice.
Alcohol: The dragon tips the scale at 10.7 percent. It is a fiery beverage. Expect a bit of burn.
Overall: I like 9000. It’s an approachable quad. It’s not too cloyingly sweet. And it isn’t one that is going to overwhelm the drinker new to the style.
Bottom line: I bought mine at a bar. But you can pick up a bottle for between $4 and $6. So it is cheaper than, but not as good as Rochefort 10 or St. Bernardus 12.
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