Beer Review: Rochefort 10 (My Favorite, For Now)

Rochefort 10 with a branded vintage goblet. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn.

It’s Easter Sunday, and my wife and I have prepared a holiday feast. I baked a beautiful ham with Hawaiian pepper jelly, a gift from my island friend. We also made potato salad, green beans, rolls, and macaroni and cheese.

Of course, special holidays call for special beers. I don’t do feasts without my favorite beer, Rochefort 10. This is the flagship beer from the Rochefort Brewery near the Belgian town of the same name.

All three Rochefort beers are products of  the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Saint-Rémy, a Trappist monastery. Trappists are charged by the Rule of St. Benedict to live by the work of their own hands. And this beer is simply a divine work of art.

Rochefort 10 is an abbey quadruple or Belgian abt. The monks use water from a well within their monastery to make the beer. To be an authentic Trappist product, as Rochefort is, the beer must be made by the brothers themselves.

How do I know it is my favorite? Easy, I conducted a blind taste test, which I referred to in a previous post.

I pitted the Rochefort 10 against Chimay Blue, St. Bernardus Abt 12, and the legendary Westvleteren 12. Rochefort 10 won out in both rounds. Westvletern 12 was a close second.

So why do I say it is my favorite for now? Well, I am really fond of Achel’s Extra Bruin. So I’ll be doing another taste test, which I will naturally report on here.

Anyway, it seems apropos to review my favorite monk-made beer on Easter Sunday. Plus, it pairs well with good food and warm family meals.

By the way, I’m using a vintage Rochefort crystal goblet for today’s review. It is one of my favorite beer glasses as it feels loved and used. The newer Rochefort goblets are rimmed in gold and look fancier.

Smell: It’s a wonderful bouquet of red wine, rum cake, and raisin bread.

Rochefort 10 poured into a branded vintage goblet. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn.

Sight: It pours an antique wood brown and is completely opaque. It has a small lacy ivory head. The brew is peppered with heavy dark sediment.

Taste: Heavenly. Rochefort 10 has a complex flavor. You taste dark spiced rum and molasses. Then there is a bourbon flavor and burn in the mouth and throat. But it finishes with a red wine dryness, like a fine burgundy. The spiciness intensifies as you drink and as the beer warms.

Alcohol: Rochefort 10 tips the scale at a hefty 11.3 percent. This is not a chugging beer. In fact, that would be down right sacrilegious. Sip this beer. Nurse this beer. Respect the work, the labor, the love that went into it. And when you finish it, mourn its loss.

Overall: This beer is truly blessed. I  proselytize on its behalf.  I sing its praises to any that will hear. I implore you, try it. You too will become a convert. Except my wife. She hates it. Then again, she likes IPAs.

Bottom line: Brace yourself. I bought my bottle for $7.25 at a bottle shop in Asheville, North Carolina. I know. But seriously, that’s actually cheap. I’ve seen it go for higher than $8 a bottle. And no, it’s not a 750 ml bottle. We are talking about just a regular old beer bottle. I am sorry. Yet this is the price we pay for perfection. Accept no false idols.

Blind Tastings & Bitter Beers

I really love science, and I really love research. That’s why I was so interested in this article about a recent blind taste test in a San Francisco bottle shop. The event featured India Pale Ales and Double India Pale Ales, the seemingly ubiquitous, lip-curling, hoppy, bitter brews.

One of the selections in the taste test, Pliny the Elder from Russian River, is considered to be one of the be best, if not the best, Double IPA on earth. But it rarely wins these blind taste tests. You know, the kind where no one can see the bottle. This time it did though. The authors suggest it could be chance or could be that people are no longer looking for the wildest, bitterest beer to call the best. Pliny is not over the top with hop.

OK, so it’s not science. Not exactly. But it isn’t that far removed. And it’s still noteworthy.

Part of the reason why I’m interested in any of this, especially since it has nothing to do with Belgian beer, is because I do not like bitter beer. I just don’t. And I’m not alone, as another recent article from Slate points out.

Pliny the Elder and Heady Topper. Gifts for my wife on our first anniversary. Copyright 2013 by Andrew Dunn.

But many people I know and love do love IPAs, especially my wife. I bought her two of the top IPAs in the world, Pliny the Elder and the Alchemist Brewery‘s Heady Topper, for our first anniversary.

I could take or leave either, which is a pretty good review from me. But neither beer blew my wife away. At the time, almost three years ago, she really loved the bitterest of brews. So if I could drink them and she’s wasn’t blown away, they’re probably not too bitter.

I personally think the super bitter beer craze is just that, a craze. A phase that will pass. Perhaps the results of this recent blind taste test is confirming my theory. It certainly mirrors some of my own “research” in the name of beer drinking science.

I love conducting blind taste tests. Now, admittedly, they come with their own problems. Remember the old Pepsi Challenge? People liked Pepsi better than Coke, if it was just a sip, because it was sweeter. But a whole drink? Coke always seems to dominate.

However, if you give people a little more time and a little more to drink, a blind taste test can be a reasonable way to decide burning important questions, such as “Which beer do I like best?”

The quad taste test. From the left, St. Bernardus Abt 12, Rochefort 10, Chimay Blue, and Westvleteren 12. Copyright 2013 by Andrew Dunn.

My wife and I have conducted three blind taste tests. And we have plans to do another one very soon. The first we conducted was to figure out which Belgian quadruple beer I liked best.

