Rochefort Trappistes 8

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

Murky brown colour with nice big beige head. Aroma has some sweetness with fruit, also some coffee, leather and alcohol. Flavor also has some fruit, but the bitter chocolat and alcohol is clear in the finish. All in all a very complex beer.

A great beer. It contains all the aroma and flavours of the #10, but in a mild and smoot yet powerful way. You can drink a lot more of these than you can drink Rochefort 10.

Pours dark brown with a small ,firm off-white head; strong fruity nose (plums, bananas), also traces of roasted malts and a tinge of bitterness (resin?); quite dry, fruity, spicy taste, ending with some bitter-chocolatey notes. Creamy mouthfeel; very well rounded. Good old Rochefort !

Eating dates near a roasting mechoui…Chocolatey raisins in hot spicy bread…Refined, sagacious, drinkable, and flavorful rarely meet like this...I just want dessert…

(bottle) Dark copper brown colour with a medium off-white lasting head. Sweet malty aroma with fruity (plums) and toffee elements. Medium sweet flavour, lively carbonated, medium bodied. Very tasty malty brew with a cornucopia of tasty elements: raisins, plums, leather, caramel, chocolate. Very powerful alcohol management, but never ostensible. Great !

Bottled: Rerate: Is definately a more complex beer, than i first thought. Pours dark brown with a huge off-white head. Has a sweet and spicy aroma with notes of caramel and plums. Flavour is sweet and well-balanced and the high ABV isn't as obvious, as I experienced first time I had it.
Rating 23.8.02: (3,6)Had this after a supreme dinner topped with a good Cohiba cigar, a cognac and a double expresso. It migth be the reason that I was a little disappointed. Has a dark brownish colour and a good chocolate head. The head dissappeared quicker than expected. The aroma (mostly chocolate) was a little vague, but again it might be due to the dinner(cigar!!). The flavour had distinct accents of chocolate and was pleasant, but maybe a little too alcoholic. Has to rerate this under other circumstances.

Cloudy almost muggy in color. Pours with a small head into a trappist goblet. Hints of plum, licorice?, spices. One of the best of the Trappist abbey ales available outside of Belgium/Netherlands.

Bottled.(BB 2010) Wonderful dark brown color, and a large, lasting beige head, leaving nice lacings. Aroma is malty, with alcohol, raisins, candi sugar and cocoa. Sweet, malty flavor with warming alcohol, raisins and bitterness. Full to medium body and a finish with alcohol and lasting bitterness. It’s a shame this classic costs almost $8 in Norway. Rating: 8-5-8-4-17-4.2. 060218

Bottle, BB 130813. Wauw! I really love the smell when pouring this one, always putting my face right above the glass when pouring. Prunes, cellar, dried apricots, alcohol, some roasted malts and yeast and even more dried fruits, and a lovely tobacco-like spicyness escapes the glass. When finished, at least for a while, sniffing the beer, I see a wonderful creamy, two-finger thick, beige head on top of an unclear, brown body. The head stays, and leaves some pretty lacings as the beer goes down my throat. In the mouth it’s full-bodied and warming, silky smooth and quite carbonated, but not feeling fizzy at any level. The flavor is sweet and malty, filled with dried fruits and some spicyness. Dried apricots, rum raisin and prunes at least. There’s some bitterness as well, and that cellar and yeast found in the aroma are also chiming in. Some peppery notes also finds it’s way down the throat. The finish is of the lasting kind, warming, sweet yet dry, bitter, lightly roasted and spiced, and with a lovely peppery touch in the very end. I have to admit I was really in the mood for a good Belgian tonight, and I knew this one would live up to my wishes. In that light my rating might be too high, but right now it’s worth every point. Really good to know it’s back in Norway, after a short absence. And that aroma is priceless. 090904