Brasserie de Rochefort Trappistes Rochefort 6

**Aroma:** “Complex malt on the nose, with white bread, toffee, and caramel malt sweetness, and fruity esters with hints of raisin, cherry, plum, and date. A hint of sherry, red wine, and port suggests aging.” **Flavor:** “Nice mingling between caramel and toffee notes from the malt and raisin, plum, and date esters. Slight chocolate. High carbonation creates a bit of a bite. Alcohol is present but not hot. Finish is balanced, with just a hint of sweetness that lingers. Again, port and sherry highlights suggest aging.” **Overall:** “Very tasty, rich, and complex with a sherry and port character not found in most others. Sweet but not overly sweet. An excellent example of the style that honestly appears aged (very gracefully). Malt and fruit character work very well together, and the balanced finish makes it a memorable and remarkable example of the style.”

**Aroma:** “A pleasant, light aroma that doesn’t overpower in any one area. Yeast aromatics are a touch more saison-like (some nice pepper and spice notes) than classically dubbel. Light spicy hops aroma complements yeast phenolics. As it starts to warm more esters (cherry or peach) start to come out and less spice.” **Flavor:** “A rounded malt foundation of toffee and raisins gives way to an unusual, but pleasantly different suit of fruit (bananas, cherries, plums) and spice (cloves). Some crisp hops bitterness to balance. Finishes dry.” **Overall:** “Spicy with a low malt complexity and a good balance of sweetness. Very drinkable. This could easily fly under the radar in a sea of competitors, but this pleasant little dubbel-esque saison quenches one’s thirst as readily as it quenches the need for something from the abbey. Perhaps this is what the monks drink when they mow the lawn?”

**Aroma:** “Some earthy character. High fruitiness with notes of pear, green apple, raisin, dried cherry, and prune. Some bready and toast maltiness. Hints of Munich malt and toast.” **Flavor:** “Rich malt flavor for the backbone, with hints of biscuit and caramel. Lighter fruit character, mainly cherry, apple, peach, and pear but some raisin. An earthy spice character adds complexity. Lots of alcohol warmth. High carbonation helps dry the beer out in the finish. A hint of hops bitterness for balance, but finish is slightly sweet.” **Overall:** “Approachable quad with pleasant fruity esters and a rich but delicate malt backbone. The high carbonation pairs with the somewhat sweet finish to keep it from being cloying. Nice sweetness with some complex earthy spice character.”