Trappist Westvleteren 8 (VIII) - Brouwerij Westvleteren (Sint-Sixtusabdij van Westvleteren)

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BA SCORE
100
world-class
-
1,173 Ratings

THE BROS
94
exceptional
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read more »

rAvg: 4.52
pDev: 8.19%
Reviews: 729
Hads: 444

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Brewed by:
Brouwerij Westvleteren (Sint-Sixtusabdij van Westvleteren)

Belgium

Style | ABV
Dubbel | 8.00% ABV

Availability: Year-round. bottle (728).

Notes:
(Blue Cap)

View: Beers (3) | Events (0)

Reviews

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Reviews by the Alström Bros:

BeerAdvocate

Massachusetts

3.28/5 rDev -27.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Review from Inaugural Issue of Beeradvocate Magazine.

Four-year-old bottle--a gift from a friend. Poured into a silver-rimmed Westvleteren chalice, a nearly opaque, dark, rusty brown, with shimmering ruby hues, a tightly-laced creamy beige head atop, and a settled, healthy, ringed lace. Toffee in the nose, along with a suggestion of dates. On the palate, very dry up front, and incredibly complex beneath. Powdery malts, dextriny notes of carob, honey, and a spike of sherry. Similar malted milky sweetness proﬁle found in the Blonde, but with more depth. Soft prune, date sugar, hint of anise, slightly roasty around the edges, carob and a brush of toffee. Light phenols, herbal. Slightly fumy alcohol on the breath. Dry, powdery ﬁnish.

Westvleteren 8 is ﬁne aged, but it's become a bit too dry and muted for our liking. Delicious fresh, and arguably better than Westvleteren 12 in drinkability.

Serving type: bottle

07-24-2008 18:32:01 | More by BeerAdvocate

Jason

Massachusetts

4.55/5 rDev +0.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5

33cl brown bottle with no freshness date to be found, thin layer of sediment on the bottom of the bottle gets stirred up a bit from the initial push of carbonation.

Appearance: Tons of tiny bubbles burning a path through the dark and tawny brew, some of the sediment made its way into the glass as it was lifted by the carbonation in the bottle. Those bubbles hold a very solid cream coloured lace together.

Smell: Sweet tart granny smith apple, soft herbal phenols and bready malt with a yeast backing make up the aroma.

Taste & Mouthfeel: Stiff crispness holds its own up against the creamy and thickly layered medium body. Big expressive bitterness from some hops but more of a tangled yeast, herbal phenol and spiced bitter flavour. Fruitiness gets juicy in the middle with some tag along alcoholic esters. Good foundation of malt that leaves nothing untouched as it unravels flavours of whole grain bread, faint molasses, toasted grains and a light dry husk in the end.

Drinkability & Notes: A big thumbs up from me, more than just a noteworthy brew. Beer like this makes the big picture of good beer that much more clear. An addictive sipping style brew.

Serving type: bottle

02-06-2003 18:30:39 | More by Jason

Todd

Massachusetts

4.88/5 rDev +8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

Presentation: .33l brown bottle. Direct from the source, so no label. Just a blue cap and the number 8. Served in a traditional Westvleteren silver rimmed chalice glass.

Appearance: Pours a mean chunky off-white head of stiff foam. Settles to a patchy lace with sticking and staying power. Colour is a very deep, dark ruby. Poured leaving most of the yeast in the bottle.

Smell: Incredibly rich aromas of Belgian candy sugar, toffee, yeast and gentle spices -- like anise.

Taste: Extremely smooth on the palate with a wonderful creamy mouthfeel with a fine and gentle carbonation. Luscious malt flavours of chocolate, coffee, licorice/anise, toffee, prune and honey unfold onto the palate with a slightly slick buttery-like (diacetyl). Notes of brandy pull-thru for even more depth of character. A racy sharpness hits with a unique yeast flavour, very mild tea-like bitterness and a spicy alcohol presence. Perfect balance. Dry finish, a little slick on the palate, a bit oily, with coffee and earth flavour residuals and alcohol vapors.

Notes: I'd go as far as saying that this is without a doubt one of the best beers on the planet. Truly a masterpiece.

Serving type: bottle

06-03-2001 00:00:01 | More by Todd

More User Reviews:

PlinyBeMiney

California

4.25/5 rDev -6%

05-21-2013 06:48:59 | More by PlinyBeMiney

CosmoHopHead

Kansas

4/5 rDev -11.5%

05-21-2013 04:11:10 | More by CosmoHopHead

DoubleJ

California

4.78/5 rDev +5.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

Anticipation grows as I work up the Westvleteren latter at Cafe In de Vrede. Already served from the bottle into glass as it arrived at my table. On to the beer;

The 8 is ruby brown colored with an inch of rocky head. The head retention is acceptable and it leaves some creamy lace around. The aroma is not only complex, but downright appetizing! Hello? Figs. How are you? Raisins. Quite well. Prunes. Thank you very much. Chocolate and pudding and yeast.

Don't stop there. Get that palate ready for a party. The figs make their mark right away. Raisins don't trail far behind. A kiss of grass breaks the trend of sweet notes, but make no mistake, this is not sweet as in sugar sweet. A kiss of pepper adds a kick. Chocolate pudding adds a heavenly final blow to this outstanding dubbel. The beer is full bodied with a "peppery" carbonation, and it remarkably drinkable for a dubbel.

I've had dubbels which I've enjoyed a lot. Westvleteren just topped that list with its own. With its combination of great taste and drinkability, this was my favorite of the Westvleteren family.

Serving type: bottle

05-20-2013 23:35:47 | More by DoubleJ