The Gulden Draak Cuvée Prestige Bourbon by Van Steenberge takes Ghent’s golden dragon and lays it to rest for sixteen weeks in oak that once held American bourbon. Lot 3, 2022: a limited edition of just 5,784 bottles.
The Legend of the Golden Dragon
Van Steenberge has brewed in Ertvelde, in East Flanders, since 1784 — still a family house, now in its sixth generation. The dragon itself has watched over Ghent from the top of the belfry since 1377, and its legend reads like a medieval road trip: figurehead of a Viking longship, offered to Constantinople, carried to Bruges, then seized as war booty by the people of Ghent after the Battle of Beverhout in 1382. In 1986 the brewery revived the symbol as Gulden Draak, a dark and powerful beer later crowned “best beer in the world” by the American Tasting Institute in 1998.
“We do everything with fire — with the dragon’s fire.” — Brouwerij Van Steenberge
The Ageing Technique
Gulden Draak Classic is no ordinary strong ale: it is refermented with a wine yeast, the house signature that guarantees both long cellaring and an evolving flavour. For this Cuvée Prestige, the beer rests sixteen weeks in 190-litre American bourbon barrels used only twice before — first by the Old Forester distillery, then by Early Times. The oak does its quiet chemistry: vanillin drawn from the lignin, oak lactones (the so-called “whisky lactones”) lending coconut and wood, char-born caramel and toasted notes, and tannins for structure. Micro-oxygenation through the staves softens the alcohol.
The Visual Analysis
A deep copper robe with ruby-garnet glints, lightly hazy from the living yeast still in suspension. A creamy head settles into a fine, persistent collar; here the carbonation is felt more than it is seen.
The Nose
A fruity explosion: raisin, plum and ripe red fruit, lifted by a faint vinous acidity. Then the barrel takes over — wood, caramel, soft vanilla and a surprising smoky-toasted edge born of the heavily charred oak.
On the Palate
Sweetness opens the dance, immediately woken by a carbonation that prickles the palate, far livelier than the eye suggested. The classic strong-ale arc follows: caramel, frank bourbon, a measured sweetness reined in by the alcoholic warmth, all over a long finish. The 10.5% stays elegantly folded in — a dragon that purrs rather than breathes fire.
The Perfect Pairing according to Doctor Beer
A fresh red-fruit dessert: a panna cotta under a raspberry coulis, or a thin red-fruit tart. The bright acidity of the berries cuts the caramelised sweetness, while the fruit echoes the beer’s raisin and plum. Contrast that refreshes, resonance that lingers — the ideal way to close a meal.
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A classic from 1986, reborn in oak without losing its soul.
