Abbaye des Rocs Grand Cru

Brewed by Brasserie de l’Abbaye des Rocs
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Montignies-sur-Roc, Belgium

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

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UPDATED: SEP 23, 2005 The 750 ml. green bottle was distinguished looking with a cap underlain by a cork. The cork was very large and broke my corkscrew from its handle while trying to pull it out. A trusty pair of pliers was able to extricate them anyway. The beer, when poured in the goblet, displayed a deep red color with a 1 ½ inch tall, off-white head, and a fine onrush of bubbles underneath. The smell is reminiscent of raisins, cherries, plums, and hay. The taste is also quite fruity with notes of apples, cherries, rum-raisins, as well as some vanilla, and chocolate. There is also some hoppy dryness in there. The mouthfeel is buttery smooth, and rich. The 10 percent by volume alcohol is very well covered. I was expecting this brew to be a lot more complex, but this turned out to be quite one-dimensional. May be a few more years on the remaining bottle will eat up more of the residual sugars and generate some complexity.

Update: The beer is now available in 330 ml. four packs in Georgia, so I decided to try it again (since I had traded away that other 750 ml. bottle picked up in Chattanooga). Either the beer was more fresh, or my palette had evolved, but gone was the cloying sweetness that bothered me so much last time. Instead this bottle displayed a perfect balance between sweet, spicy, tart, yeasty, and bitter flavors. 9.5% ABV was not evident anywhere in the taste. I certainly enjoyed it a lot better this time. And the heady carbonation, and the resulting full burps were an outstanding finishing touch. And there was no way to sip this one. It just begged to be quaffed. Liquid Crack.

I’m pretty sure this beer despite the high overall ratings is still under appreciated because it is so damned ugly. Appearance suffers from large bubbles, huge chunks of yeast floaties even with an extremely careful pour and leaving 1/2 of liquid gold in the bottle. Looks like pond water met a dying squirrel carcass. Red with floating masses and murky/ muddy looking. Now.... with that out of the way. This is an otherwise incredible beer. Aroma is prunes, raisins, caramel, toffee, figs, dates. Biblical if you catch my drift. Taste: Is pleasantly, surprisingly, bitter. All of the flavors of the aroma are still there but there is a wonderful tongue cleansing, refreshing, more please, firm bitterness. Palate is a perfect, just thick enough for the flavors and just thin enough to not become cloying. Overall, this is a great find. It seems to exist as proof positive that all of the "appearance is proof of a well made beer" yahoos are wrong. This is an amazing beer that is ugly as sin. Find it, buy it, put a blindfold on if you have to , and drink it.

Pours a dark murky brown with solid tan head from the bottle. Smell is of sweet fruits, toffee and caramel malts. Taste is complex, starts off sweet, then gets a nice bitter bite, before a clean alcoholic finish. Great beer!

Shared a bottle (thnks BelgBeerGeek) at Kulminator. Reddish brown with a small pale head. Aroma is raisins, brown sugar, date, anise, hint of banana. Slightly creamy on the palate and a nice sweetness. Taste is raisins, candi sugar, dates, bread. Very enjoyable.

Dark brown colored beer, murky, with a muddy head. Aromas of caramel, and cherries. Tastes of cloying brown sugar, some muted spices, toffee, and some sour cherry flavors. Finishes on a boozy, medicinal sweetness. Syrupy mouth feel, thick brew. I was expecting something a bit more impressive. Not a bad beer though.

Meh. Deep deep brown and malty. Got nothing from the scent and it ultimately ends up being an average brown ale. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Smooth, malty, syrupy, thick & sweet with loads of sediment. Notes of caramel, cola, cherry, carbonation is just right. One of our favorites.

Pours a caramel slight cola color. Aroma is of raisins with a hint of sweet caramel or molasses. Taste is of sweet alcohol, mixed with lots of raisins which gives it a good subtle taste. Towards the end the molasses and caramels really come through. A very nice belgian strong ale.

Clear brown with a beige head and loads of big floaties. Aroma is sweet, mlaty, caramel, dried fruit, yeasty and dark sugar. Flavor is quite sweet and moderate bitter. Sweet finish. Soft and very smooth. 230412

Bottle. Amber colour with floaters and a small off-white head. Aroma is sugar, alcohol, malt, yeast. flavour is sugar, dried fruits, alcohol, malt, cherry, peaches, caramel, yeast. Nice beer.

2*330 ml bottles bought in a mixpack and shared at tasting. Gusher! Pours hazy reddish brown with a huge creamy white head that slowly dissipates while leaving some trace on the glass. Smell is sweet with wet earth, mushrooms, cellar, orange peal, unripe pineapple, honey, dark grapes, red wine, wood and alcohol. Taste is sweet and spicy with wet earth, leather, black pepper, banana, brazil nuts, wet leaves, earl gray tea, funnel chanterelle, vanilla and hints of alcohol. Mouthfeel is tiny tart, slightly sticky sweet and full bodied. Finish is sweet and herbal with wet leaves, green herbs, nuts, dark sweet bread and alcohol. Interesting how a rather strange smell and taste combines into a really good beer.