Rochefort Trappistes 8

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

11.2oz bottle, 23 03 10 (best by date?).Pours an opaque deep brown with a big frothy light brown head. Aroma of burnt caramel, stale graham crackers, some yeast, fruity esters, raisins, and oak. Kind of a musty taste right up front, fairly tart with alcohol warmth throughout. Addition of slight cherry and apple in flavor. Medium-full bodied, soft-medium carbonation. Beautiful lacing--as a matter of fact, there is only one big lace, thinning at times. Excellent.

Poured from the bottle at The White Horse in Parsons Green, a cloudy ruby brown with a frothy head. A fruity/winey aroma and the flavour is a burnt sweet maltiness with fruity undertones.

Rich, dark cloudy pour with a big long lasting rocky head...Malty sweetness apparent in the first sniff...Licorice and plum and caramel flavor..prominent alcohol presence ( but not too prominent!)...Lighter than expected mouthfeel with a slight creaminess in the finish...excellent all around ...

330 ml, maybe 2005 vintage (not sure what to make of the date code: L 10 05 11), dispensed in quart jar. Hazy burnt caramel, dark brown color with medium-sized tan head that tries to linger and gives nice lace. Wow, aroma is chocolate bread pudding with raisins and a splash of rum. Taste is similar, but slightly less rich (thank goodness, means I can drink more!), with just a touch of dryness and dangerously drinkable. Palate is light-medium and would be fine any season of the year. Alcohol is masked well, but gives a slight warm feeling afterwards. Thank you Jesus, for leaving some of your quiet, beer-makin’ holy men around to save a heathen!

Pours a dark amber with a medium white head. Lovely aromas, of dark fruit, sweet malts, and bananas. Got that sweet little sourness to it that bites at you at first. Full on the carbonation, and the dark berries really come out at the end. Full bodied, and fantastic! Trappist beers just never get old. Its been a while since I had the 8, but it was a very nice reunion.

A beautiful color of forest fire in Fall. Pleasing aroma of berries, fruitcake, brandy soaked malts (But not fully, just partially) along with a touch of banana. Chewy malt profile with notes of sweetened dark fruits (plums, grapes), along with a hint of chocolate and toffee. A lovely beer overall. This was my staple, my session beer while I was in Belgium and at 2 Euros a bottle can you blame me?

Putting this in perspective, this is a great Belgian. Maybe I am too American, but I do not bump my ratings just because I know a beer is a trappist. Is it good? Yes. Is it great? For the style. Is it mind blowing? No. The pour was a dark brown with a 2 finger head that stayed untill you said "Go home". The aroma and taste were "Robin Hood-ian". Fruity with a touch of spice. After one sip I wanted an IPA. Sweet and mellow, I now know, while trappist beers are good, they are not my cup of.....uh.....beer.

33cL Bottle. Aroma of warming raisins and toasted walnut. A nip of sherry vinegars and light esters off of a shot of port. Caramel sauce blends with strawberries and sweet molasses. Faint edges of aged yeast character. Pour of muddled brown, with ruddy core and golden fringes. Nice creamy rise of pale oak. Flavor erupts on the palate in a seltzer foam of dried cranberries and effusive plums. Very carbonated on the palate. A nip of honey and some extremely volatile alcohols evaporate into the humours with some scotch-like elements. After a brief thin sweetness, this beer dissolves into a lightly oaky crispness, with pale sugary pipe tobaccos, woodsy tannins and plant leaves. Again, a rise of aged yeast breads pull in from the background. I think this bottle has some time on it, since the date is 30.10.07. Regardless, tasty.