7.6

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Limited edition, 952 bottles. Batch #02. 12 months aged in oak barrels. Bottle nro. 262. 11.0% ABV. A dark brown beer, a head is medium and beige. Aroma has fried fruits, raisin, prune, barrel. Taste has raisin, prune, sweetness of dried fruits, some barrel. Medium bodied. I love the original version and it feels the barreling is hidden some nuancees and this is not so good anymore. Maybe not so fresh anymore. Anyway, good beer.

7

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

Bottle picked up at Etre Gourmet webshop Grez-Doiceau Belgium consumed at Dad and Paulines, Rawson Green Nr Belper, Derbyshire after a 13km hike up near Bakewell Tuesday 5th October 2021. Pours dirty brown with a hazy, sugary, malty, soft moutheel, oaky, a little dusty, some oxidation, papery, it's fine.

7.8

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Bottle at tasting. Aroma of caramelised malt, raisin, grapes, dates, candi sugar and yeast esters. Taste has caramelised malt, raisin, yeast esters, oak, candi sugar, boozy grapes and a malty boozy finish. Like it, good flavorful and elegant.

8

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Batch 2, Bottle # 264. It pours clear deep ) dark brown with a frothy beige head. The aroma is rich and unctuous, bitter - sweet, dried fruits, sultana, Eccles cake, plum pudding, black grapes, nutty, cacao, touch of spice, oak and slightly vinous. The taste is dry and toothy upfront, yet soft and fruity after a while, black grape, blackcurrant, plum, prune, date, dried fig, jammy fruits, warming alcohol, cognac, oiliness, spice, light tannin, cacao nibs, oak and brown bread. Fulsome body, fine carbonation and oily mouth feel. Nice depth of flavour. Rich and fruity. Quaffable.

8

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Bottled as Babbelaar 2 ( Le trappiste exclusive) . I was given the word by Regnier (Le Trappiste) this is the same beer. There were 2 barrels, 1 of them became the exclusive botteling for both Le Trappiste and Cambrinus, the other was sold as it's entered here. The beer pours unclear, darker amber to brown. Medium sized, very stable and creamy white head. Smell is mild caramel, BE yeast, gingerbread. Nice. Taste is medium thin, nice cognac touch, over the BE yeast. Bit sweet, caramel, tad chocolaty. Mild barrel. very balanced ! rediculous drinkability for a 10 % beer.

8.5

Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Nous allons dire qu'il s'agit ici d'un premier essai...pas totalement raté, mais pas totalement réussi non plus. Ce qui étrange c'est qu'à la fois le cognac n'est pas très présent mais que la base de Triple Imperial est elle-même altérée, moins intense et complexe. Mais c'est en forgeant que l'on devient forgeron. On ne peut qu'espérer que l'Abbaye des Rocs persévère car ils ont réellement des bières adaptées au vieillissement en fût. Le visuel est sur un bel ambré limpide avec une mousse blanc cassé nappant la surface. Le nez est appréciable sur la prune de légères épices, le cognac et le chêne. Le cognac est beaucoup plus discret à la dégustation, avec une attaque sur une dominante raisin, prune, épices avec un soupçon de cognac et de bois. La deuxième bouche manque de punch, bien qu'un peu plus intense. L'alcool, pourtant à 10,5 % est quasi transparent, et des arômes de bois mouillé ne sont pas des plus percutants. Heureusement que nous retrouvons un peu plus la triple impériale sur l'arrière bouche avec un peu plus de caractère et un léger cognac qui a des difficultés pour s'affirmer. Le final est également un peu plus puissant avec un alcool qui s'affirme légèrement et des arômes de prune. Si elle est globalement plaisante, on ne peut être que déçu à la vue du potentiel. Vivement les prochains essais.

7

Sweet caramel malts, oak, spiced. Smooth. Well done.

7.9

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Bottle at THT September. Clear mahogany with beige head. Figs, raisins, sweet malts, light boozy, earthy, soft cognac, bready, toffee, dead leaves, nutty. Over medium sweet and medium bitter. Almost full bodied. Tasty but a bit boozy.

7.8

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

After pioneering in the first, still traditionally Belgian wave of craft beer (‘avant la lettre’) in this country in the seventies and eighties, Abbaye des Rocs has long stuck to its core range of ultra-solid ales, but is recently showing a renewed interest in innovation, especially barrel ageing; indeed some of their beers, including the Triple Impériale, should fit the barrel treatment perfectly… This is Triple Impériale aged on cognac barrels; only 500 bottles, with a distinct oval ‘intersection’ much like e.g. the bottles traditionally used by St. Peter’s Brewery in Suffolk, England, were made, at least in the second batch (I have no further details about the first batch). My rating here concerns bottle number 269 from that second batch, generously shared by Leopold, thanks! Medium thick, mousy, cobweb-lacing, egg-white head on a hazy bronze-brown beer with warm mahogany hue. Aroma of caramel candy, burnt sugar, dried cranberries, toffee, bubblegum, banana peel, vanilla from the oak wood, red apple, relatively subtle cognac, cloves, stewed pear, fig, anise. Sweet, fruity onset, banana ester mingled with pear and fig hints, medium carbonated; soft, quite full body with a bubblegummy aspect lingering about. Caramelly and brown-bready malt base with a layer of honeyish residual sweetness on top, phenolic clove and (vaguely) nutmeg and anise aspects, herbal hop bitterishness and indeed a light tannic effect of wooden barrel in the end, merging with a brandy-tinged warming alcohol effect. This effect remains however quite subtle, with the banana ester, caramelly malts and bready yeast notes enjoying equal attention, if not more. The young geeks that are used to outrageous craft beer with very outspoken flavours will not be too impressed with this one, I’m afraid – if this is the audience Rocs has in mind, then I think the barrel (and cognac) aspect needs to be played out a whole lot more, as it remains, in all, very subtle here. That said: this is as solid a Belgian ale as it gets, like the brewery’s core range which I have very fond memories of, and I think the proportional subtlety with which the barrel ageing was applied here, is an altogether useful thing to learn to appreciate. I have no complaints about this and may even buy a bottle of it for myself, if they are still available.

8.5

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9

Dark amber colour, beige foam. Nose of sweet malts, raisins, vanilla cognac. Taste is sweet malty with soft cognac finish. Well balanced. Very nice.