Westvleteren Extra 8

Like the 12, this one pours dark, stratified, murky looking brown colors. A small, foamy tan head settles to a swirly, splotchy film. Minimal, sudsy swaths of lacing slowly droop back into the body. The nose is divine, showing caramel, candy sugar, figs, vanilla, raisons, and various other indiscernible dark fruits and spices. The flavor is very good, but falling short of both the aroma, and the mastery that is the taste of the 12. Candy sugar and caramel again comprise the malt base, with dark fruits, vanilla, cinnamon, and other spices pulling backup duty. A medium-full, silky smooth body leaves just a hint of sticky residue behind in the mouth. This is a great, classic brew, but it falls short of its big brother, as well as the Rochefort 8 and 12.

Bottle at Haket 2008-02-08. Dark brown and red colour. Reminds me somewhat of an apple cider. Dry, fruity (apples) and alcohol in taste.

Bottle dated 29.09.10. Dark brown pour with a ruby highlight and a big, rocky, tan head. Aroma is cereal, banana, dates, peppery, with a slight bit of alcohol. Flavor consists of plum, cocoa, lots of esters, peppery and quite a bit of alcohol. Medium body with loads of prickly carbonation.

Bottle date 18:01:11...jan 1st 2008. Poured a deep but translucent brown with a pretty decent head. Aroma, to me, is non-existent. I’m not sure what to say about this beer, I guess my expectations were too high, but overall I don’t think it’s worth the hype! By no means is it a bad beer, it’s very good, I just don’t think it’s worthy of the extreme praise it garners due to the rarity of the beer.

Bottle. Pours a brown color with a small off white head. Aroma is a bit subdues but has notes of fruit, coffee, some butterscotch. The taste is great. It starts out sweet but the bitterness grows adding to the flavors in a wonderfully balanced way. This is a mature beer. Easy for all to enjoy but enough to keep serious beer drinkers coming back for more. Not worth the $30 it cost me but I have no regret.

Pours a murky brown body with no real head formation, only a cloud of white that emanates from within and then subsides and rests on top. The aroma is that of candied fruits, raisins, and figs, surrounded by a pleasant toffee sugary layer. The flavor is a pleasant dry brown sugar and raisin with a subtle buttery note at the end. The body is much like a sweet champagne, lively and flavorful. Spectacular.

33cl bottle from the monastary. Pours a dark brown color with medium thick, almost creamy head. The flavor is spicy and tastes like chocolate, coffee, raisins and wheats, almost like a blend of coffee and weissbeer. A very enjoyable beer indeed.

Subtle sweet aroma. Full, sweet, malty, roasty. thick, spicy, also smooth. As every man we must be able to live. So we have to try to earn our living and let others share in what we have to abstain from. Indeed, we have to live "from" and "with" our brewery. But we do not live "for" our brewery. This must be strange for business people to understand that we do not exploit our commercial assets as much as we can. We are no brewers. We are monks. We brew beer to be able to afford being monks.’’ - Father Abbot on the consecration of the new brewery at St. Sixtus.