Westvleteren Extra 8

Brewed by Westvleteren Abdij St. Sixtus
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Westvleteren, Belgium

Bottle. Poured a murky brown. Nose was fig, plum, cherry, cardboard, sherry, sweet malt, some tart fruit. Flavor was a great medley of plum, raisin, fig, sweet caramel, toffee, candy sugar, tart cherry, oxidation, and musky basement. What a gem!

Bottle, 33cl, thanks to my brother-in-law for having a storage of 48 Westvleterens in his appartment :). A red to light brown coloured beer with a beige head, not lacing very well however. An aroma of malts, dark fruits, also light caramel and dried prunes. The taste goes very similar: it starts with light sugar candy, light caramel adn evolves over dried prunes and dark fruits to a malty taste. Also very well balanced beer, one taste flowing over in the other, that all with a full mouthfeel. It finishes dry with some light alcohol. Fantastic trappist beer, but not with the tints and shades of the Westvleten 12, wihch has an even bigger, more beautiful and more fantastic taste. But this Westlveteren 8 is also very worth drinking!

Had this bottled at Gollem in Amsterdam at 10 euros. Beer was great. More smooth than I had expected. Complex and harmonic taste. Top belgian beer.

From the Bottle at Tom’s Ultimate Glasgow Tasting, Blackfriars 01/12/2007 Fruit and malt aromas. Amber red coloured and fruity with some spiced flavour and dryness in a crisp finish.

Pours a deep brick red with a creamy, thin, tan head. Aroma is very fruity. Grapes, light berries, spicy yeast, sugary malts. I’m surprised at how refreshing this beer feels. Nice fruity, yeast, spicy flavor. Some grapes, caramel malt, candied malts, some raisin, and a faint alcohol burn at the end. For an 8% Belgian Strong ale I was expecting a more full, powerful brew, but I honestly think this is better how it is. A little thinner than expected and one of the more refreshing strong ales I’ve had. Good stuff.

bottle from a buddy, nice brownish color, with some beige head. nose is sweet like grape bubble gum, some caremel. flavor is sweet but balanced, with a bit of a dry finish. really intresting beer

Bottle, big thanks to TampaBrew for sharing. Poured a dark copper color with a thick fizzy white head, very nice lacing on left on the glass. Distinct aroma of malt, spicy Belgian yeast, and dark fruit, rasins or figs. Full bodied with solid carbonation. Taste is quite complex, starts with some sweet caramel notes and Belgian yeast spice, later some of those fig and rasin notes become apparent as does some mild alcohol notes. Finishes mildly bitter.