Addi' Fri, 10 Sep 2004 22:33:55 +0200, FujiGirl scrisse:

>my fellow beer lovers swear this is the best trappist ever made. since i
>[and my partner] love trappist it's inevitable we must make that trip down
>south [210km] and get a few of these from the monastery one of these days.
>they no longer sell it to the shops, you see. my current trappist
>favourites are Rochefort 8 and Gouden Carolus. yours?

a few months ago, dining with a couple of friends, we had both Westy 12
and Roch 10 - the drinks that night included also my friend's
barleywine, maybe some other beers, a good local Nebbiolo wine (BTW we
are in Italy) and a selection of aged single malts whiskies... a good
way to get prepared to a HB judging the day after ;-))
Well back to the trappists: my friend was for the W12, his wife
preferred the R10, I was in between; but the interesting thing was that
we all 3 agreed that anyway R10 is *bigger". Yes, despite whay I read
and what I remembered, Rochfort 10 is *more*: in aroma, flavour,
intensity, complexity... a challenge to your palate! W12 was also rich,
big, complex etc, but subtler and more drinkable. That evening, having
drunk so much and so "big", if I wanted another bottle it would have
been Westy and not Rochefort.

In other tastings, in other evenings, Rochefort 10 was just heavenly
perfect, the right beer for me.

If you have the chance, I do suggest a parallel tasting of these 2 great
trappist ales.

BTW, Rochefort 10 is stronger (though just slightly) than Westvleteren
12. R10 is 11.3% abv, W12 lately oscillates between 10.2% and 10.8%. A
friend measured the final gravity of a W12 and we calculated an OG of
about 1095.

ciao from Italy
max

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