Rochefort Trappistes 8

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

Light red-brown colour with a huge off-white head. Spicy caramel aroma, repeated in the flavour. Coffee and chocolate. Sweetness nicely balanced by bitterness, ending very dry. Warming alcohol

Bouteille de 330 ml obtenue par importation privée via Bièropholie. Arôme: Odeur de caramel, de fruits et d’épices. Apparence: Couleur ambrée foncée avec dépôt. Moyen col mousseux. Aucune bulle. Large dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Goût de caramel, d’alcool et de figues. Long arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est plein avec une texture huileuse. Arrière goût d’alcool. Forte effervescence en bouche. (Rating #242)

Pours dark brown with a strong cream color head. Rich aroma of fruits, cake, caramel, roasted nuts, figs, chocolate, and light spices. Malt flavor is amazingly complex, bursting with flavors, one minute fruit, the next sweet cake flavors, next roasty chocolate. The alcohol never shows, leaving with a sweet, but not cloying, after dinner beer.

Murky-brown with a tan head. Creamy and carbonated. Earthy-yeasty-chocolaty-sweet nose. Roasty and nutty with notes of Yoohoo chocolate, sweet raisins and cooked brown sugar. Bitterness resides on the tongue into the aftertaste, but it’s mild. Some subtle hints of smoke. Alcohol is hidden well. Yeasty-nutty flavors in the malts. Overall, in an abstract way, I thought it tasted like the color brown.

330. Pours deep ebony, closer to black than any real brown. Thick, moussy, highly bubbly tannish head that sticks around a good long while, but after a couple of minutes it stops trying to be the 800 pound gorilla it is during the pour. Leaves a thick waffle batter lederhosen of lace down the glass as it falls. Any jingoistic pride ye Belgians feel for the term "Belgian lace" is well served by this beer. Enormous green apples on the nose, mixed with cherries and the tiniest bits of funky hay and grass. Great combo. Thick, foamy mouthfeel with a decent spritz of honest CO2. Attack has more of the sour tree fruit along with some highly roasted notes--the roast snowballs across the tongue and leaves an amost acridly bitter char to the finish. Crazy combinations of flavors everywhere with this one. Hard to imagine it being any more perfectly what it is.

Murky brown color with thin vanishing off white head. Aroma is sugary, toffee, molasses and a hint of spice. Thick chewy mouth feel. It has explosive carbonation. Flavor is very smooth and sweet sugar (maybe beets), molasses and a bit of toffee. Along the edge of my tongue are spicy flavor notes. Good beer. Too sweet for my taste. If given a choice between the 8 and the 6 the 6 wins easily.

I am drinking this right now, as I type. Deep cloudy brown with an orange glow, massive fizzy head that quickly flattened to a lacy ring. Big aromas here-- sweet roast malt, caramel, stewed prunes. Complex palate-- sweet and fizzy up front, lots of toasty malt, green grapes, woody tobacco, then a very warm astringent alcohol finish that leaves the back of the tongue and throat a little dry (and therefore wanting more!). A terrific after-dinner sipper, but hand over your car keys if you reach for a second one!

You know I really hate saying this, but I was less than impressed and slightly disappointed with the bottle that I received of this. The flavor was slightly bland and very fruity, with a dry aftertaste. Lots of chocolate, with a nice malt backbone, but it just seemed as though something was missing. I will have to try this one again, when I only have it to try, and my palate is not so cloudy.