Beer review – Trappist Rochefort 8
I was packing up for my flight back to SF for thanksgiving and my new project, and decided I could go for a nice cold one. I had tried the Rochefort 10 when we were in Popenridge, Belgium this summer which was a much darker quadrupel. I think the Rochefort 8 is more of the traditional tripel type, though I’m not sure which it would be (add: it’s actually classified as a Belgian dark strong ale on BeerAdvocate). Nevertheless, it is highly regarded in the beer community, so I thought I’d keep up on my Belgian craze and give it a shot.
The Pour:
Very little head, color dark brown like a flat cola but quite opaque. Most prominent thing is there is a LOT of sediment floating in this one. Confirms this is about as unfiltered as it gets outside of some hefeweisens. Some minor legging to it but not much. Carbonation seems fairly minimal as well.
The Smell:
Very sweet first scent. Powerful caramel and some orange and apricot. Something bitter in there as well though but I can’t put a scent on it (add: I got it! fig!!!). A quick swirl and the second scent releases a lot more fruit. Much more of a berry smell to it than I originally thought. Ironically these fruit smells are actually quite similar to the ones I’d pick up with a cabernet.
The Taste:
It’s very surprising how quick you taste the fruit upon contact. It’s not even in the swallow, but in the actual entrance to your mouth where you can really taste a very sweet citrus. Gradual bitterness though and a bit acidic. The mouthfeel is great, very smooth with just a little carbonation.
Overall:
Oh man, the more Belgians I try the more I fall in love with them. The best comparison that no one’s heard of is the Westlyveren 8. A more reasonable comparison might be Ommegang’s Three Philosophers, but that one tends to have a bit more fruit than even this one. Rochefort 8 is basically a world renown favorite and I can certainly see why. Make sure to save it for a special treat though, my distributor sells it for $6.25 per bottle and they tend to have reasonable prices.
The Score:
4.5/5