My choices were Chimay Blue, St. Bernardus Abt 12, Rochefort 10, and the extremely expensive and extremely elusive Westvleteren 12. I had my wife set up four tasting glasses without telling me where she put which beer. I drank the first round, each with a few sips, one at a time and told her my thoughts. We did it again, and she switched the order on me at my request. In both cases, Rochefort 10 came out on top. It wasn’t the super expensive beer that everyone wants so badly. Hmm.

Later, we did the same kind of test for my her. She really likes IPAs, but is always waffling over which she likes best. We wanted to know which IPA readily available in our local stores did she like best. This time we had six IPAs and one Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

While New Belgium‘s Ranger IPA was her favorite IPA of the mix, beating out her favorite going into the blind taste test, Dogfish Head‘s 60-Minute IPA, she actually preferred the Sierra Nevada more. I predicted this. I know she really likes it. But I had a feeling she had lost a little love for IPAs in general. So the least hoppy beer won out in the end.

The IPA (and Sierra Nevada Pale) taste test for my wife. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn.

We conducted our most recent blind taste test, hard apple ciders, this winter with friends. I purchased 10 brands of hard cider. And we did two five-drink rounds. Then we did a final round pitting the top three. We only used straight hard apple ciders. No other flavors allowed. Strongbow came out on top for all but one of the six tasters.

What does that mean? I have no idea. But it was a lot of fun to do. So you should try your own.

If you can’t figure out if this expensive beer is worth the hype or you can’t figure out which bitter bomb IPA you like better, try a blind taste test. You might surprise yourself.

I plan on conducting my quad taste test again with a Rochefort 10, an aged bottle of Westvleteren 12, and an Achel Extra Bruin. It’s all in the name of science, of course.

😉

A Primer on Beer Glassware

I promised I’d write a primer on beer glasses, and here it is. This is a very basic introduction into beer glassware. I will try to tell you which glasses are most appropriate for your beer.

Let’s start off with the basics. The three beer glasses below are about as basic as you get. From the left, you have the pint glass (also called a tumbler), the weizen or wheat beer glass, and the classic Pilsner glass.

From the left, pictured is a pint glass, a weizen or wheat glass, and a Pilsner glass. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn.

The pint glass is good for just about anything, especially ales, and stacks easily, which is why it is so popular in your local bar. The weizen glass is made for wheat beer. Note its sexy curves. They’re there to encourage a nice head of foam on your beer and facilitate that wheat beer aroma. The Pilsner glass is made for, well, Pilsners. But you can use them for lagers of all types. Again, the tapered bottom leads to a nice foamy head. And the glass really calls your attention to the nice color and bubbles in your beer.

Since this is a blog on Belgian beer, I should probably talk about Belgian beer glassware. Drinking Belgian beer is just not as much fun if you aren’t drinking it from the glass for which the beer was made. Most of them are crystal or glass and feature stems, not unlike a wine glass or snifter. The picture below shows off three styles of Belgian beer stemware. On the left is the Orval chalice. In the middle is the Rochefort goblet. And on the right is the Duvel tulip glass. All three are made so that the hand can help warm the beer slightly, as these beers are better served less than ice cold at around 40-50 degrees. All three show off the beauty of the brew itself. The tulip variety does allow for more of a foamy head. One thing I liked about them is they almost always hold exactly one bottle of beer, accounting even for the head. Dubbels, tripels, quads — they all look great in this stemware. You can also use a red wine glass or snifter. But that’s not as much fun.

Three Belgian beer glasses. The Orval chalice, Rochefort goblet, and Duvel tulip are pictured. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn.

Many of the glassware we will discuss come from Germany, not Belgium. But then again, many beers come from Germany, too. You probably knew that. If you are drinking a German beer, you might want to consider a stein or mug. They come in all shapes and sizes, and no doubt you have seen the elaborate steins with colorful painted scenes and metal tops. But the most common German bar mugs are the Humpen (half liter) and the Maßkrug (liter). They can come in stoneware and in glass, particularly of the dimpled variety. The picture below features both sizes and materials. These are great for German bocks, doppelbocks, and Märzen/Octoberfest beers.

Beer mugs. Humpen (half liter) and Maßkrug (liter) mugs in both classic dimpled glass and stoneware. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn.

Two countries that are often overlooked when it comes to drinkware are the United Kingdom and Ireland. They come with their own hosts of glassware, such as the common pint glass for ales and stouts and the Scotch thistle glass for Scotch ales and wee heavies. But they are also known for tankards, though these are more rare. Still, it is fun to sometimes pretend you are at some medieval fair drinking your Guinness from one of these. They come in metal or glass, topped and not, as seen below.

Tankards can be metal or glass, topped or not. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn.

Naturally, if I am posting about beer glasses, I probably have a favorite. Well, my most precious is that Rochefort glass, which is vintage and was a gift from my wife. But honestly, my favorite came from an antique store here in Johnson City, Tennessee. It’s not Belgian or German or even from Europe. My favorite glass, which I dubbed O.G., is a crystal snifter emblazoned with five old American beer makers in shiny gold letters. You can just make out all five logos: Ballantine, Budweiser, Miller, Pabst, and Schlitz. I love the the novelty and absurdity of having, arguably, low-brow beers on such a high-brow piece of stemware. So you will see O.G. from time to time, particularly if I don’t own the branded glass for the beer I’m drinking. So without any further ado, here’s O.G. in all of his glory.

O.G., my favorite beer glass, is a crystal snifter with Ballantine, Budweiser, Miller, Pabst, and Schlitz emblazoned on the sides. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn.