Two Girls, One Beer.
Our place to review craft beers, New England beer events, and drinking establishments
36. Trappistes Rochefort 6
I’ve had it rough with trappist ales. I missed the trappist tasting once because I got called into work last minute, and once I had an expensive trappiste in my purse which somehow managed to fall out and shatter, loading my flats with glass and slicing up my feet. So I gave them one last try, and either I poured wrong (doubtful) or it just has a very large head and it managed to overflow the glass, which in a panic I put on my dinner plate so as not to wreck the table, and it also saturated my entire dinner. I swore them off.
But the curiosity lingered. So I tried again. I picked up a Trappiste Rochefort 6 (7.5% abv), which is a Belgian strong dark ale. This beer is brewed once a year, which means it makes up only 1% of their overall beer production. So it’s harder to find at most stores, but I assure you, if you do, it’s worth it. If you see it, buy it. It’s worth over drafting your account or defaulting on your student loan payment. Seriously.
The beer pours a dark brown with a huge head, as you can tell in the picture, and it’s slow to recede. The head is very thick and tan. As it came down, it left think lacing on the class.
There are definitely traces of alcohol esters in the aroma, and when you sip it you can taste the alcohol but it’s not abrasive or overwhelming like it is in some beers. It’s actually complimented quite nicely by the sweet and syrupy taste of the beer, very fruit like, made me think of figs or dates. The after taste is a mix of malts and burnt caramel, the hops are undetectable but the alcohol taste makes up for this.
This beer certainly has a weight you can feel on your tongue, certainly medium bodied. The beer itself has relatively now carbonation.
This was my first, and certainly not last, trappist experience.
Grade: A
About Ashleigh Bennett (TwoGirlsOneBeer)
