On the belfry of Ghent’s city hall, there is a golden dragon weathervane that has surveyed the city for centuries — a symbol of East Flanders that Brouwerij Van Steenberge borrowed when naming their strongest beer. The Gulden Draak, meaning golden dragon in Dutch, is a Belgian dark tripel at 10.5% ABV: deep brown, complex, carrying dark caramel and dried fruit alongside the warming alcohol and yeast character that a beer of this strength and style requires. The name is accurate in one sense — this beer demands the same attention the dragon demands from the square below. If you are Belgian and living in Tokyo, the Golden Draak is the beer you open when the occasion has earned something this considered.
East Flanders’s iconic dark tripel since 1992
Brouwerij Van Steenberge is based in Ertvelde, East Flanders, and the Gulden Draak was released in its modern form in 1992. The brewery has operated in the region across multiple generations, and the Gulden Draak represents its most recognised international product — a beer that sits in the unusual position of being classified as a dark tripel, a style that combines the strength and yeast character of a Belgian tripel with the dark malt complexity more associated with a dubbel or strong dark ale.
The pour is deep brown, and the flavour profile delivers what the colour and the 10.5% ABV suggest: dark caramel, dried fruit — fig, raisin, a suggestion of prune — and a complex yeast character from Belgian high-gravity fermentation that gives the beer its spice and depth. The warming alcohol is present throughout, folded into the malt rather than sitting separately, and the finish is long and complex rather than clean and short. This is a beer that changes across the glass as it warms slightly from cellar temperature toward room temperature, which is why experienced drinkers of the Gulden Draak tend to pour it into a wide-mouthed goblet and give it time before the first sip.
How Golden Draak Beer is drunk at home
Santé! / Op uw gezondheid! (sahn-TAY / op-uw geh-ZONT-hayt) — French and Flemish respectively, both meaning “to your health.” In East Flanders, Flemish is the natural call, and a beer named for Ghent’s most recognisable symbol tends to prompt the toast with some feeling.
In Belgium, the Gulden Draak belongs to the most deliberate moment of the Sunday family lunch — the bottle opened after the meal has settled, when the afternoon has found its pace and nobody is in a hurry. Stoofvlees, the slow-braised beef stew reduced to a dense, caramelised glaze, is the pairing the Golden Draak was effectively made for: the dark caramel and dried fruit of the beer and the sweet-savory depth of the stew operate on the same level of intensity, each giving the other something to work against. Moules-frites suits an earlier point in the meal, but a glass of Gulden Draak alongside Belgian fries with mayonnaise — salt, fat, and ten percent alcohol warming from within — is not a combination anyone at the table objects to.
Belgian beer festivals, where the Gulden Draak consistently draws attention as one of the stronger and more complex non-Trappist beers available, give it an audience beyond the Sunday table — people who seek out the bottle specifically for what it represents in terms of Belgian brewing range.
How to drink it in Japan
The Golden Draak is a cold-season beer in Japan without qualification — November through February, when Tokyo winters are sharp enough that 10.5% ABV with warming alcohol arrives as an asset rather than a consideration to manage. It is also the beer to open when the occasion calls for something that nobody in the room has tried: St. Nicholas Day on December 6, a year-end gathering of Belgians in Tokyo, or any evening where the table is ready for something that requires a little explanation before the first pour.
At Lawson, pick up a dark chocolate bar above 70% cacao — the bitterness and depth of the chocolate find a direct counterpart in the dark caramel and dried fruit of the Gulden Draak, each element clarifying the other rather than competing. For a composed pairing at home, serve it with gyuniku no nikomi — Japanese beef tendon stew, slow-simmered with soy, mirin, and sake until the collagen renders and the sauce thickens. The reduction-heavy, slightly sweet broth and the deep fruit and caramel of the Golden Draak follow the same logic as Stoofvlees alongside a dark tripel: intensity meeting intensity, the result more than the sum of its parts.
At Tokyo’s specialist Belgian beer bars, a 330ml pour of the Gulden Draak — when it appears on the menu at all — can run ¥1,400 or more. By the case from Omori Mart, the per-bottle cost is considerably lower, and twelve bottles is the appropriate quantity for a beer this strong — enough for a season of deliberate evenings rather than a single occasion.
Get Golden Draak Beer delivered in Japan
Golden Draak Beer is available from Omori Mart in a 330ml × 24 bottle case, delivered nationwide across Japan.
- Free shipping on orders over ¥15,000
- Pay at FamilyMart, 7-Eleven, or Lawson — or by bank transfer or card
- Nationwide delivery to any address in Japan
Rakuten and Amazon Japan do not carry this label. Omori Mart is where Belgians in Japan find the beers that sit at the serious end of the range — including the one named for Ghent’s golden dragon.
[Shop Golden Draak Beer →]
https://omorimart.com/product/golden-draak-beer-330ml-x-24-bottles/
Santé in Ertvelde, where Van Steenberge put a Ghent symbol on a bottle in 1992 and made something worth the name, and kanpai at a Tokyo table in January — deep brown, warming, complex, and absolutely the right beer for a night this cold.
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