Brewery: Brasserie de Rochefort
Country of origin: Rochefort, Belgium
Alcohol %: 9.2%!!!
Like the Suffolk, this was simply given to me by a friend who visited Belgium.
I would like to start off by mentioning how relatively hard it was to open. The cap is thick! I noticed it at first when opening the bottle because it definitely took some extra effort. I can also usually bend caps in my hand after opening the bottle no problem but I tried to bend this cap since it was being so difficult, but it retained the same shape it had as I took it off the bottle. First beer I have ever experienced that with…
I actually forgot to take pictures of the bottle itself, as I took pics of just about everything else. When I went to Italy with a friend, though, we were drinking in a craft beer bar and I saw that this beer was sold there. I took the chance and got one and took a picture of it so I could have a complete post.
Sight: Another beer that foamed up quite quickly, but the foam did go down again quick enough to not be annoying. Color is a pleasant almost opaque brown. The bubbles really catch on the side and bottom of the glass, so lots of tiny bubbles continuously going up. I did notice that there were some floaties inside the beer. Not like an unfiltered beer, but there was just …stuff in the beer, not much, but enough to notice them roiling around in the bubbles. There wasn’t any instructions to stir the beer or anything to distribute the sediments, but honestly, I don’t think I wanted the rest of the stuff on the bottom of the bottle in my beer itself. I probably would have given an 8 for the looks, but I am going to have to take a couple points off just because of these off-putting flakes.
The floaties
Sediments at the bottom of the glass
Sediments at the bottom of the bottle
Smell: My roommate commented on the fact that it had a very strong smell. Maybe my nose was clogged (although I don’t think so), but I just wasn’t quite detecting a particularly strong aroma. It smelled pretty much like a standard (yet stronger), rich, malty ale to me.
Taste: Strong. With such a high alcohol percentage, you can feel the slight burn as it goes down. Definitely nothing like a shot, but the alcohol is noticeable. Otherwise, a pretty good, stronger, darker ale. It didn’t actually taste very bitter, but that might have been due to the alcohol overpowering it.
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Sight - 6/106/10
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Smell - 8/108/10
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Taste - 7/107/10
Overall
It would have scored nicely in the “sight” category, but I had to knock it down a couple notches just for these unfavorable flakes in the beer, which made it a little questionable to drink (if there was a disclaimer on the bottle of how to properly drink it, or that it’s fine and expected, it would be different. Otherwise, it just seemed… gross). It didn’t smell too unique to me, but that’s not bad, as it still smelled good. It was also quite tasty and full-bodied, and the alcohol packed a punch. One beer and I was definitely feeling it. Still bringing this down 1 point as well because the taste was slightly spoiled by the residue in the beer. In the end, it was quite enjoyable, if only the issue of the flakes was fixed or either addressed instead of leaving me to assume the beer is just improperly filtered.