Rochefort Trappistes 10

Brewed by Brasserie Rochefort
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Rochefort, Belgium

Bottle pours a very dark brown with very little light passing through. Has a thin tan head. Aroma is a complex array of dark fruits. Mostly prune and plum. Mouthfeel is thin bodied with a fair amount of carbonation. Flavor is very complex. Has dark fruit flavors, alchohol, dark chocolate caramel, spiciness, cola like features, and is very fruity on the finish. Overall this is a great beer. The only way to balance it more would be to have less alcohol strength or a little more balance between the dark fruit flavors and dark malt sweetness. Still a solid beer.

Pours a somewhat cloudy dark chestnut brown with a loose, quickly-dissipating tan head. Aroma is very deep with multi-faceted complexities. Notes of dark fruits--prune, black grape--with ripe banana and subtle spice supported by a good amount of malt sweetness. A very intriguing damp earthiness suggestive of sasafrass root and cola floats throughout all of this. The flavor comes across much less intensely. There is a lot of dark caramelly malt sweetness and alcohol--no roastedness or hop bitterness--with soft fruitiness and spicy fermentation characteristics. The body is quite light and is dominated by alcohol. The thin, somewhat watery mouthfeel doesn’t posess quite enough substance, combined with a lesser density flavor profile, to support the alcohol strength. Finishes long and very warm. A very interesting beer that stimulates the senses in ways not found in many beers.

Pours dark like you would expect, without too much head. Not an amazing smell, but very complex flavor that morphs as it warms. Easily drinkable without a hint of the 11.3% abv. I’ll miss this one when I head back to the states.

Strong pruney raisin smell. Smells very vinous. Taste is strong -- lots of dry raisin and dark grape. Darker taste. Similar to St Bernardus Abt 12, but overall I didn’t find nearly as much complexity in this brew. Still very enjoyable, however, especially if you like the Belgian Abbott/Quadrupels. I’m just not that big of a fan of the style.

As with the sampling of the R.T. 6 an old bottle from a friends basement. Also in this bottle the foam was small and too short. There is dried fruits and caramell in the aroma. The sweetness is also present in the taste but better balanced than in the R.T.6 with a bigger bitterness.

Chocolate and funky fruit peels on the nose from this black beauty. Slide this one up to the lips and you know it is something special before you even get the first sip. And once that first sip hit the tongue it’s just an explosion of "wow!" flavours. Cherry, chocolate, cookies, bread, vanilla, banana, nuts, caramel and spice, alcohol, it kind of goes on and on until you’re left guessing for more upon each returning sip. A challenging beer that deserves high praise. Drink well.

11.2 oz bottle. Aroma is interesting, not overpowering, includes raisins, nuts, some sweet fruit, almond cookie, and very minor alcohol. Plentiful tan cream pillow-like head, ok lacing, dark milk chocolate color with lots of sediment, completely opaque. Flavor profile is again interesting and complex, cane sugar and bittersweet at the start, a lot of raisin, fig, decent amount of alcoholic bite in middle, then a hard to describe fruit sweetness, best i can do to describe is a balanced alignment of grapes and a combo of mild red berries, in the finish into a slightly smoother finish. I would love to try this one aged a couple years to mellow it out a bit. Overall this beer was a very enjoyable experience with a lot of complexities, I’m oh so slightly disappointed with certain qualities of this beer, but it will still be remembered well.

Pours a deep redish brown with a beige head, plenty of lace. Aroma of fruit, malt, caramel. Fruit is dark, and malt is sweet. Taste is also sweet and fruity. Finishes lightly bitter.