Rochefort Trappistes 8

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

Poured medium dark brown/burgundy with large fading to medium tan head. Strong malt and chocolate aroma. Followed up with dark fruits and port as warmed. Silky medium mouthfeel. Sweet caramel and chocolate taste combined with raisins, prunes and light spice on finish. Alcohol well hidden. Really tasty stuff.

Bottle. Pours hazy dark amber with a massive, fluffy off-white head. Aroma of fruit, toffee, a dash of chocolate, figs. Medium body and moderate carbonation. The taste mirrors all the that I find in the nose. It’s really weird to think of this beer and Duvel in the same category. Duvel is a Belgian Imperial Bo-Pils, and this beer is more like a spiced barleywine.

11.2 oz bottle - Pours a slightly cloudy reddish brown color with a huge head that has some legs. The aroma is of dark fruits and malt. The flavor is complex with sweet malt and a slight sourness in the dark fruit notes. It’s nicely balanced and full bodied. The 9.2% alcohol is detectable, but well masked. I seem to be a sucker for the Belgian Strong Ales. This is a very nice beer.

Obviously either all of the heavy duty Trappist beers coming into Pittsburgh are horribly mistreated or all of you folks are smoking crack cause this beer is not anything special. Maybe you all bought into the Trappist mystique or something. Sampled from an 11.2 oz brown bottle this beer poured a caramel color with a huge light tan head. The aroma is faintly sweet and vaguely spicy. The flavor is sweet, yeasty and lightly peppery with a brown sugar element followed by a moderate alcohol flavor and burn. The finish has elements of tea and is lightly smoky. Rather uninspired. I can not possibly see myself ever buying this one again.

A dark reddish-brown in colour. You can taste the alcohol a bit but it is not overpowering. Can taste chocolate and black cherries. Nice long caramel aftertaste.

Always in the shadow of....but on it’s own it a wonderful experience, I wouldn’t turn my nose to it.

Bottle best before 31/7/07: Dark muddy brown pour with a nice off white head that receeded quickly. Aroma, dark fruits, some sweetness, a bit of yeast. Flavor, sugar, a little tartness, and fruitiness. There’s a bit of warming, but in a good way. Very pleasent to drink.

Dark maroon pour with a big fizzy light beige colored head. Smell is cherry cough syrup, belgian yeast, syrupy malt and perhaps a hint of nuttiness. Taste is much drier than the smell leads on, with slight cherry and red fruit maltiness but it really isn’t sweet. Finishes rather abruptly with no aftertaste and a champagne like feel in the mouth. Incredibly high, fizzy carbonation that makes it hard to taste much. After swirling to flatten it out, there still isn’t much flavor, honestly but a faint raisin quality is there. A light bit of alcohol, but not much. I have no idea what people see in this beer...