A dark triple like the Gulden Draak, coming in a beautiful white shining bottle, and poured into the glorious tulip chalice, smells victory. The original Gulden Draak (24 feet long and 10 feet high !!!) certainly represents victory. Legend tells us, it was the Norwegian King Sigrid Magnusson who granted an exotic golden statue in the shape of a dragon to the emperor of Constantinople (now Istanbul in Turkey) during the crusade of 1111, after liberating the city from the Muslims. The emperor placed the statue on top of the tallest tower of the city. At the same time, we have an explanation why the dragon has no feet, and is build in the shape of a Viking ship: the design comes from the Scandinavian North.

A century later after King Magnusson, it was the Fleming Baldwin IX, who had become the emperor of Constantinople in one of the next crusades. Sitting on his throne in Istanbul he fell in love with the beautiful statue, and he moved the statue to his home country, where he placed it on top of his village church. The name of the village is Watervliet, about 5 miles away from Ertvelde where the Gulden Draak is brewed today.
The statue was in fact too nice and too big for a little place like Watervliet, and it made the two major cities in its vicinity jealous. Bruges and Ghent actually had a severe battle for the Golden Dragon in 1382. Ghent won. Thus, on top of the Belfry of Ghent, you can see the Golden Dragon in all its shining beauty. In all fairy tales, of all cultures, the dragon always defends the treasure. The Flemish cities kept their treasures in their Belfries, who can only be found in Flanders. The treasures, they were protecting so dearly, was their gold and more importantly, the documents defining the privileges the cities received from the king. One such privilege was the right to brew beer. Until such a privilege was obtained, all beer was brewed by the abbeys. The Catholic Church and the Abbeys had obtained the monopoly to brew beer from the king and defended that monopoly for over 500 years! The cities broke that monopoly.

The Gulden Draak represented and represents for the people of Ghent their free spirit and independence. Every 20 years or so, they have to bring down the Gulden Draak, to clean it up and add more gold, because the contemporary environment is not so friendly for golden statues. The Gulden Draak dark triple ale is a festive beer. The Gulden Draak is a reward for you. You can indulge in one of the absolute finest and most complex beers of the world. You deserve it. It is fabulous at the end of a good meal, when you drink it as a dessert.

Come with us in September to admire the statue of the Gulden Draak in Ghent, and to enjoy many Gulden Draak ales on the same trip.
Newsletter April 1999