Rochefort Trappistes 10

Brewed by Brasserie Rochefort
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Rochefort, Belgium

One fo my all-time favorites that I tend to drink as often as possible since it is quite easy available in Denmark! It pours a foamy tan head on a dark brown body - absolutely beautiful! Aroma and flavor is very complex and delicious. Lots of dark roasted malt and fruit, plums, raisins, berries, spices and a perfect balanced alcohol bite. This is almost as good as it can get! Only Westi 12 is a slight cut above this one, but still, this is a world-class beer!

[555-20070823] 330mL (10/01/11). Boozy wood malt aroma with light fruity rum raisin and medium alcohol. Hazy, dark brown amber body with a long-lasting foamy off-white head. Burnt roasted malt aroma with a sweet toffee aftertaste and hints of nut and chocolate throughout. Full body. Booze is hidden just beneath the delicious chocolate surface.

Appearance: Pours out dark brown, almost purple-ish. Generous head gave way to a thin layer of bubbles Smell: Generous bouquet of sweet caramel malts and candy sugar under a blanket of dark fruit (particularly raisins). Some sweet, juicy nectarines. A dash of spicy yeastiness. A touch of leather. All of it smelling quite "Belgian". Note: the high alcohol is surprisingly subdued in the aroma. Taste: A well blended, outstanding example of a quadruppel. This beer features brown sugar, black cherries, anise, raisins, and toasted toffee malts. There’s a great depth of varying flavors, so pay attention, but don’t forget to savor. All of this gives way to a long-lived spicy, white pepper finish. Mouthfeel: Strikingly smooth, very rich, and with a low, gentle amount of carbonation. Drinkability: A+++ Power Beer. Would buy from again! As good as folks say, perhaps better. Especially for me, someone who’s not overly partial to the style. (Edit: After trying several beers within this style during a blind tasting on May 21st, 2007, Rochefort 10 was the unanimous, clear-cut winner.)

Bottle, Ciro’s, Toronto. Dark brown / purple colour. Fantastic aroma, lots of spice, plum, and slight alcohol. Very little head on the pour in a nice trappist style glass. Mouthfeel was a little disappointing in that it was thinner than the appearance suggested, but still it was complex without being syrupy. Lots more spice and warm alcohol in the taste - I couldn’t really describe it, but I knew it seemed well balanced and quite agreeable. This beer got better as it warmed as well - the flavours were less intense, but by the end, I couldn’t identify the 11% alcohol level. A nice experience with good company. Re-rate April 20 05. Acquired a bottle in a trade with Mustang3. My initial rating of this was when I was still at a pretty infant stage as far as trying new styles were concerned. The bottle I had last night absolutely blew me away in a way no beer has. The appearance of this beer was quite different, as I was in my well-lit living room and not a dark enjoyable bar. It was very dark brown with red hues and a murkiness that looked fantastic. Small tan head. The aroma was amazing - fresh hops, sweet malt, a little spice and some alcohol - I’ve never wanted to try a beer based on its aroma before so bad in my life. The mouthfeel was also very unique - full-bodied, yet really frothy - this is where I encountered the biggest difference in my 2 ratings. The taste was of rich malt, a well-balanced bitterness and the alcohol was incredibly restrained. There was almost a sweet rum like quality to this beer. I have not done it justice, but this was without question the best beer I have ever tried.

Bottle: Aroma is extremely fruity with a strong presence of alchohol. Also some chocolate in the aroma. Pours a dark brown color with a big tan head with excellent lacing. Flavor is initially sweet with a strong alcohol finish. Some chocolate flavor as well. I’m not real big on the strong alcohol finsih but other than that this beer is pretty good. Not 4.4 good though. I prefer the 8 or 6. Original rating of 8-3-7-3-15



Finally decided to try this again and do a re-rate since I assume my palate has adjusted after sampling close to 1200 beers since my original rating. Aroma has lots of fruit with grape being the stongest. Notes of caramel and chocolate too. Pours a deep ruby with with a huge creamy off-white head with great retention and excellent lacing. How did I ever give this a 3 in appearance? Flavor has lots of fruit and like the aroma, grape is the strongest with some plum. Caramel and chocolate hide in the background. Alcohol does not seem anywhere near as strong as I originally thought but some warmth is still there in the finish. Not much different from my original rating outside of appearance (I have no idea what I saw the first time) and palate.

Thanks Matt! (Doing a Rochefort vertical tonite). Best by October 6th, 2009. Pours to a carbonated dark brown color with a thin white head. Decent lacing. The aroma is very good. Tobacco, oak, figs, dark fruits. The palate is smooth and creamy. The flavor is very good, but I liked the 8 better because it is richer and stronger. Mmmmm...

Re-rate. Nose of raisins and plums, earthiness and alcohol. Dark sugar and molasses. Twizzlers and vanilla. Deep dark brown-black beer with thin lacing off-white head. Medium-high effervescent car with, surprisingly, light-medium body. A clean palate. Ahh, the taste: maltiness, sweet but not syrupy on the tongue. Mild nutty sweet finish with raisiny after. Cherry wood and vapory. Raisins and plums. Sugary and peppery. Bit of chalkiness from the dregs. Rich and complex, big taste and wonderful aroma. Hide the 11% alcohol well. A great winter evening beer.

Fruit fermented aroma along with some caramel. Brown cloudy body with decent head on pour. Good carbination with settiment on bottom of glass. Flavor has a mild to medium sweet fruit and caramel. Alcohol give a warming effect on the face. Smooth enjoyable beer with some alcohol on the finish. Good stuff.