Origin: Belgium
Type: Trappist, Quadrupel
Color: Dark brown
Alcohol content: 11.3%
Recommended serving temperature: 12ºC/54ºF
Brewery: Brasserie de Rochefort
Webpage: http://www.abbaye-rochefort.be/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=88&Itemid=94
I have chosen the Rochefort 10 as my first post on dark beers quite simply because it is the beer I blame or am grateful to for fostering my love for this type of beers.
I first tried this beer a long time ago in Gollem in Amsterdam, on one of those afternoons when the amount of alcohol in your blood and/or the number of beers tried, pushes you to a sense of adventure and intrepidness, making you try beers which would otherwise go untried due to one's own mistaken preconceptions.
When it comes to mistaken preconceptions, this is probably the most mistaken I have ever been, at least regarding beer. I guess I had basically assumed that a dark trappist beer with over 10% ABV was going to be just short of absolutely undrinkable, with a bitter, dry and alcoholic taste, which I would not be able to handle.
Now I look back and can't help but laugh at the irony of the whole thing. If you look at the blog archive, you will see from the sheer amount of IPAs, strong Belgian pale ales and the lot, that bitter, dry and high alcohol content beers are precisely the kind that I tend to enjoy the most.
However, these are not the traits that define this particular beer. Probably the reason why I enjoyed it so much when I tried it.
The Rochefort 10 is a dark brown, almost black coffee colored beer, with a medium amount of whitish-cream colored foam which holds a moderate amount of time, just enough to appreciate it.
It has a sweet caramel and chocolate aroma, mixed in with dark fruits and licorice which both intrigued and surprised me, expecting as I was something more toasty and bitter. Even though you can also make out the alcohol quite clearly, it does not have the overpowering smell I thought it would be.
The taste is a creamy mix of the above: licorice, caramel and dark fruits. The bitterness is somewhat apparent, but without completely eliminating the sweetness, making it rather balanced overall. This made it a very pleasurable surprise for me, barely noticing the moderate toastiness and well blended alcoholic tinge.
It left me with the feeling of a very nutritionally balanced beer, one which fills you with goodness and energy, sugar, spice and everything nice, like the Powerpuff Girls. It is the kind of beer to make you forget you have already had a couple beers and are getting hungry.
I had two that day, one after the other, and went home with a full and happy tummy devoid of solids and a smile from cheek to cheek.
From that day onwards, I liked to finish off my winter days at the pub with one, to remind my stomach that there is much more to happiness than food.
I have chosen the Rochefort 10 as my first post on dark beers quite simply because it is the beer I blame or am grateful to for fostering my love for this type of beers.
I first tried this beer a long time ago in Gollem in Amsterdam, on one of those afternoons when the amount of alcohol in your blood and/or the number of beers tried, pushes you to a sense of adventure and intrepidness, making you try beers which would otherwise go untried due to one's own mistaken preconceptions.
When it comes to mistaken preconceptions, this is probably the most mistaken I have ever been, at least regarding beer. I guess I had basically assumed that a dark trappist beer with over 10% ABV was going to be just short of absolutely undrinkable, with a bitter, dry and alcoholic taste, which I would not be able to handle.
Now I look back and can't help but laugh at the irony of the whole thing. If you look at the blog archive, you will see from the sheer amount of IPAs, strong Belgian pale ales and the lot, that bitter, dry and high alcohol content beers are precisely the kind that I tend to enjoy the most.
However, these are not the traits that define this particular beer. Probably the reason why I enjoyed it so much when I tried it.
The Rochefort 10 is a dark brown, almost black coffee colored beer, with a medium amount of whitish-cream colored foam which holds a moderate amount of time, just enough to appreciate it.
It has a sweet caramel and chocolate aroma, mixed in with dark fruits and licorice which both intrigued and surprised me, expecting as I was something more toasty and bitter. Even though you can also make out the alcohol quite clearly, it does not have the overpowering smell I thought it would be.
The taste is a creamy mix of the above: licorice, caramel and dark fruits. The bitterness is somewhat apparent, but without completely eliminating the sweetness, making it rather balanced overall. This made it a very pleasurable surprise for me, barely noticing the moderate toastiness and well blended alcoholic tinge.
It left me with the feeling of a very nutritionally balanced beer, one which fills you with goodness and energy, sugar, spice and everything nice, like the Powerpuff Girls. It is the kind of beer to make you forget you have already had a couple beers and are getting hungry.
I had two that day, one after the other, and went home with a full and happy tummy devoid of solids and a smile from cheek to cheek.
From that day onwards, I liked to finish off my winter days at the pub with one, to remind my stomach that there is much more to happiness than food.
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