Rochefort Trappistes 8

Brewed by Brasserie Rochefort
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Rochefort, Belgium

alcohol, bread, caramel, semidark,clear, rocky head, frothy, white foam, very bitter, medium sweetness, full body, slick feel, thick feel, famous beer

Ok, yeah so I finally purchased a full bottle of this stuff. Lovely muddy brown color with a bubbly light brown head. Wonderfully strong aroma: fruits, yeast, and happiness. The taste of the beer is mildly dry with a bunch of fruit flavours. Not sweet, well maybe a little... more spicy than anything. Medium bodied. Hops are subtle. Mild bitterness. Very smooth and alcohol is not detectable. Quite good, but obviously so.

Pours a dark caramel brown with slightly greenish tan highlights, lots of smallish tan yeast particulates and a 2 finger creamy tan head that has sort of poor retention. Aroma is caramel, plum, gorgonzola, cola, lemon, herbal and grassy hops. Flavor is caramel, toast, yeasty bread, plum, overripe oranges, white grapes, earthy moss like notes, grass, a little white teaand a touch of licorice. FInish is clean even though it is a little yeasty, comes off as slightly spicy and salty with an herbal hop character. Body is medium thickness, and slightly sweet with a fairly dry finish, hides 9.2%abv very well. My only possibly gripe about this beer is that it is slightly over carbonated, though without that it may be too thick and alcoholic. Fantastic stuff really.

33cl bottle good strong taste rich fruitiness touches of chocolate and strong alcohol flavour taste light and easy to drink very good beer

Pours an unappealing cloudy brown with small head that dissipates almost immediately. Aroma is of yeast and apricot. I found the flavor to be unbalanced with too much sweetness and alcohol presence.

I only had very small pour of this one from the end of the bottle. I got a bunch of globs of yeast in the hazy brown beer with a decent amount of tan head. The aroma is heavy heavy of caramel with a bit of apricot, cheese, gooseberry, and long leaf teas. The flavor is similar to the smell - very strong in caramel and dark fruit. The Rochefort "harmony" is again present. The mouthfeel is a bit thin for such a sweet beer. I’d like to try this one again - I wasn’t as impressed with this as with the Rochefort 6.

This Abbey ale has a subdued aroma, is slightly sweet up front, rich in the middle, and slightly spicy hoppy in the finish. It has complex, aged and balanced flavor, with dried fruits, vanilla, figs, and even, dare I say it, slight cola.