Beer- #283 - Rochefort - Trappistes 10

Companion to the 8 - the Rochefort Trappistes 10

Brewed by Brasserie Rochefort in the style of a  Abt/Quadrupel they are of course in Rochefort, Belgium

Simple 330 ml bottle, containing  2.94 standard drinks as it's a whopping  11.3% ABV  beer,  and it's a podgy 339 calories!

The top product from the Rochefort Trappist brewery. Dark color, full and very impressive taste. Strong plum, raisin, and black currant palate, with ascending notes of vinousness and other complexities.

An opaque dark brown beer with a creamy off white head that dissipated quite quickly providing fair lacing. Rich malty aromas of dark fruits (cherries, plums), banana, toffee and dark chocolate. The palate is thickish and fruity finishing with a gentle spicy hop presence and a soothing alcoholic warmth. The finish reminds me of an after dinner port wine. There is definitely candy sugar in there but it is not too sweet and the flavours are wonderfully integrated. Top class. Definitely one to sip and savour.

Muted aroma, but you get malts/caramel. Really pops to life on the pour, hight rich fruits and warm malts. Thin head that disperses. Pours a dark brown muddy could and looks somewhat flat in the glass, but isn't.

Nicely carbonated  and  bit hit of rich sweetness, lots of  rich fruit style,, and pleasingly and not intrudingly bitter.

This is more pleasant that the Rochefort 8, in my opinion,  more rounded, mellower, less intrudingly bitter.

The pdubyah-o-meter says this is very good an should get an 8 as that. It's not a beer that I would rave or go on about, it's very nice, and I like the Belgium style of beers a lot.

This though is a style that is becoming more popular with brewers, it seems, and there are some very very good variants available.

I'm going to enjoy watching the tennis, and enjoy this in the sporadic sunshine.

ABT/QUADRUPEL

Abt, or quadrupel, is the name given to ultra-strong Trappist and abbey ales. The name Abt was pioneered to describe Westvleteren and the beer that would become St. Bernardus. Quadrupel was pioneered by La Trappe. Abts are the darker of the two, with more rich, deep fruity notes. Quads are paler, with corresponding peachy notes. Neither have much in the way of hop, and both are very strong and malty. Though both are bottle-conditioned, abts trend more towards yeastiness. Alcohol is very high (10+% abv) for both.

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Beer - #165 - 8 Wired - Grand Cru 2011

All Poshed up with this then : 8 Wired Grand Cru 2011  - Brewed by 8 Wired Brewing in the style of a : Abt/Quadrupel and as always that's all happening in Blenheim, New Zealand

A Quadrupel!, actually  a Barrel Aged, Sour Quadruple - and I chose it by the label without reading it, a sucker for packaging. I probably would have brought it anyway had I thought it through. On the packaging all the labels are crinkly - they say because of deformed bottles - beauty is in the eye....

So it's an 11%ABV beer  in a 375ml bottle, thats 3 standard drinks worth.

Aged for 16 months in Pinot Noir Barrels with Brettanomyces and Pediococcus.

Grand Cru started out as The Sultan. When we made this beer last year I filled 8 old Pinot Noir barrels and more or less forgot about it. The native bugs in the barrels kept fermenting the beer, making it slightly sour. To further enhance the funky character, I blended it with 2 barrels of a Flanders Red kinda thing, that has also been fermenting funky for about 18 months.

Which screams of  - to minimise a loss we've thrown something together - given it a fancy name, and an impressive looking label, and sell it for a goodly margin. At least they're up-front. I'm not sure that this isn't the whole ethos of 8 wired though - a bit of hit and hope. Unless I'm just being cruel for the sake of it.

Anyway.  Opening aroma is cider apple. It's a murky cloudy pour, with an effort at a head but not a good one, the sour aroma remains. I guess it could be tannin wine? It settles to a red-wine nose though.

So it's fizzy red-wine then. Or is it. It's got a lot of what seems like cherry flavour. And it does have a wine background and nose, but does not carry the roughness of the tannin that get with some red wines.

This is at both times then a bit cranky and weird, but odd and comforting. It's not a hard drink, and you'd forget that this is a strong beer, and being as how it's a large serve you'll soon be squiffy if you take it lightly.

The off-putting thing is the muddy cloudy colour, and to be honest I would have enjoyed more head, well to be honest any head.  The up-side is that this has an understated sourness, none of the tannin rough, no after burn from alcohol and is pretty tasty.

I can see how this might not please either a wine drinker or a beer drinker. It says Quadrupel, and it probably could say anything. I have to bow to their description.

The pdubyah-o-meter is confused as all heck, but seems that an 8.5 is a good score. I like it but I don't love it, It would a fantastic beer to crack out in a bar and impress your less well travelled companions, and as a gift to a wine drinker this might be something to consider.

Would I rush out an get another? Possibly not. Would it get better with age? It's not a wine, it's doubtful. Am I ashamed at dissing them with insinuations of hit and hope? A little, yes.

An update to this : I have brought more, and I really like it, it's clever and a tidy small drink to finish you off for the evening. I should revise my score and be more generous. This really is good.

 

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