Rochefort Trappistes 8

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

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.

Opaque brown with a tan head. Apples and alcohol on the nose. Mild fruit flavor, then a strong peppery flavor through to the end. I thought, judging from the aroma, that there was going to be a big alcohol taste, but it just pops up and says "hello, my name is alcohol flavor, I'll be leaving now". Well made and intriguing beer.

This was really surprising, especially to my mind how the aroma and flavor diverged. To break it down to a single dimension, I thought the aroma leaned strongly toward bubble-gum and the flavor creates a sort of smokey essence (not a word I’ve heard other people use to describe this one). Sweet, yeasty, attractive. Excellent beer.

Hazy brown with a huge tan head that hung around seemingly forever, thickly lacing the glass. Aroma seems to be tart fruit with a hint of sourness. The flavor is a sweet malt with just a hint of alcohol taste coming through, considering it is 9.2%. There is a little chocolate caramel hint in the aftertaste. Excellent!

330m Bottle: Sweet aroma of fruit, berries, caramel, malts, dried fruit, light alcohol, and light chocolate. Poured brown in color with a medium-sized, tan head that lasted throughout. Cloudy. Many particles. Sparkling. Medium sweet flavor. Tastes of malts, dried fruit, beef, sesame, spices, and a hint of yeast. Medium body. Average texture. Soft to average carbonation. Sweet, malty finish.

Dark and opaque, like a coffee. Thick and rich. Malty and sweet. No alcoholic flavors but strength is noticable anyway: like a powerful athlete who has no unsightly bulk. In spite of its obvious sweetness the Rochefort 8 never gets syrupy. Malt is well-integrated into the beer. Creamy carbonation and smooth mouthfeel.

33 cl Bottle. A dark brown coloured abbey beer, with a lovely long standing white head. When you smell it.... A wonderful aroma of dried fruit, roasted barley, tobacco and some sweetness. And when you taste it... Amazing taste, big mouthful with notes of caramel, choclate and a great complexity. One of my favourites.

(Bottled) Dark reddish brown colour with a huge, foamy off-white head, leaving lots of thick lacing. Nose is malty, sweet and spicy (dried bay leaf?), a bit floral, with dried fruit (prunes), herbs and vanilla (or rather vanillin sugar). Taste is complex: spicy, malty, with an initial fiery sweetness and notes of dried fruit (raisins, prunes, figs, dates), citrus (Seville orange or tangerine), caramel and some chocolate. Nice spicy hoppiness (a bit overshadowed by the fruit and malt initially) in the long warming (slightly drier) finish. Medium to full body with an initial warming alcohol bite. Complex and very nice stuff.