Westvleteren 8

I didn't want to put off this post any more for fear of letting the memory of this beer go to long to do it justice. Westvleteren is the final trappist brewery that I had yet to try. Due to it's lack of distribution in the US, or anywhere in the world for that matter, the only way to get it is to go to the abbey in Belgium, or find someone to ship it to you. For Christmas, my girlfriend Julia did just that, and had someone from Belgium ship bottles of both the 8 and the 12 to her. Not much is know about the abbey other than the huge reputation of their brews, both the 8 and 12 are the top rated for their styles on Beer Advocate and Rate Beer (the 8 is a dubble and the 12 is a tripel). Because of their reputation and the difficulty in getting them, they're considered the "holy grail" of beerdom. I was worried that the beer wouldn't live up to the hype, or I wouldn't like it, or I'd get a bad bottle. Fortunately this did not seem to be the case. I'm not sure how old the bottle even is, all I was told was that one of the bottles was at least a year old as the abbey only brews one style of beer at a time.

The beer poured a deep murky brown, like dark chocolate. It was strongly hazy, as can be expected with a bottle fermented beer. The head was airy and a light tan color, about a finger thick, and dissipated to 1/4 finger. After that the head stuck around for a while and left moderate lacing on the glass.

The aroma was strong, I noticed it even while pouring. There was a predominant fruit quality to it as well, some cherry and some apple in the scent. Underneath were smells of chocolate, roast, a hint of coffee, and other dark fruits. It's very similar to the smell I remember Westmalle having, but much stronger, and very sweet. There's also a harder to describe earthen quality to the smell, of old wood or clay pots.

The taste was not nearly as sweet as I expected from the smell. Chocolate is present along with cherry notes, underneath is apple cider and a touch of nutmeg. There's earthy flavors as well, with a hint of smokiness and a bit of wood. I was getting a slightly bready quality to it as well, like a rye or whole wheat bread. A nicely rounded bitterness lingers on the sides of the tongue. I detected a bit of dark fruit, possible plum as well. Despite it's relatively high strength (somewhere in the 8% range or higher), I didn't notice any alcohol in the flavor. The aftertaste is equally pleasant, with smoked wood and grain dominant in the mouth. The overall balance and complexity of this beer is amazing.

In the mouth, the first thing that jumps out about this beer is the strong, sharp carbonation. Perhaps overly so. It has a good medium body, giving it just the right amount of substance. There's a nice smooth coating on the mouth as well. Going down it has just a bit of warmth, both from the spice and the alcohol. It's not wet enough to be considered refreshing, but it's not really dry either.

The drinkability of this beer is just incredible. It's strength is not apparent in the taste, just in the after-effects. I have no desire at all to drink this one quickly, but I feel like it's a flavor I'd never get sick of. Absolutely a drink to savor and enjoy.

- Adam

Maredsous 8 Dubbel

Right now I'm working on my 3rd post today. The first 2 have been deleted as it's been so long since I had these beers, looking at my notes just isn't bringing back the experience for me, and I don't think I could do justice to the beers. Maredsous 8 stood out to me though, and my notes were quite ample. This beer was possibly the most complex I've ever tasted, each sip yielded a new flavor.

The beer is brewed by Duvel Moortgat, brewers of my all-time favorite, Duvel. Upon learning that they had additional lines of beer besides Duvel, I made a point of picking it out the next time I went over to State-Line. As a Dubbel, this beer is the same style as Westmalle Dubble, Achel Brune, Chimay Red, and Westvleteren 8... meaning it has some fierce competition to live up to.

The beer poured a dark brown color, and had a moderately sized off-white head. When held up to the light, I noticed a slight reddish tinge around the edges. Throughout the glass it had good retention and decent lacing as well.

The aroma contained a number of scents, starting with a nice combination of roast malt, coffee, cherries, and chocolate. Underneath there's hints of caramel, alcohol, biscuit, and apple. Needless to say, it's a complex aroma that just hints at the flavors that the beer contains.

At first the beer tasted strongly of coffee and dark chocolate. It had a sweetness to it, as well as a round bitterness at the back of the mouth. However, I also detected a fruity flavor underneath that I thought was cherry. There was a strong hop flavor on the sides of the tongue. I didn't notice much alcohol in it, but it did have a warming quality. The beer developed even more as I continued drinking, yielding flavors of roast, dark breads like pumpernickel, cider, and a wooden/earthy flavor that I quite enjoyed. It's hard to even describe how these flavors worked together to form this incredible beer.

I tried this beer in two different glasses, first was my Duvel glass, which I felt would be appropriate. However, after reading an article on glassware, I disagreed with Beer Advocate on their recommendation for drinking it out of a goblet style glass, so I tried it with my Pauwel Kwak stirrup. In the Duvel glass the beer felt very highly carbonated, and was light (almost airy) in the mouth. It was thinner in feel than I expected. I also noted that it was a little dry. I had read (can't remember where) that for beers with higher carbonation, a narrower glass is more appropriate. After trying it in the Kwak glass, I have to agree that this beer was better with a narrower glass. The main difference I noticed was that the beer didn't feel quite as light in the mouth. It was still light, but it had a more tangible quality to it that helped me appreciate the flavors more. I also noticed that the roast flavor came out more (roast what I'm not sure, but it was definitely roasted), and the chocolate flavor got stronger towards the end. Visually, it also left incredible lacing on the narrower glass.

All in all, the beer was highly enjoyable. However, I didn't feel like it would be a good beer to pound back. For one thing, it's 8% ABV, so it's too strong to drink end to end. More importantly though, the flavors are so complex and interesting that I felt it was really designed to sit down and enjoy sip by sip. Savor this one, take it slow, and it will be a wonderful experience.

- Adam