Top-fermented trappist-style beer, sometimes called “Special”. It is a clear rich mahogany in appearance and rests on a bed of yeast which should be left undisturbed (store bottle upright and pour with a controlled flow so as to leave the deposit at the bottom of the bottle). It has a fine and stable head, the beer is well-saturated. Its sweetness and spiciness on the nose offers us tantalising notes of roasted cocoa and subtle fig with a hint of liquorice and some esters. The aroma is delicate, fine and well-balanced. The taste has a warming spiciness at first which then makes way for chocolatey sweetness and a very clean caramel malt roundness, the esters are still present but remain firmly in the background. Rochefort 8 has a long, fruity, sweet and harmonious body ending with average bitterness and a finished product that on the whole is relatively dry (cocoa?). This is perhaps the beer with the best balance in the whole range. An exceptional vintage!