Style and Colour: Dark Stout Beer.
Taste: Powerful, full-bodied and complex. Soft sweet undertones (caramel), ripe fruit and slightly spicy (licorice, star anise).
Alcohol: 12 % ABV
Drinking Temperature: 12 - 14 °C
Fermentation: Top-fermented beer that re-ferments in the bottle. The typical roasted flavor is obtained by adding roasted, caramelized malt.
The Brewery: Brouwerij Van Steenberge. Located in Ertvelde, North of Ghent in Belgium. The history of the brewery goes back to 1784. Many hundreds of home breweries in Flanders made their own beer for their own consumption or as a side activity of farming, because it was safer to drink beer than water.
Origin: Legend says that the Golden Dragon was the figurehead for the longship used by Norse king, Sigrid Magnusson, on his crusade in 1111. He offered the statue to the emperor of Constantinople (the current Istanbul) to put it on the cupola of the Aya Sophia. Some hundred years later, the Flemish count Baldwin IX had the showpiece transported to Bruges. After the battle on the field of Beverhout in 1382, the inhabitants of Ghent took the dragon as war booty and put it on top of their Belfry. Such an imposing symbol that has lasted for over 6 centuries needed an equally imposing beer.
Food: Can be served as an aperitif or a digestive. It makes a great alternative for whisky in Irish Coffee.
