March 29th, 2014 - A Gulden Draak For Heljareyga!

Gott kvøld!!  Good evening' my friends!  The Meista and Viking bro, Dain getting down to our Viking Danish/Farosese roots here and pairing a Gulden Draak Ale from Brouwerij Van Steenberge N.V. with the self-titled EP by Faroese Viking folk/power metal band Heljareyga!    Luftpútufarið hjá mær yður í álli!!

Fronted by Heri Joensen of TÝR fame, Viking folk/power metal band Heljareyga released their kick-ass, self-titled EP in 2010.  (“Heljareyga” literally means deep holes in the rock through which the surf is pushed on the high tide or in bad weather.)  From the Helijareyga facebook page: "Four talented musicians from the Faeroe Islands were brought in for recording Heljareyga.: Guitarist John Ivar Venned and bassist Ísak Petersen play together in the melodic thrash metal band Synarchy (formed in 2004). Second guitar player Ken Johannesen came in from his project The Apocryphal Order and drummer Amon Djurhuus is a familiar face as he filled in for TÝR-drummer Kári Streymoy on several tours in 2008."  Influenced by Bach, Dio, and Yngwie Malmsteen along with traditional Faroe folk music, the album is both aggressive and beautiful.  Fast-paced and emotional, the music combines both modern metal and ancient folk music in the Scandinavian tradition. 

The Gulden Draak Dark Triple from Brouwerij Van Steenberge N.V. is a Belgian Dark Ale.  The Gulden Draak pours a maple syrup brown with a mocha head.  The creamy head of the Gulden Draak is definitely sustained and thick with very strong lacing.  The aroma is malty, sweet, and swirls with notes of banana, nutmeg, and candied apple.  Coming in at 10.5% alcohol, this is a BIG brew... fitting for a Viking!  You can definitely taste the booziness, but it is well-balanced.  Full-bodied, it has a big kick initially, but finishes clean.  The flavor is full of malty sweetness.  There are notes of malty bread, clove, Tootsie Rolls, lemon tea, and dark fruits like prune and date.  The Gulden Draak Ale is another one of those "sippers" in my book, which is perfect for an album such as "Heljareyga EP," which demands that you sit your ass down and make special attention of every cymbal crash, every fiery guitar note, every passage!

Skál!!