Na Zdravi !: Trappistes Rochefort 10

Wednesday, April 08, 2020

Trappistes Rochefort 10

Brasserie de Rochefort (Rochefort, Belgium)

"Mild, rich, intense, lots of body. It is both food and drink at the same time, as wrote the late beer guru Michael Jackson. This nutritional overload is far from a coincidence. The Rochefort monks used to follow a strict diet where fish, meat and cheese were not on the menu. It took a beer like the Rochefort 10 to supplement their restricted diet."

Beautiful pour. Chocolatey opaque with a creamy tan head.
Ripe cherry and prune aroma.
Big, complex ripe fruit sweetness with a solid malt background. It has a noticeable spicy warmth.
A whole lot of everything crammed into this beer ... malt, fruitiness, and alcohol. Over the top, but it works.
Pretty darned amazing.

ABV 11.3%

Na Zdravi!

A 10-second take.
Not really reviews, just my way to keep track of the beers I've tried.

My mother's family is Czech. They emigrated from Bohemia and settled in Nebraska in the mid-1800s.
They were from the region that included the town Pilzen (Pilsen) where a brewery called Měšťanský pivovar Plzeň, now Pilsner Urquell (Plzeňský Prazdroj in Czech), started brewing a uniquely Bohemian-style beer we now know as pilsner.
So, as I raise a glass in honor of my Bohemian roots ...

Na Zdravi! (to your health).

Hops?

A "hop" is the cone shaped resinous flower of the female hop plant. It is used in brewing to add bitterness, flavor, aroma, and stability depending on when it is added.

Hops are one of the 4 basic ingredients of beer although they are not esential in the brewing process. The are used simply to add flavor and complexity to the brew.
Double and even triple IPA's feature an extreme amount of hops, and an ABV to match.
Noble Hops - The traditional varieties of hops that were used to make early European beers. Medieval brewers used Hallertau, Saaz, Spalt, and/or Tettnang hops. All are from Germany except Saaz from the Czech Republic (Žatec in Czech). All are still used today.