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Westvleteren 8

smellysell

Go Vols!!!
Joined
Jan 9, 2007
Messages
9,915
I finally got a new card reader, so I’m back on the horse. Tim (MX) hooked me up with some of these straight from the abbey. I love Belgian ales and have been waiting for the mood to strike. Unfortunately this is my second Westy in a row (the last was a 12) that just didn’t really do anything for me. We’ll see how the rest are with some time in the cellar.

westy8.jpg


Style – Dubbel
ABV – 8%
Brewed In – Westvleteren, Belgium
Availability – Year Round

Score – 6.6/10

Appearance
The date on the cap is 17.10.11, meaning that it was bottled October 12, 2008. Pours a medium brown with orange highlights. The two-finger head is off white and wonderfully creamy. It lingers seemingly forever, and leaves insane lacing. Other than the head there are not really any signs of carbonation, and there is such a thick yeast layer at the bottom of the bottle that I have to leave almost an inch of beer in the bottle.

Smell
The aroma is pretty subdued overall. Belgian yeast and candi sugar come thru the strongest, but there is some dark fruit notes too, namely raisins.

Taste
The flavor is disappointingly thin and is almost completely lacking any of the dark fruit flavors I was anticipating. There is some malt sweetness along with the candi sugar flavors, but not a whole lot else going on. There is also an unpleasant astringency that makes me wonder (i.e. hope) that this is just a bad bottle.

Feel
The body is very thin, and has almost no carbonation. It’s very watery and underwhelming.

Overall
At this point I have to think that this is just a bad bottle. I’ve had some really hyped beers that have been disappointing, but never anything like this. I’ll update this when I have another one if this was indeed a bad bottle. Thanks again for hooking me up with these Tim, hopefully the rest will be better.
 
hope this was just a bad bottle.
i've been searching for this one, even though you had a potential bad bottle how does it compare westmalle dubbel?


edit for spelling, dang mobile phones
 
I bought some of these and the 12 and can say that I had a distinctly different experience. Hopefully it was just a bad bottle and not due to transport or sun exposure which can sometimes cause problems. Did you drink it slightly chilled (60-65 degrees)?
 
hope this was just a bad bottle.
i've been searching for this one, even though you had a potential bad bottle how does it compare westmalle dubbel?

I like the Westmalle much better.

I bought some of these and the 12 and can say that I had a distinctly different experience. Hopefully it was just a bad bottle and not due to transport or sun exposure which can sometimes cause problems. Did you drink it slightly chilled (60-65 degrees)?

I drank it straight out of my cellar (~50 degrees) which is how I always drink dubbels. It didn't really change at all as it warmed up.
 
Sorry it was a bust Justin. I hope it was a bad bottle. I really enjoy the 8, not as much as the Blond, but IMO it is a pretty great beer.

I tell ya what though, that glass sure looks good.

Ti
 
Sorry it was a bust Justin. I hope it was a bad bottle. I really enjoy the 8, not as much as the Blond, but IMO it is a pretty great beer.

I tell ya what though, that glass sure looks good.

Ti

The more I think about it, the more I have to think it was a dud. No way that something so many people love could have been that aweful otherwise. Maybe I should try another tonight...
 
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