Abbaye des Rocs Triple Impériale

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: JUL 23, 2009 750 mL shared into tulips. Pours a clear, deep brownish amber with a billowing, three-finger tan head that has okay retention and some good lacing. Outstanding aroma of rum-soaked cherries, rum-raisin gelato, caramel, Belgian yeast, candied dark fruits. Taste is a big letdown: initially it is a cascade of the flavors mentioned above but then turns for the worse: the alcohol becomes incredibly cloying and the sweetness becomes stale, overly redundant with mouthfuls of white sugar added to flat Diet Pepsi. It really is sort of gross. Maybe my bottle is skunked or something but unlikely since it is 10%. This really is not very good at all. I’m very sad to say this, but I shared it with two other people and all three of us had to drain pour it. Jesus.

To brew good beer, you have to drink good beer. While I believe that I could possibly clone this beer at some point in the future, I spent last week’s Saturday brewing a pale and enjoying a bottle of this fine Belgian. First, this is unfiltered to some extremity. Typically, the first step in creating a clone is in acquiring its yeast; that wouldn’t be a problem with this brew. Yeast was suspended throughout the beer, pendling a high viscosity and tremendous mouthfeel and body, even with little or no agitation. There is no way to avoid having a mouthful of bread-tan culture lodged in the teeth after consumption. Appearance was deep, opaque amber, with natural yeast carbonation, mostly from the walls of the glass. Big, mildly roasted malt character, with an emphasis of toasted nuts and raisins, without losing the candi sugar character that should dominate the style. While I have read reviews with leather, banana, sulfur-ish, and skunky flavors present, I wonder how many received a mistreated masterpiece. No off-flavors present to my palate. Hops were almost entirely muted, barely riding the finish of the beer after a long and complex transition. Aroma was intense and prevailed in bread and an effervescent citrus. LOL Paired well with hamburgers. Everything does? We had no choice in the matter, as our host brewer has prepared ahead of time and had no prior knowledge of pairing. I look forward to my next bottle and will ranch the yeast to prepare for exercises in futility. Anyone out there speak Flemish?

Serving: 330 ml. bottle from State Line Liquors. It pours a dark tea like color with a very small but active off white head. The head never quite makes it all the way across the top of the glass and what is there vanishes quick. Looks like cola. Smells like rum cake, dried dark fruit, dried figs, and very raisiny as it warms up. The flavor is a little tinny with lots of dark fruit and sweetness up front. Surprisingly dry on the back end for how viscous it feels up front. Beside the raisin notes, there is tobacco, and there is a sort of scorched gingerbread flavor. Rich mouthfeel with low carbonation leading to weird, slightly bitter finish. I keep trying to figure this one out, but never get there. While it’s not bad, it just didn’t stir anything in me.

330 ml bottle. BBE 19.05.2013.
Pours an amber colour with an off-white head. Aroma of strong sugar, syrup and some nuttiness. Flavour of strong caramel malts, apricot, syrup, nuts and sweet berries. Medium bodied, hard carbonation and a fruity, dry and nutty finish. Alcohol feels a bit too much in the end.

Tasted this in the Delirium Tremens, Brussels in April 2012. 33cl bottle. Dark ruby in colour with a large buff foam head. Strong waft of caramelised strawberry in the fruity aroma. Thick creamy mouthfeel and superb lacing. Dark complex malts in this with sweet fruitloaf base laden with candied fruits with strawberry to the fore, along with dark plums and fig. Struggled to get any hops through the malt onslaught - but hey that’s why I’m drinking the best that Belgium has to offer! Finish is very malty and laden with stone fruit and rosehip syrup, alcohol is superbly hidden but the warmth does kick in later on. Superb example of a Belgian Strong Ale and my second favourite below the oustanding St Bernardus Abt 12. Highly recommended.

UPDATED: APR 30, 2012
33 cl bottle @ lusikkas’ blind tasting.
Rating 7-3-6-3-13.
Pours dark red-brown color with small head. Aroma of strong candy sugar, ripe fruits, caramel malts and spices. Flavor of sugar candy, sweet caramel malts and spices. Some dark berries also. Overly sweet, definitely much sweeter than on previous tasting, high co2.
7336
33 cl bottle @ Delirium Cafe.
Rated on 20100718.
Pours hazy amber color with large head. Aroma of yeast, spices, caramel malts, fruits and some earth. Flavor of fruits, caramel, toffee, spices and yeast. Excellent and quite balanced for such a complex brew.

750 mL bottle, consumed on 3-10-12. Best by date of 06/04/2012 (I’m assuming that’s April 6, so I drank it with a few weeks to spare). Strong aroma features caramel, red grape, brown sugar, port wine, plum, and cotton candy scents. Pours maroon with a burnt orange / copper glow and many chunks of yeast in the liquid. Moderate amount of beige head. Unusual look. Sweet, fruity taste mirrors the aroma. Grape, caramel, and hazelnut flavors. Black licorice in the bitter finish. A little too sweet, especially as one keeps drinking. Full body. Silky and somewhat lively in the palate. I’m not overly impressed.

A clear mahogany brown ale with a thin mocha head. In aroma, a sweet candy sugar, vinous notes, light maderization, nice. In mouth, a smooth sweet candy sugar, brown cassonade, light licorice, dark fruits, burned caramel, warning alcohol, quite nice. Bieropholie import, BB 29-11-12.

Dark brown and hazy. Has an off-white head, mostly diminishing. Aroma is malty, lots of dark bread, yeasty, grain, sweet and perfect perfect. Flavor is heavy sweet, more bread, yeast, light bitter finish, faint burnt/roasted. Creamy texture and soft carbonation.

caramel, bread, nuts, toast, cereal, golden, off white foam, medium sweetness, lightly bitter, medium body, creamy, soft carbonation, nice soft sweet long finish.

Pours dark brown with an absolutely absurd amount of yeast chunks pouring out not even half way through the pour. I did just drive home with this, but I didn’t expect the sediment to be that unsettled. Either way, it doesn’t really bother me. The head was pretty fizzy and quite short lived with little to no head sticking to the glass. Aroma is full of tobacco, dark fruit, dough, spiced bread, toffee, molasses, basement/wet leaf/earthy yeast. Taste is sweeter than expected with a light tart element. I’m not really sure about this one. I had built it up a lot in my mind because the Brune was insanely awesome. Now that I go back to the aroma after taking a few sips, I am getting more funky lemon tartness from it. Maybe an off bottle, I will definitely try this again. Still good, but I really don’t think this is a perfect representation of the beer. Medium-light body, kind of thin texture, high carbonation. Overall this beer just doesn’t add up and it’s less enjoyable the more I get through the bottle.