Rochefort Trappistes 8

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

always a treat to have a trappist beer. i wonder if the belgians get sick of them. nice and dark. chocolatey and a bit of stone-fruit

Bottle. Frothy off-white excellent mostly lasting head. Very powerfull hoppy/orange aroma. Very powerfull flavor, a bit sweet, and slghtly bitter. Long complex finish that saves this beer a very high score.

Bottle. Rich aroma of dark malts, dark fruits, and underlying cacao. Rich ripe apricot color, but the white head evaporated. Medium bodied with coarsely creamy carbonation. Flavor is medium dark malt, backed with chocolate, odd fruit, and some grassy hop. It sort of seizes the tongue. The finish is dry, and astringent towards the back of the tongue. Ends with a bit of cacao. It’s another great sipper from Belgium.

I think that this gets unfairly rated because the number is lower. The flavors are all slightly more muted than the 10. However, I found it slightly more drinkable. Subtle pear, ginger and Jonathon apple aroma. The flavor has apple, slight banana and some malt. There is also cocoa and some coffee in the finish. This is great. Alcohol is not detected at all. Overall an amazing and very drinkable beer. If drank alone, it gets slightly cloying at the end of a bottle. I love this with cheese or fruit.

Dark bitter chocolate, plums, raisins, mild horse blanket, and sweet malt in the aroma. Dark brown, opaque with tan head that recedes to a lasting cover and some yeast sediment. Chocolate, plums, raisins, light roasty bitterness. Alcohol is fairly apparent. Nice effervescence. Medium-full body. Definitely a world class beer but not in the same league as the Rochefort 10 for me. Bottle (at Le Bistro des Bieres Belges).

Hazy ruby brown hue with an frothy off-white head and good lace. Aroma is similiar to the 10 but slighty less powerful and the alcohol is more noticeable, still a nice combo of fruit, wood, chocolate, vanilla and smoked malts. Vinous as well. Big fruity and woody taste. Picked up some smoke and minor molasses twang toward the finish. Modertate alcohol burn, slightly less potent than the 10 but more noticeable due to the thinner body. Creamy and lively mouthfeel. Great beer a worthy stablemate to the 10, different yet you can easily detect the same bloodlines.

A deep brown colour, with a strong sweet fruit malt nose, and a deep rich lively complex malt flavour.

I am a fan of big dark beers such as Baltic Porters, Sri Lanka's Lion Stout, any Imperial Stout, a good vintage Ale such as that produced by Traquair, and almost anything by the Titanic brewery, but I do have a little problem with the Trappist ales of Belgium. It's not that I don't enjoy them, it's just that the praise they get seems absurd when they are compared with some of the ales I have mentioned above. But this - a product of the lesser known and more difficult to get of the five breweries - is certainly a handsome beer. Full of dark flavours and aromas such as chocolate, port, red fruits, enlived with (in my young bottle - bought and laid down a mere 6 months ago) a gentle fizz or life. The after-taste is surprising dry - almost dusty or chalky, which contrasts well with the alcohol fruit of the nose. The alcohol intrudes a bit, but in an all embracing, gentle and benign manner, and not as much as one would expect from a 9.2% abv. Mix the yeast in and it produces an invigorating explosion of flavours that is quite exciting. It's a damn good beer, but does it live up to the hype? Mine is still five years from it's best before date, and it's bloody good now - but it's not the nectar of the gods. It's a good beer, quite heady, flavoursome, soft and very enjoyable (and moreish - I wish I another one!) - but one of the best beers in the world? Mmmmm. Could well be. Yes. Could well be! [4.4]
Part of the Tripel Taste Test. Conclusion: This one was the most interesting and involved. The dark bitterness was not welcoming, and this was not as attractive a drink as, say, the Floreffe, but it did reveal more.