Trappistes Rochefort 10
Brasserie de Rochefort

I am writing this from last week's memory. Smell was to me, raisin and something tart. Taste? This was the best beer I've ever had, not question. It was for a special occasion, and my dumb butt grabbed it by accident. An accident that put me close to heaven.

 

 

This is probably the first beer I'm reviewing that you could consider a holy elixir, as Abbaye de Brogne is a brewery located in an abbey in Belgium since St. Peter appeared to Gérard de Brogne, a nobleman who lived around 20 km or so away from the abbey, and instructed the knight to build an abbey to honor God.

That story, allegedly, took place somewhere around 880 AD, making this a very old abbey indeed.

But in 2013, Belgian brewmaster Bruno Deghorain, along with his business partner, Gaby Smet conceived a plan to set up a small brewery in the abbey, with the intent to make abbey style Belgian ales like they did in the days of yore.

This beer, Trappistes Rochefort 10, is part of that dream.

Is it any good? Is this a holy beer?

Let's find out!

CLASSIFICATION:

It's an ale, and when it comes to Belgian beers, there's a few styles.

Here we're enjoying a Belgian Quad, which are rich, strong ales with bold flavors. Typically, they're quite dark in color, hovering around deep ruby reds and browns with garnet hues.

In terms of taste, they're very sweet on the palate, low bitterness, but packing an ABV that will getcha there.

When it comes to beer, Belgian Quads are some of my favorite beers next to stouts.

COLOR:

Caramel, a deep caramel almost as if you left it on the burner a bit too long and it got dark brown. Nice hefty butterscotch colored head that lingers for a long time.

AROMA:

Very malty on the nose, which is the dominant smell that I'm getting. A little bit in the background is a faint hint of milk chocolate. Little bit of caramel and brown sugar.

BODY & PALATE:

Malt and caramel on the palate. There's a faint spritz of clove that I taste. Little bit of a fruity taste that comes in, almost like wine in a sense. I do want to stress it's quite mild in that fruity taste, which I guess is that faint hint of citrus that I'm attributing to these particular kind of hops that they use.

In terms of mouthfeel, it's pretty dense, almost like Coca-Cola in that sense. Very smooth, even for the ABV of 11.6% and fizziness of the beer.

FINISH:

It ends on a Belgian, malty dark chocolate sorta finish. This beer lives and dies by its malt character.

CONCLUSION:

This is a heavy beer that's akin to snuggling up in your favorite blanket and bunny slippers and sitting by the fire. It lives and dies by its rich malty flavor that hangs around.

I definitely do not recommend this beer for a refreshing drink. This is more of an experience, a beer you savor.

As far as holy, well, I'll leave that judgment to those more suited to make that call, as I'm not particularly religious.

But, I bet if Jesus had a signature beer, I bet this would be his beer of choice.

As far as myself, this has shot up to one of my favorite beers of all time, and this brewery became one of my favorite breweries of all time. They're a gem. Only issue though is availability and price. If you can find it, they are pricey, so if you're after a nice beer on a budget, might want to look elsewhere.

But, you definitely get what you pay for, this beer is wonderful!

Until next time...

Cheers!

Pours a clear, brown color. Big caramel head formation with good retention. Malty, chocolate on the nose. Caramel taste, mild warmth. Smooth mouthfeel especially for the abv. A delicious classic beer!

 

 

One of the best dark beers out there!

Smell of caramel and brown sugar. Taste that follows just as promised with a well-carbonated and spritzy body of brown sugar, caramel, some clove. A great quad

Pours a translucent rich brown with a fizzy, cola head that settles to a thick 0.5" coaster with very good retention and lacing. Nose is baked brown bread, prune, raisin, date, baking spice, hop spice, light alcohol, cinnamon, fruit cake. Taste has moderate, booze-soaked fruit sweetness, treacle, spiced red wine. Spiced hop on the finish, with a lingering sweet booziness. Mouthfeel has moderate weight and light, fizzy carbonation. Far more mild than Westy 12 in terms of its fruity booziness, with much more spice and hop character.

Apparently this is one of the best beers in the world...so reviewing again. Many think that it is better than Westerveleren 12.

Aroma is nothing special, similar to a canned Pelforth Brune. Lots of large bubbles, not as beautiful as Westerverelen or a Guinness. And definitely not a Chouffee IPA or Duvel Tripel Hop. But as the froth reduces, it improves.

The best thing about this beer is the hop aftertaste. It's one of the best mouthfeels of any beer. Really amazing. But it doesn't compare with a Chouffe IPA in terms of flavour for me.

 

 

 

Allowed to acclimate to 50°F (a little too cold, but I let it warm more) and poured into a Chimay goblet.

Pours a hazy carob brown with lighter sediment floating around and a tan quickly dissipating tan head (forgot to pay attention to how tall).

Initial aroma is a slight smell of high alcohol, with a hefty dose of yeast and malt, slight notes of milk/semisweet chocolate wafted around before I smelled it directly. Returning for a second round of smelling I notice a slight note of grass. A third round reminding me of a general whiskey smell.

Initial taste is again, alcohol, followed by malt, followed by milk/semisweet chocolate, followed by light alcohol burn all over the tongue but concentrated in the middle. Third and fourth sips yield raisin and/or generic dark dried fruit notes upfront, as well as revealing a sweetness, similar to the natural sweetness of dried fruit. Sipping after that uncovered a spiciness that comes before the sweetness, combined with the warmth from the alcohol it feels very sensible. I have to admit that for me personally it becomes harder to drink as it warms more because I have a hard time with spirits, and the alcohol in this one is not hidden, but it's still got fantastic flavor.

Mouthfeel is smooth, although a little thin, and the carbonation disappears.

It tastes like a fireplace, super cozy and tastes like home kind of beer. This is the perfect beer to drink while wearing a cotton sweater by a fireplace or a library or den.

It's expensive but it can be justified because it's excellent and has a high ABV. Will absolutely be purchasing again, as well as recommending and purchasing the others in the line.

 

 

 

One of the very best in the world! Outstanding! one of the best and likely the best Monastic Belgium Triple. It's been around for several hundred years. But it's not for the faint of heart. A serious amount of alcohol here and does not go good with anything but monk bread. But a perfect beer if love a great ale made the old way on open vats or a monk sworn to celibacy