Brewery: Brouwerij Van Steenberge
Beer: Bière Du Boucanier Golden
Style: Belgian Strong Pale Ale
ABV: 11%
Character: brewed with yeast developed and cultured in our laboratory. Triple fermentation process, non-pasteurized, fully natural product, refermentation in the bottle and keg.
Ratings at time of Review: BA: 86 | RB: 79
Metal Connection: RUNNING WILD – Diamonds of the Black Chest

Rating: 4/5

Not only do I love to support the small local breweries from around the US, I am very fond of Belgian beers of all kind. Every now and then when I visit my local Craft Beer bottle shops, I do find myself scanning the import section for some good Belgian beers to try out. One day while stopping by at Total Wine & More I found this awesome looking bottle represented by some killer artwork of a pirate and a cool looking font. Of course I bought it for that reason, oh, and because it is a Belgian Strong Pale Ale.

Using a Ter Dolen stemmed wine glass, the appearance of Bière Du Boucanier Golden is a clear golden color, topped with an inch wide white foamy head. Good head retention throughout, with minimal sticky lines of lacing down the glass.

Ah the smell of a good Belgian beer. Damn, do I love the aroma. Ripe bananas, citrus zest; orange and lemon, grains, coriander, honey and a mild grassy scent all show up in the nose of this beer.

The taste is pretty spot with the nose, as well. Good Belgian beer qualities like ripe bananas and coriander, mostly coming from the Belgian yeast. Flavor profiles of citrus zest, light grains, honey, and a hint of grassy hops also make their appearance.

Bière Du Boucanier Golden has a medium body with a syrupy mouthfeel, above average carbonation, and a dry finish.

I’m sure I am not alone when I say this, but I think most Belgian beers are way too similar to each other, unless, of course, there are added specialty ingredients to the beer. The good thing is though, is that I really enjoy Belgian style beers. I remember when I first got into Craft Beer many many years ago, I thought Belgian beers were gross. I used to say they tasted like leftover hot dog water. You know, the water in the pot after boiling hot dogs. Over the years, I developed a liking for the region’s beers, and in fact, like I have said several times in this review, I actually love Belgian beers now. I can’t believe I used to not like them. Damn, now I want another good Belgian beer right now! Bière Du Boucanier Golden Ale is one beer I could drink a lot of. I look forward to purchasing another bottle of this.

Metal Connection: Here we have a pirate themed beer, so naturally I would pair this with a pirate themed band, or song. There are way too many choices now a days, since Pirate Metal is a thing now. I have already used the band Alestorm once before in another review, so they were out of the question. I don’t really like to use the same band twice. Well anyway, I happily chose another great Heavy/Power Metal band who throughout their career themed their music around pirates and their adventures. I am talking about Running Wild from Germany. They didn’t always start off this way, as their very early material was about Heavy Metal, Satan, and the band even had a pentagram of sorts around their logo, as seen on their 1984 debut full length album, Gates to Purgatory. In 1987, when the band released their third full length album, Under Jolly Roger, the pirate theme was obvious. The song I chose, “Diamond of the Black Chest” was taken from this same album. Enjoy!