Rochefort Trappistes 8

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

Aroma: Plums. Raisin. spices. molasses. caramel .very sweet. Appearance: Thick, dark/burgundy. Thin head. lots of lacing. Flavor. Sickly sweet. Burnt. Thick and sweet. malty. near perfect balance. new flavor in each sip. Palate: Smooth full bodied brew. light creaminess on finish.

Poured a rich dark brown into Rochefort chalice. Aroma of fruits and alcohol. Taste is complex, yet easy drinking. Taste is of figs, raisins, malts, alcohol and a bit like wine..really improves as it warms. Due to the fine carbonation, it doesn’t have a thick feel to it. I love this beer.

My first belgian ale. Poured copper brown color with a creamy, large head which dissipated fairly slowly but left a film on the top. The aroma is refreshing, though not very unusual, with a strong malt and spice presence. Initial taste is very balanced spice and malt. The body is full and very-well carbonated (i.e. a good carbonation presence without overdoing it). Amazingly, the taste soon turns to sweet in your mouth and then disappears, leaving behind an extremely clean finish. This is a beer that anyone with functioning tastebuds and working taste receptors in the brain could drink and love.

Aroma of overripe fruits, raisin, fudge, fills the entire room. Darkbrown beer, off-white head that stays and stays. A touch less sweet than the 10, this is absolute monkbeerquality. SO complicated, with lots of different (dark) fruits. Very smooth, wellbalanced, worldclass.

Bottle. Pours a hazy dark reddish-brown with a small fizzy diminishing tan head. Aroma of caramel, apples, raisins, chocolate, alcohol and more -- as usual with the Rocheforts it smells wonderful. Flavour follows the scent and is so complex that many sips would have a different description. I found the palate a tad harsh compared to the 10 which is odd because the 10 is stronger in alcohol -- it might have just been the mood I was in (I just noticed that ’fordest’ below me said the same thing in his review so maybe there’s some validity to what I wrote). A truly excellent beer and one of the best in the world.

Massive tan head above a body that is brown with amber tinting. Aroma is very nice... sweet cloves, heavy fruit (cherry and prune come to mind) and caramel. Flavor is very complex and blends together superbly. Caramel backbone with definite fruity undercurrents and a bit of a tartness that comes through near the tail end. Top notch.

Suffers from middle child/beer syndrome. Errr... no sorry. Anyway.. Pours a thick brown body with a balanced head. Fruity aroma - mainly plums and some berry. Finishes malty and sweet. As this warms it becomes fantastic. My Ommegang glass isn’t worthy of this.

Hazy coppery-brown color with a thick caramely head. Smells of cinnamon raisin toast, caramel, and some banana. Rich flavors of toffee, toasted hazelnuts, caramel, dark chocolate, and a hint of nutmeg. Finish is silky; flavors linger and help disguise some initial alcohol taste. Very nice overall, the flavors appear to be more subtle, but nearly as complex as the Rochefort 10.