Westvleteren Extra 8

Brewed by Westvleteren Abdij St. Sixtus
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Westvleteren, Belgium

Aged bottle shared by Dickinsonbeer. Dark brown with ring and lace. Woody caramel sweet cherries and brown sugar aroma. Mild roasted caramel brown sugar yeasty and sweet dark fruit with medium tobacco bitterness. Soft fine palate. Very complex. Very good. Will rerate when I get a fresh one.

Bottle with big thanks to ericandersnavy. Dark brown pour with loads of sediment in the pour. Very nice aroma of sweet plum and dark fruits. Some yeast but also well balanced. Darkly flavored. Heavy dark fruit with plum, raisin and grapefruit. Also has bitter flavors with a bit of Belgian taste. Solid with no doubt.

Very good looking brown beer with beautifull beige mousse. Aroma is caramel, spices and malts with honey. taste is very nice sweet and hoppy.

Pours a dark red brown color with a nice thick tan head. Aroma of roasted malts, dry fruits and caramels. Flavors of dry fruits, raisans and plums, liquorice, spices, a hint of cinnamon. A great ballance flavors and a sweet bitter dry finish. Good carbontion and a bit crispy. Very complex with an evolution of taste as you drink.

A great looking warm brown beer with a fluffy creamy head on top. Nose is smooth and bready with a fantastic malty and honeyed character. The taste is round, cake like and has a fine hoppy bitterness about it. Aftertaste is so right, all components are right where they should be.A very nice classic.

Beer from Bottle. Aged +/- 2 years. The beer pours a murky brown. I had expected a better look. Smell of hops, and a hint of tobacco (as with the blond, though less), burnt grain, raisins. Gives a reasonably good frothy off-white head that does not last however. The beer was a bit too cold when I took the first sips. Result: bitterness protruding that reminded me of the Orval. The taste gets better when the beer warms up. Nevertheless I found this one quite thin and watery as far as texture goes. Expected it to be much better. As for the taste nuances, they’re there but all somehow toned down and the beer is therefore lacking in complexity. In my opinion the Westvleteren 8 is definitely vastly overrated because of the hype and the scarce availability. This one should not be ranking this high and I personally would even choose the Westvleteren Blond over this one.

Nice consistent murky dark brown pour with a thick, dense offwhite head. Served at about 50F. malt, burnt sugar, spice, bready, a little bit of metallic and fruit notes. Extraordinary balance with well-integrated flavors. Finish goes on and on. As it opens up: cherry, a bit of cinnamon/raisin bread. Just delicious.

This began to open up a little bit after pouring it in my glass. Maybe it was served a bit too cold. When it opened up, the fruit, bitterness, spice, alcohol and the malt were well balanced. Definitely, one of the greatest beer.