Trappist Tasting of a Lifetime...

For those of you who love Trappist beers, this should interest you.

Last February, I got together with three other friends to do one hell of a Trappist tasting.

We tasted the following beers:

Orval
Achel: Bruin 8, Extra 8
Rochefort: 6, 8, 10
Westmalle: Dubbel, Tripel
Westvleteren: Blonde, 8, 12
Chimay: Red, Blue, White

The only one we didn't have was La Trappe, which is fairly new.


One of the guys who tasted with us is a Beer Judge with a Master ranking.

We didn't rank all the beers from best to worst. In the end all we cared about were the top 5.

I apologize in advance for the simplistic, incomplete tasting notes. They are really just a small compilation of the main points we made about each beer. We were not really hung up about all the different aspects of each beer. We just wanted to narrow it down to what we all thought were the best Trappist brews.

1. Westvleteren 8
Amazing. This was the best one by far. Sweet then dry. Reminds you of pecan pie. Gentle alcohol. Many complex layers of flavor and aroma. When you walk into Heaven this is what they will hand you when you ask for a drink. A very special beer.

2. Westmalle Tripel
Yeasty, fruity, fun. Ripe apple and lots of pear.

3. Westmalle Dubbel
Candy cherry and plum aroma and taste. Full and clean. Very fun.

4. Orval
Very dry. Musty. Brettanomyces is definitely there. Slight horse blanket. Cooked apple aroma. The nicest surprise of the lot.

5. Chimay White
Apple. Clovey. A little mousy. Very nice.


I think its interesting to note that the Rocheforts and the Westvleteren 12 didn't even make it into the top 5. Rochefort was totally unimpressive and the Westy 12 was harsh and lacking character.

~Airtight

Thats crazy I though the westmalle were the worst trapist beers I have had. I loved the Rochefort though. Just shows everyone has different taste.

Ryanh1801 said:

Thats crazy I though the westmalle were the worst trapist beers I have had. I loved the Rochefort though. Just shows everyone has different taste.

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Yeah, all four of us were surprised too at what we thought about all the beers. Whats interesting is that we didn't argue about what we thought were the top beers. We were all in agreement about beers 1, 2 and 3 with a little dispute about numbers 4 and 5. But thats usually how it goes, judging beer. The top 2 or 3 are usually obvious. Its the rest of them that are difficult to place. Tasting all the Trappist beers side by side is very very different from tasting them alone. I thought Rochefort 8 was wonderful when I tasted it alone but then tasting it with the Westmalles and Westvleteren 8 it wasn't very good.

The only one we didn't have was La Trappe, which is fairly new.

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Brouwerij de Koningshoeven was founded in 1884 so they're hardly new. They are however, the only trappist brewery outside of Belgium. They began exporting to the US sometime in the mid to late 1980's.

Sounds like a great tasting. I love Orval and the Westvleteren beers are outstanding! I also think Westmalle Tripel is the best available in the US.

Brewtopia said:

Brouwerij de Koningshoeven was founded in 1884 so they're hardly new. They are however, the only trappist brewery outside of Belgium. They began exporting to the US sometime in the mid to late 1980's.

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New, meaning they were recently granted the privilege to once again call themselves an official "Trappist" brewery. They are rather difficult to find in the states though. Only place I have seen them is in Florida.

Man, I love the rochefort... 10 is definitely my favorite of the bunch, but I'm a big fan of them all. I got them fresh in Belgium though, maybe that makes a difference?

I'm wondering the same. Maybe poorly handled bottles? While I agree Westy 8 is a superb beer, I feel that the 12 blows it away!! But mine were fresh from the cafe.

Great tasting though. I've been celaring some myself so that I can do something similar.

One hting to keep in mind is that some times those beers are so old/poorly stored in shipping that you may not be tasting what the beer is really like. Could explian why those 2 beers didn'tt make it neer the top.

Dennys Fine Consumptibles said:

One hting to keep in mind is that some times those beers are so old/poorly stored in shipping that you may not be tasting what the beer is really like. Could explian why those 2 beers didn'tt make it neer the top.

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That is definitely a possibility. Better make a trip to Belgium and taste them all in one day to compare

Dennys Fine Consumptibles said:

One hting to keep in mind is that some times those beers are so old/poorly stored in shipping that you may not be tasting what the beer is really like. Could explian why those 2 beers didn'tt make it neer the top.

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That right there is the reason when I buy my beer I go into the back of the store and pick them right out of the box. Most people don't have the opportunity to do this and I don't suggest you ask the liquor store guy to do it for you. But even if they are in brown bottles they will get light struck in the time that they sit on the shelf. I need to try more Belgium's though.

Thats weird that you think the difference in taste may be down to them not being fresh, to my knowledge belgium big beers are made for storing, they are the sort of thing you stick in the cellar for 8-9 years before one day blowing the dust of them and enjoying the mature flavours.

Yeah but storing in your cellar and shipping in container ships subject to summers heat and wharehouses, etc. are another thing.

I love the Rochefort 10 it is simply amazing, I just recently tried the Westmalle Dubbel, and I thought it was pretty damn good too.

Dennys Fine Consumptibles said:

Yeah but storing in your cellar and shipping in container ships subject to summers heat and wharehouses, etc. are another thing.

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true dat. i ordered a bunch of belgian beer from John's Grocery once, and it all had funny taste to it. they, of course, never sold these beers and they were stored for some time. i think it was shipping(probably TO their location), because i've had the same beer stored properly for years around here and it's good stuff, man.

EDIT: Come to think of it, I also had some more beer from John's that I had shipped in Iowa (where store is located) and they still had that same funny taste, except a few bottles of some stuff they just received in (mostly unibroue) and that tasted fine. Maybe it was their storage. huh.

I had the honor tonight of drinking La Trappe Quadrupel on tap at Collins Pub in Seattle with Thijs Thijssen, Brewer and General Manager of Bierbrouwerij de Koningshoeven B.V. Nederlands. They are in town as part of a west coast beer tour. What an amazing night. They also enjoyed many west coast beers and were very impressed with the american craft beer movement.

I have tried a number of the American brewed Belgian style ales but recently got to try a couple Trappist Ales.
First it really surprised me in that the couple Trappist beers I tried were very different from each other and very different from the American versions I had tried previously. The American versions while all different still seemed very similar.
I had a Chimay Blue and a Westmalle Dubble.
The Chimay was very easy to drink an was pretty light in flavor compared to Belgians I had had previously.
The Westmalle Dubble was very fruity and seemed much more full bodied than the Chimay despite being a considerably smaller beer. I liked both but preferred the Westmalle.
Next time I get back to the beer shop I will be picking up some more Trappist ales.

Craig